Location
Cornwall Campus, near Falmouth
Programme overview
This innovative, interdisciplinary programme delivered by leading academics in the field of climate change is the first MA in the world to focus on the cultures, histories and theories of climate change research.
The programme offers you a wide-ranging and intensive introduction to the cultural politics of climate change research in the interdisciplinary area of human and physical geography. It aims to provide you with a theoretical and practical understanding of the fundamental issues involved in climate change research through the study of its histories, philosophies, geopolitics and futures.
Our innovative approach considers climate change as a cultural and historical phenomenon as much as a set of physical earth processes and argues that this perspective is key to “situating” climate change in environmental histories and social change. Uniquely, the programme links together the key concerns of geographers, policy-makers and those involved in the creative industries. It provides a multi-perspective view of climate change crucial to addressing its wide-ranging and complex impacts. You will have the opportunity to acquire an understanding of the key scientific knowledge that has shaped cultural and political responses to climate change.
The programme connects to the University's interdisciplinary research network on climate change, drawing on research expertise within the humanities, social sciences and sciences. As a student of the MA Climate Change you will be a part of a strong community of academics and fellow postgraduate students pursuing research and studies in this field. In addition, your location on the Cornwall Campus will place you on the same campus as the University's Environment and Sustainability Institute (ESI) – an interdisciplinary centre leading cutting-edge research into impacts of environmental change and the mitigation and management of its effects.
I come from a scientific background, so personally the MA offered new perspectives, enabling me to see climate change from the human viewpoint. The programme has proved to be always challenging and often surprising, taking me in directions I would never have imagined at the outset. I have explored how climate change has shaped us, from the distant past to how it may do so in distant, possible futures, and considered our political, emotional and cultural relationships with the landscape, environment and nature.
The programme has given me the confidence to make presentations to large groups, and carry out independent research into subjects I would never have contemplated before taking the MA.
Studying in Exeter has been a joy, as the school of Geography is a close-knit community within the University, and made me feel part of a dedicated, enthusiastic band of people.
There must be thousands of university courses across the world which examine climate change, but if you want to explore new ways in how this phenomenon is affecting us already, and will continue to impact, I would recommend you try this unique course as a starting point.
Patrick Beasley, MA Climate Change
