Intro

Our Environmental Management BSc(Hons) explores the key issues we face as a society from an environmental management, human and physical geography perspective.

You will consider the environment and how to manage the sustainability of its resources, from examining the quality of the air to determining the impact of pathogens in our water.

You will develop scientific skills and knowledge through classroom, laboratory and project work in areas including air, water, ecology and environmental assessment. Field trips help bring learning to life and guest lecturers from industry share their experience with you to give you a real insight into the working environment.

Working with staff who are active in research and consultancy you will develop skills in the qualitative and quantitative methods used in scientific, social scientific and humanities-based research.

On the Environmental Management degree course you will also have the opportunity to undertake a year’s placement, allowing you to build experience, develop a network of professional contacts and work with the local community.

Key facts

Location Brighton: Moulsecoomb

UCAS code F900

Full-time 3 years
With placement year 4 years
Part-time 4–6 years

What are my next steps?

Open days are the best way to find out about your course, the campus where you'll be based, and get a feel for the Ï㽶ֱ²¥.

Book your place: Moulsecoomb campus open day 23 November

Or if you're ready,

Entry criteria

Entry requirements

A-levels or BTEC
Entry requirements are in the range of A-level BBB–BCC (120–104 UCAS Tariff points), or BTEC Extended Diploma DMM–MMM. Our conditional offers typically fall within this range.

International Baccalaureate
28 points, to include three subjects at Higher level with geography or a science-related subject.

Access to HE Diploma
Pass with 60 credits overall. At least 45 credits at level 3, with 24 credits at merit or above. Level 3 units must include geography or environmental science. 

Foundation degree/HND/HNC
60% in international foundation. Applicants with an HND or foundation degree may be considered for year 2 entry.

Studied before or got relevant experience?
A qualification, HE credits, or relevant experience may count towards your course at Brighton, and could mean that you do not have to take some elements of the course or can start in year 2 or 3. 

English language requirements
IELTS 6.0 overall with a minimum of 5.5 in each element. Find out more about the other English qualifications that we accept.

International requirements and visas

International requirements by country
Country name
Albania
Algeria
Argentina
Australia
Austria
Bahrain
Bangladesh
Belarus
Belgium
Bermuda
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Botswana
Brazil
Bulgaria
Burma (Myanmar)
Cameroon
Canada
Chile
China
Colombia
Croatia
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Denmark
Ecuador
Egypt
Estonia
Finland
France
Germany
Ghana
Greece
Guyana
Hong Kong
Hungary
Iceland
India
Indonesia
Iran
Iraq
Ireland
Israel
Italy
Jamaica
Japan
Jordan
Kazakhstan
Kenya
Kosovo
Kuwait
Latvia
Lebanon
Liechtenstein
Libya
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Macedonia
Malaysia
Malawi
Malta
Mexico
Moldova
Montenegro
Morocco
Namibia
Nepal
Netherlands
New Zealand
Nigeria
Norway
Oman
Pakistan
Palestinian National Authority
Philippines
Poland
Portugal
Qatar
Romania
Russian Federation
Saudi Arabia
Serbia
Sierra Leone
Singapore
Slovakia
Slovenia
South Africa
South Korea
Spain
Sri Lanka
Syria
Sweden
Switzerland
Taiwan
Tanzania
Thailand
Tunisia
Turkey
Uganda
Ukraine
United Arab Emirates
United States
Uzbekistan
Venezuela
Vietnam
Yemen
Zambia
Zimbabwe

We can help you meet our English language or academic entry requirements.

View our English language courses

For pre-sessional English preparation courses.

For degree preparation courses.

Visas and immigration advice

Applying for a student visa

Check out our step-by-step guidance.

Contextual admissions

When you apply to Brighton we want to hear about who you are. Grades are never the whole picture; we're interested in things like creativity, resourcefulness, persistence and the capacity to think big and find new ways of doing things. And we recognise that not everyone has the same background. That's why we treat everyone who applies as an individual. We recognise many qualifications and we care about all of your achievements and the experiences you've had that set you apart.

