Sustainable Development

Sustainable Development is widely regarded as the most promising framework for addressing environmental and developmental challenges in the twenty-first century, including: the provision of clean water and adequate sanitation, energy generation and supply, human health, food production and distribution, and the continuing threat to biodiversity.

A Sustainable Development degree at St Andrews will enable you to understand developmental challenges from multiple perspectives, and to utilise the knowledge you gain to tackle these challenges and realise the opportunities they create.

Courses

Undergraduate

Sustainable Development	BSc (Hons)
Sustainable Development	MA (Hons)

Joint degree options

You can take Sustainable Development BSc (Hons) and Sustainable Development MA (Hons) with another subject as part of a joint degree.

Postgraduate

Taught

Sustainable Development	MSc
Sustainable Development and Energy	MSc
Sustainable Development and Environmental Economics	MSc
Human Geography/Sustainable Development	MRes

PhDs

Please contact a supervisor in your research area to inquire about PhD opportunities.

Discover Sustainable Development at the University of St Andrews

Watch current students and staff discuss the teaching facilities, research opportunities and student life in the School of Geography and Sustainable Development.

Visit St Andrews

If you are interested in studying at St Andrews, join us at a visiting day to explore the town, find out about our courses and meet current students.

Undergraduates

Spring visiting days

Postgraduates

The next postgraduate visiting days will be held in November.

Sustainable Development research areas

The School of Geography and Sustainable Development aims to be world-leading in all aspects of research. The School hosts a number of externally funded research centres and also organises an extensive programme of external events including colloquia, seminars and conferences.

Research is organised around five main themes, with many members of the School often carrying out research in more than one theme.

Population and health

Research in this area is focused on the dynamics of population change, new migrations and mobilities and health inequalities, especially in the UK but also in the rest of Europe and internationally.

Research staff:

Professor Allan Findlay: international migration; human mobility; population geography.
Dr Nissa Finney: population; ethnicity and migration; methods in demography.
Professor Elspeth Graham population; migration; health and well-being; mixed methods; South-East Asia.
Dr Alan Marshall: population and demography; health inequality; quantitative methods.
Dr David McCollum: migration; labour markets and welfare.

Housing, neighbourhoods and cities

Key areas of interest include: the functioning and policies of housing systems; social housing and homelessness; neighbourhood effects; housing and sustainability; and cities.

Research staff:

Dr Nissa Finney: population; ethnicity and migration; methods in demography.
Dr Kim McKee: housing policy; urban regeneration strategy.
Dr Louise Reid: environmental behaviour; household energy consumption; subjective well-being; diary methodology.

Power, representation and behaviour

This research area is informed by post-structuralist, post-colonial and feminist perspectives. Research explores geographies of difference across a range of spatial scales.

Research staff:

Dr Dan Clayton: historical and cultural geography; colonialism and post-colonialism.
Dr Mike Kesby: gender; AIDS and development in southern Africa.
Professor Nina Laurie: gender and development; Latin America; social movements; Neoliberalism; international volunteering; community history.
Dr Matthew Sothern: health; cultural and political geographies.
Dr Rehema White: biodiversity conflicts; education for sustainability; craft and sustainability.

Environmental economics and policy

Research in environmental economics focuses on areas of environmental cost-benefit analysis and valuation, economics of sustainable development, design of PES systems, ecological-economic modelling, coastal zones, and integration with economic and environmental history.

Research staff:

Professor Nicholas Hanley: cost-benefit analysis; sustainable development; renewable energy; economics of nature conservation.
Dr Eoin McLaughlin: economic development; land reform; sustainable development.
Dr Darren McCauley: energy justice; social movements; comparative policy.
Dr Tim Stojanovic: marine and coastal management; governance and sustainable development; environmental geography.
Dr Charles Warren: environmental management; renewable energy.

Environmental change

Research in this area examines the mechanisms, rates and trajectories of past, present and future environmental change at regional to global scales, and the implications for the biosphere and society.

