Masters in Sustainable Food and Resources

A flexible Masters degree designed to develop a rigorous understanding of the impacts of environmental change on global and local food systems and the natural world. The programme draws on our expert staff and a wide selection of academics and specialist guest lecturers – people who have made exceptional contributions to environmental thinking and action.

Taught at the Centre for Alternative Technology (CAT), which pioneered sustainability practice and theory in the UK, this is the first MSc course to properly integrate the social, political, economic and practical aspects of sustainable food and natural resources production. This Masters degree tackles these themes through a combination of academic study, discussion and hands-on practical work and is aimed at students who want to effect change in the way our natural resources are managed, produced and distributed.

We give our MSc students the knowledge, skills and experience needed to develop a career in the environmental sector and make an impact and on the course you will examine the transformational responses to the pervasive effects that economic structures and environmental change are having on diet, health, sustainability and community empowerment. The course will also cover globalisation, corporate and economic control, increasing global population and the effects of industry-scale agriculture and materials production on ecosystems and our environment.

How is the course taught?

Our MSc programme is taught either by distance learning or through residential blocks in one of the most innovative environmental buildings in the UK, or via a mixture of the two.

What qualification will you receive?

Successful completion of the programme MSc Sustainable Food and Natural Resources at the Centre for Alternative Technology leads to the award of Master of Science (MSc) by LJMU. The programme is also available to study as a Postgraduate Certificate and as a Postgraduate Diploma.

Modules include

• Introduction to Sustainability and Adaptation
• Sustainability and Adaptation Concepts in Practice 
• Food Systems and SustainabilitySustainable Food Production: Techniques and Practices
• Ecosystems and Ecosystem Services
• Introduction to Politics and Economics of the Environment
• Theories of Social and System Change
• Cities and Communities
• Restoration Ecology
• Sustainable Materials in the Built Environment
• Work Based Project
• Applied Research Design
• MSc Dissertation

Why study at CAT?

Studying at the Centre for Alternative Technology (CAT) is a truly unique experience. For the past 50 years CAT has been at the forefront of the environmental movement, pioneering low-carbon living and renewable technology. At the Graduate School of the Environment (GSE), students benefit from our extensive practical and academic knowledge, graduating with the skills needed to become leading players in the sustainability sector. Find out more about our facilities here.

Hands-on learning

At CAT, hands-on learning takes place side by side with academic study. Residential on-site block learning weeks are taught at the Centre for Alternative Technology (CAT), a truly unique and inspiring learning environment. Nestled in a disused slate quarry on the edge of the Snowdonia National Park, CAT is a living laboratory for practical, sustainable solutions. It contains some of the most innovative and renowned environmentally conscious buildings in the country, as well as one of the most diverse range of installed renewable technologies, on site water and sewage treatment, sustainably managed woodland and acres of organic gardens.

Flexibility

Courses can be studied full or part time and our course structure allows you to choose the mode and level of study that suits you, helping you fit your studies around other commitments. Full-time study at MSc level will allow you to complete the course in 18 months. Part-time study at MSc level will allow you to complete the course over a recommended 3 years.

Our modules are taught in blocks taken either with an intensive residential stay of five or six nights at the centre, or completely by distance learning. MSc students are free to choose between these teaching modes for every module. There is a choice of modules, each 8 weeks long, taken over one year or two, followed by a dissertation. It is a masters degree designed to give you the best possible experience whilst also meshing neatly with the pressures of modern professional and family life.

Immersive learning environment

Optional residential module weeks include lectures, seminars, group work and practicals. Applied work tends to dominate later in the week once we have laid the theoretical groundwork. These module weeks provide a truly immersive environment to escape daily life and apply yourself to new learning. Many eminent experts give guest lectures or hold seminars during these modules, as it is a course which seeks to draw on the expertise and learning of the whole environmental sector.

Is this the course for you?

Interested in studying this course? Join us for our next open day or contact us.

This course is created and delivered by CAT and is validated by Liverpool John Moores University. 

Find out more about the course on the CAT website.