Find out more about contextual admissions.

Graphic with the text 'Potential + possibility'

Course content

Course structure

You'll focus on four key themes, allowing you to develop a programme of study that matches your interests and career ambitions.

Challenges for the environment – covers issues to help understand and put into context human impacts on the environment at a national and international level.

Vocational skills for environmental managers – focuses on how to apply key skills in critical thinking, data analysis and emergent technologies to environmental management.

Physical environments – covers the physical environment, systems and approaches across different timescales and multiple domains.

Cultural environments – considers cultural environments, developing critical skills in understanding and analysing multiple interpretations of landscapes and resources and the challenges around their use and exploitation.

You have the option to enrol on this Environmental Management degree part-time, giving you more flexibility in the way you choose to study.

Students looking at rock pools_fieldwork

Year 1

Designed to give you a broad understanding of environmental management, our first year introduces key areas like physical geography, data analysis, global environmental challenges and helps you to develop the academic and field skills needed for your degree. 

Modules

  • Exploring Environments: An Introduction to Geographical and Environmental Fieldwork

    On this module you'll undertake a UK-based residential field course over three working days, supported by lectures and workshops. You'll take part in intensive study and field research skills training in different field environments. Themes that you'll cover include physical geography, environmental geography/ecology and human geography, with an introduction to risk assessment, research ethics and working across difference. 

  • Statistical and Spatial Data Analysis

    This module introduces techniques used to analyse geographical and environmental data in both the academic and professional worlds. You'll develop the skills and abilities needed to display data graphically and visually, and to assess patterns/relationships through statistical testing, and geospatial display and analysis. You'll become a competent user of statistical software to support and hone your skills, and in the use and application of geospatial/remote sensing data and associated geographical information systems (GIS) software packages.

  • Fundamentals of Physical Geography

    This module provides a theoretical and practical introduction to azonal (tectonic, climatic, hydrological, fluvial, coastal, slope, aeolian, and biogeographical) and zonal (glacial and periglacial) physical geographical systems. You will examine the ways in which these systems interact with and influence human activities, both at the present day and over archaeological timescales.

  • Global Challenges: Climate Change and Environmental Degradation

    On this module you'll explore global environmental challenges from natural science and social science case perspectives. Case studies will introduce you to topical and current environmental challenges and you'll examine how some issues may be addressed through interdisciplinary management and mitigation. Alongside lectures, you'll take part in workshops where you'll look at research on contemporary issues that has been developed by students and small group engagement that will help you to deepen your thinking around the subject.

  • Academic Learning for Geography and Environmental Studies

    This module will introduce you to academic study, observational and transferable skills for geographers, environmental managers and environmental scientists. You'll be supported in how to learn at university, and in particular, with learning independently. You'll also be introduced to survey design where you'll learn questionnaire and other survey design techniques as your first step towards independent research design.

  • Introduction to Ecology and Conservation

    This module will introduce you to key concepts and principles in both ecology and conservation science – illustrated with case studies. The links between ecology and conservation and also between theory and applied research are emphasised

Students doing group work in a geography lab puring water into a large glass container

Year 2

Year 2 is where you'll start to deepen your subject-specific knowledge and skills. You will gain a critical understanding of issues such as those placed on landscapes from sectors including: energy generation, flood management, drinking water, historic environment resources and biodiversity; and environmental pollution including water pollution, air quality and waters.

You will develop employability skills relating to environmental management and work on your field skills.

Modules

  • Professional Practice for Global Challenges
  • Environmental Pollution
  • Environmental Economics
  • Research Design and Advanced Data Analysis
  • GIS and Remote Sensing: Principles and Practice
  • Geography and Environment International Field Work
Male and female student standing in a river collecting samples

Placement year

A placement year offers you a great opportunity to:

  • apply the knowledge and skills gained during your studies to a professional environment and discover new ones
  • build knowledge of real-world businesses and organisations
  • make contacts in industry and commerce
  • increase your confidence
  • improve your time management
  • draw on the experience gained on placement to inform your final year studies.

