Environmental Studies at UNSW includes courses in humanities and social sciences, geography, science and other disciplines. Environmental Studies is concerned with the historical, theoretical, and policy implications of the human construction and transformation of the environment. There is a focus on contemporary environmental concerns, including how and why these concerns have risen to the forefront of current policy agendas, how social, economic and technological systems mediate our interaction with the environment, how these systems vary across the world and evolve with time and the ways in which environmental decisions are made and controversies resolved.

Today's society is faced with a vast number of environmental dilemmas - such as air pollution, depletion of the ozone layer, the serious risks to river health that come from intense human use of water resources, the large amounts of waste that industrial society creates, and threats to local and global biodiversity. A program of study in Environmental Studies at UNSW takes an interdisciplinary focus, offering geographical, legal, economic, ethical, historical and political perspectives for understanding the environment.

Environmental Studies opens up diverse career opportunities, including research, policy-making in government agencies, industry management or community consultancy and dispute resolution. It also helps to develop valuable generic skills that will be useful in any professional setting.

Studying Environmental Studies at UNSW

At the present time, teaching and research in Environmental Studies is spread between a number of Schools in the Faculty of Arts and the Faculty of Science. Environmental Studies is offered by the School of Humanities in the Faculty of Arts and Social Science. The School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences (www.bees.unsw.edu.au) provides another focus for environmental teaching and is a principal contributor at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. The Institute of Environmental Studies (http://www.ies.unsw.edu.au/) has responsibility for the Master in Environmental Management program.

Please refer to the tables below which outline the options available for a specialisation in Environmental Studies. Other related programs/plans can also be found under following other specialisations:

Biological Science
Chemistry
Climate Science
Geography
Marine Science
Oceanography
Microbiology Immunology