The programme
Sustainability from the bottom up – learn practical skills and apply them in real world settings
The Masters in Sustainable Development Advocacy is an intensive, fast-track programme, which runs full time over ten months, and part time over two years in blocks of about five or six weeks. It’s a highly innovative course, and very different from the traditional Masters model. With experiential learning at its core, you’ll be learning by doing – learning through live projects in real settings. The programme attracts an unusually varied group of people, in terms of age, previous experience and disciplines, and through collaborative learning you will get the benefit of their experiences and ideas. As a result, you’ll be gaining skills that are attuned to the needs of future employers, and your needs as a sustainability leader.
The learning consists of five elements: the masterclasses, work placements, the dissertation project, the team task, and skills. There are no exams – students are assessed by a combination of reports, presentations, and peer, supervisor and self-reflective assessments.
You can find out more about each element by clicking on the links to the left.
Masterclasses
The masterclasses are a chance to hear from, and challenge, some of the leading thinkers and practitioners in the field of sustainability: from big business to local authorities, from entrepreneurs to scientists, from writers to farmers. Students lead discussions on the topics and issues arising from them.
Past speakers have included:
- Holistic Thinking and Examples in Practice – David Lorimer
- Leadership or Advocacy in Sustainability – Professor Bart McKettrick
- Pesticides Action Campaign – Georgina Downs
- Advocacy and Leadership – Satish Kumar, Editor, Resurgence magazine
- Permaculture – Andy Goldring, Director, Permaculture Association
- Ecological Footprinting – Nicky Chambers, Director, Best Foot Forward
- Industrial Ecology & the NISP approach – Adrian Murphy, Technical Director, National Industry Symbiosis Project
- The Global Dimension – Ange Grunsell, former Director of Education for OXFAM Sustainable land management best practice
- Sustainable land management best practice – David Curtis, Duchy of Cornwall and sustainable communities
- Energy futures for the West Midlands – Richard Davies, Director, Marches Energy Agency
- The Sustainable Corporation - Richard Heathcoate, Sustainable Development Manager, Scottish & Newcastle
- Sustainable Agriculture – Mark Measures, Bulmer Foundation
- Towards a sustainable food system - Peter Norton, Bulmer Foundation
- Triple Bottom Line Accounting – Dave Marshall, Bulmer Foundation
- The Psychology of Consumption – Paul Maiteny, The Open University
- Sustainability in Architecture and Construction – Mary Roslin ARIAS
Placements
Each student undertakes four one-month placements, when they will work on sustainability projects in a variety of organisations. The placements follow four sectors, or themes:
- Policy and advice
- Business
- Campaigning and media
- Community
As well as achieving personal and programme learning outcomes, students contribute to the work of their host organisation. This could mean writing and presenting a paper, working on a biodiversity action plan, organising and holding a community meeting, writing articles or briefings, drafting an environmental policy statement, surveying stakeholders’ views, shadowing senior staff, and working on a funding proposal.
These four placements are great additions to your CV and also offer networking and possible job opportunities. Several of our alumni have gone on to work with one of their placement hosts. Some of the organisations that have hosted placements include:
The dissertation project
We add the word ‘project’ to the dissertation element of the programme to emphasise that this self-directed piece of work, like the rest of the programme, is practical and addresses a real need or concern. The focus of your project will depend on your area of interest, and many of our students work with organisations or groups who could be stakeholders in the outcome.
The dissertation project is a great chance to pursue your own specific interest, and in previous years students have engaged with a wide variety of subjects, such as a feasibility study for a flour mill in Herefordshire to support local food production, an assessment of the interest in and possibility for sustainable procurement within Welsh festivals, the development of a local food curriculum for higher learning, increasing access to the River Wye, the potential for increasing cider tourism to the county, and creating a website and podcasts to explore local myths and stories related to the land.
You’ll produce a 5,000-word academic literature review of your subject, as part of a 15,000-word investigation into the project itself which might include details and summaries of events that you have organised, interviews, and case studies, as well as your methodology, results and recommendations. The dissertation project is a great opportunity to get an in-depth understanding of an area that you are particularly interested in, and may want to work in the future.
You can find some of the papers relating to previous dissertation projects in the ‘The Hub’ section of this site.
Team task
Whatever your area of interest or future work aspirations, it’s almost certain that you are going to have to work with a diverse range of people. The team task element of the programme has been designed to develop your collaborative working skills.
Each small team works on a real, live sustainability project for a client. Not only will you be assessed on the project’s output for the client and your team’s professionalism, but you will also be assessed on your personal contribution to the team and your ability to reflect on the dynamics of how your team works. And due to the programme’s ability to attract a wide range of people from a wide range of backgrounds, you could be working with people with very different approaches and from very different disciplines.
Past team tasks have included mapping out wildlife corridors for an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, conducting a survey on recycling attitudes and behaviours for a local authority, assessing an outdoor education centre’s potential for becoming financially, environmentally and socially sustainable, and inputting into a review of sustainable transport in the county.
Skills
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Central to the programme throughout the ten months is the development of skills that will enable you to turn your ideas and principles into action. Throughout the programme, you will be learning presentation, facilitation and communication skills, with plenty of opportunities to practice them with your peer group and externally. You will also be continually assessed on these skills. External expertise is used in the delivery of formal input sessions, including Tutor profiles
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Fees & eligibility
A sustainable future will be built by people from all backgrounds and disciplines, so we consider students with good degrees from a wide variety of subjects. But more importantly, we also expect our candidates to demonstrate a personal commitment to sustainable development, as well as advocacy and leadership potential.
Applications from individuals who have no formal qualifications but can evidence an equivalent of prior learning or achievement in the workplace are also welcome.
Fees for 2010/11 are set at £4500 for EU-based students (full time) and c.£8000 for international students. Fees for the part time course are set at £1500 per year over three years. This is an intensive programme and might require some movement throughout the region and nationally to attend work placements.
Apply
Applications for September 2010 are being taken, please contact the Programme Leader and we will send you details when they are available. For further information please contact the Bulmer Foundation on 01432 294112 or info@advocatingchange.org.uk.