MSc in Climate Change Science and Policy

Concern about global environmental change has never been greater. The University of Bristol's MSc in Climate Change Science and Policy trains highly skilled graduates for professional employment in the public and private sectors, academia, consultancies, and non-governmental/advocacy organisations.

The curriculum is aimed at talented graduates seeking to enter, or upgrade their expertise in, the fields of climate change science, policy and analysis. The programme is provided by three of Bristol's leading science departments: Geographical Sciences, Earth Sciences and Chemistry, with world-class research groups in four key areas of the science:

• Climate change science and its links to policy and policymakers
• Modelling of the Earth System, from simple box models to complex climate models
• Remote Sensing of the environment and GIS
• Understanding past climate change and making predictions of future change

The programme is closely linked to the newly founded Cabot Institute, which brings together all of the University's research into the changing global environment across the sciences, social sciences and engineering.

Core Units

• The science and impacts of climate change, including interactions between climate scientists and policy and the media.
• Environmental policy and politics.
• Case studies of past climate change and predicting the future: including using complex models of the Earth System to predict future global change.
• Remote Sensing of the environment, including science and practices behind remote sensing and geographical information systems (GIS).

Research Project (January to September)

• Project Phase 1: Researching background material and acquisition of basic practical skills, in preparation for the main phase of the project starting in May. You will choose your main project supervisor at the start of Phase 1. The project is assessed through a literature review and a seminar that both outline the background to the project, implications for policy, and the work to be carried out in Phase 2. Feedback is given throughout this phase, developing the research skills of the student.
• Project Phase 2: An independent investigation of a chosen topic, supervised by one of the academic team across the departments. The project is to be submitted as a written thesis and the main findings to be presented in a Research Colloquium.