Research staff:

Dr William Austin: palaeoceanography and climate change; quaternary environments; micropalaeontology.
Professor Doug Benn: glaciology.
Professor Keith Bennett: holocene environmental change.
Dr Althea Davies: long-term ecology; environmental archaeology; environmental management.
Dr Urska Demsar: geovisual analytics and geovisualisation; spatial analysis; mathematical modelling.
Dr Ian Lawson: quaternary history of ecosystems; human-vegetation interactions; tropical palaeoecology.
Dr Jed Long: spatial statistics; GIS; spatial technologies.
Dr Katherine Roucoux: palaeoecology and palaeoclimatology; tropical ecology; pollen analysis.
Dr Richard Streeter: tephrochronology; soil erosion; long-term human environment interactions.

Sustainable Development research centres and institutes

The School hosts a number of research centres which provide a specialist focus for staff and postgraduate research activities.

Scottish Oceans Institute (SOI)

The School of Geography and Geosciences is a partner in the SOI, an interdisciplinary research institute studying the marine environment.

Centre for Population Change (CPC)

The CPC carries out a varied programme of collaborative research on fertility and family formation, household change, migration and population modelling.

Arctic Research Centre (ARC)

The University of St Andrews and Moscow State Institute of International Relations have developed a state-of-the-art five-year reserch project on assessing the environmental impact of energy infrastructure development in the Arctic.

Institute for Population, Wellbeing and Environment Research (I-POWER)

I-POWER aims to build links across traditions, offering new opportunities to cohere research capacity around major areas of socio-environmental concern.

Centre for Housing Research (CHR)

The CHR conducts policy-relevant research on social and supported housing, both independently and in conjunction with public and voluntary housing agencies.

St Andrews Sustainability Institute (SASI)

SASI coordinates interdisciplinary research into sustainable development issues within the University.

Careers for graduates in Sustainable Development

At a time when sustainable development is rising higher up the national and international agenda, and as businesses and organisations accept the need to adopt more sustainable practices, graduates with a degree in Sustainable Development are in strong demand.

Sustainable Development students are able to critically interrogate the principles, practice and plurality of sustainable development and to contribute to the evolution of innovative, interdisciplinary thinking and action in this area.

Career pathways for graduates include:

central and local government
non-governmental organisations (NGOs)
teaching
conservation
impact assessment
management
strategic planning
consultancy.

See recent graduate employment case studies.

Work experience

Work experience is invaluable when it comes to securing graduate-level employment. There are a number of specific opportunities for Sustainable Development students to gain work experience:

Intern with the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe or Gram Vikas.
Volunteer with Transition at St Andrews, and work within the community to develop carbon reduction projects.
Join the Edible Campus project and gain knowledge and skills in local eating and food growing.
Participate in Green Week events, inspiring and celebrating all things green, sustainable and eco-friendly.

Find out more about sustainability at St Andrews.

Funding opportunities

There is a range of funding opportunities available at all levels of study.

Undergraduates

Find out about undergraduate funding opportunities offered by the University of St Andrews.

Undergraduate scholarships

Postgraduates

There are a number of scholarships and awards available for postgraduate students.

Postgraduate taught scholarships

PhD students

Geography PhD applicants may apply for the Economic and Social Research Council, which covers tuition and some maintenance fees.

Funding for PhD students

Awards and accreditations

REF 2014

Research in Geography and Sustainable Development at St Andrews was ranked top in Scotland and fifth in the UK by the 2014 Research Excellence Framework.

University league tables

Geography at St Andrews was ranked top in Scotland and fourth in the UK by The Times and Sunday Times University Guide 2017 and sixth in the UK by the Complete University Guide 2017 for teaching and research quality, student experience, and graduate prospects.

Contact

School of Geography and Sustainable Development
University of St Andrews
Irvine Building
North Street
St Andrews
KY16 9AL

Phone: +44 (0)1334 46 2894
Email: gg@st-andrews.ac.uk

Sustainable Development website

Sustainable Development research portal