Environmental Management and Sustainability

Environmental management and sustainability addresses one of the most urgent challenges facing modern societies: how to use the natural resources on which human life depends without depleting or damaging the systems that regenerate them. The discipline draws on ecology, geography, economics, law, and social science to understand environmental problems and to design, implement, and evaluate responses to them. As climate change, biodiversity loss, and resource depletion become ever more pressing, the demand for graduates who can think clearly and act effectively on environmental questions is growing across every sector.

At the University of Reading, this programme includes a foundation year and a sandwich year with a work placement, making it four years in total. The foundation year is designed to prepare students for degree-level study in environmental science and management, building the scientific and analytical foundations needed before the main programme begins. From the main programme onwards, you will study the ecological, geographical, and social science dimensions of environmental problems, developing the ability to assess environmental impacts, evaluate sustainability strategies, and engage with the policy and management frameworks through which environmental decisions are made.

Reading's strong research environment in environmental science, and its location close to both rural and urban environments, makes for a well-contextualised programme.

The work placement is a significant practical component of this programme, giving you experience working in an environmental management or sustainability role within a real organisation. That professional exposure is increasingly expected by employers in the sector. Graduates go on to careers in environmental consultancy, conservation organisations, government agencies, sustainability roles in business, urban planning, land and natural resource management, and the third sector.

Further postgraduate study in environmental management, environmental law, climate science, or related disciplines is also a well-established pathway.