Students from our geography and environmental sciences courses have secured placements in organisations such as the Department for Energy and Climate Change, Transport for London, the Field Studies Council, and with environmental firms and consultancies.

Two geography students on placement working with colleague in lab

Final year 

The focus of your final year of the Environmental Management degree course is your dissertation, for which you will undertake live research in a specific area of environmental management.

Modules

  • Dissertation 
  • Atmosphere, Weather and Climate
  • Case Studies in Environmental Assessment and Management
  • Water, Sanitation and Health
  • Environmental Impact Assessment
four students in a harbour with clipboards

Learning facilities 

Our facilities include:

  • environment and public health laboratory equipped with bench top spectrophotometers, membrane filtration equipment, centrifuge, and sterilisation equipment for public health microbiology procedures and genetic profiling methods
  • soil and water analysis laboratories equipped with a range of spectrometers for different uses, gas chromatographs, pH meters and experimental cells for experimental work into the electro-kinetics of contaminated sediments
  • soil and sediment analysis laboratory with drying ovens, and Malvern Mastersizer 2000 laser particle size analyser
  • hydraulics laboratory equipped with a recirculating flume with sediment transport system and interchangeable weirs, wave tank, a river basin for river/floodplain simulation and two further flumes with interchangeable weirs
  • environmental simulation laboratory with hydraulic stream table
  • scanning electron microscopy facility with dedicated technician support
  • air quality laboratory with instrumentation to understand global atmospheric composition
  • computer suites running GIS and other professional software
  • equipment for field-based geophysical surveying
  • field collection equipment.

Meet the team

, course leader

I come to environmental management as a human geographer with an interest in exploring the links between society and the environment in the context of contemporary sustainability challenges. My teaching focuses on the negative and socially uneven impacts of environmental change, and on actions and interventions that challenge social and ecological injustices faced by different communities around the world.

I use teaching practices that equip students with the tools for thinking differently about some of these problems and possibilities, and the skills and confidence to take their learning forward in careers that contribute to sustainable and equitable futures.

I am an advocate of field-based and practical learning, which features in most of my teaching. In your second year, you will work with me and others in the staff team on a group consultancy project that develops deep knowledge about a specific environmental management problem and the technical skills for addressing it. I join you on a second-year field trip to Sicily, which offers a transformative opportunity for all of us to reflect on and deepen our classroom learning whilst broadening critical perspectives on society-environment relationships in an unfamiliar setting.

Professor Rebecca ElmhirstProfessor Rebecca Elmhirst

senior lecturer

My commitment to Sustainable Futures scholarship and dialogue means that I am constantly reworking, refining my understanding and exposing myself to new ideas and approaches.

I apply this same approach to my teaching – encouraging students to challenge themselves in their learning.

I have committed many years to my development work in the field and to academic study.

I hope to share with our students the potential they have to make a significant contribution to the world around them and to communicate that through the academic training we give them we help them develop the skills and the confidence to enable them to pursue their life’s ambitions.

Dr Mary Gearey

Dr Mary Gearey

Find out about the rest of the course team

More about this subject at Brighton

Careers

Prepare for your career 

In your career you need a combination of knowledge, skills, personal qualities and relevant experiences – and you’ll get all of this from your degree.

Apply your learning and consolidate your geographical scientific knowledge and skills in the lab and in the field.

Strengthen transferrable skills in time management, group working, communication, presenting, designing solutions and software skills. All of which help to prepare you for your career.

Learn with staff who are active in research and consultancy, you’ll build your specialist research skills and gain more in-depth knowledge in the areas that interest you most.

Gain real-world, related experience and make a difference getting involved with community groups and voluntary organisations.

Placement 

Taking an optional placement year offers lots of advantages.

You get to:

  • apply your learning to real-life situations and challenges
  • develop your existing skills and gain new ones
  • explore career options, helping you think about what you don’t want to do as well as what you do
  • boost your confidence, time-management and organisational skills
  • make contacts while working in a professional environment
  • come back for your final year more focused, more organised and more confident.
Two students on placement working with a colleague measuring tile samples in a workshop

Facilities for learning 

You will gain valuable, hands-on experience in our specialist labs and using our field equipment, including:

  • Environment and Public Health Lab
  • Soil and Water Analysis Labs
  • Soil and Sediment Analysis Lab
  • Hydraulics Lab
  • Environmental Simulation Lab
  • Scanning Electron Microscopy facility
  • Air quality lab
  • Computer suites running GIS and other professional software
  • Equipment for field-based geophysical surveying
  • Field collection equipment.

Professional links 

Research informs our teaching, helping our students to think and learn like professionals. You will learn with Brighton-based researchers who are tackling global issues such as sustainable riverine management and air quality. Our research spans , , and also includes the Centre for Earth Observation Science.

Guest lectures from industry experts and our own graduates enhance your learning, giving you valuable insights into real-world working environments as well as networking opportunities.

Graduate destinations 

Our Environmental degree graduates have gone on to careers in organisations such as the Environment Agency, Southern Water, Low Carbon Europe, and GIS consultancies, in roles such as nature conservation, waste management, environmental consultant and geoinformatics systems.

Further study 

We have opportunities for further study at postgraduate level in this field:

Supporting your employability 

Outside of your course, our Careers Service is here to support you as you discover (and re-discover) your strengths and what matters to you. We are here for you throughout your university journey as you work towards a fulfilling and rewarding career.

Connect with our careers team

  • Find part-time work that you can combine with your studies.
  • Find, or be, a mentor or get involved with our peer-to-peer support scheme.
  • Develop your business ideas through our entrepreneurial support network.
  • Get professional advice and support with career planning, CV writing and interview top tips.
  • Meet potential employers at our careers fairs.
  • Find rewarding volunteering opportunities to help you discover more about what makes you tick, and build your CV.

Whatever your career needs, we are here to help. And that's not just while you are a student, our support carries on after you've graduated.

Find out more about our Careers Service...

Coloured background with the words Be More, Connected, Skilled, Employable

Fees and costs

Course fees

UK (full-time) 9,250 GBP

International (full-time) 15,900 GBP

If you choose to take the professional placement (sandwich) year offered on this course you will pay a reduced fee during this year. Our fee for the professional placement year is £1,500 for UK students and £2,280 for international students. This fee may be subject to small increases, in line with inflation.

Fee information for this course for 2025 entry will be updated here no later than December 2024.

The fees listed here are for the first year of full-time study if you start your course in the academic year 2024–25.

You will pay fees for each year of your course. Some fees may increase each year.

UK undergraduate and some postgraduate fees are regulated by the UK government and increases will not be more than the maximum amount allowed. Course fees that are not regulated may increase each year by up to 5% or RPI (whichever is higher).

If you are studying part-time your fee will usually be calculated based on the number of modules that you take.

Find out more

What's included

Here you’ll find details of specific resources and services that are included in the tuition fee for our geography, the Earth and environment students. To help you to budget for your studies, there is also information on any additional costs that you may have to pay or can choose to pay in addition to your tuition fee.

Find out how tuition fees enable us to support all of our students with important services, facilities and resources across the university and check out our finance pages for info about fees, funding and scholarships along with advice on international and island fee-paying status.

You can chat with our enquiries team if you have a question or need more information.

What’s included in your course fee

The following items are covered by your fee where they are required or relevant.

  • We want everyone to be able to take part in a residential field trip, so travel and accommodation costs are included for all mandatory taught residential field trips. You may need to budget for your own meals in some cases and depending on your preferences and the trip you could budget around £100 for this.
  • We provide protective clothing for the first-year residential trip, although you may want to bring a pair of wellies or walking shoes (£5–£10). In the second year, depending where you go, you may need a waterproof coat.
  • The cost of laboratory consumables and equipment for your final year project.
  • Access to specialist survey equipment and identification guides for field surveys (UG/PG).
  • Access to specialist computer suites that carry the latest software for spatial and statistical data analysis.
  • A licence for relevant software, for example ArcGIS for mapping and GIS, ENVI for geospatial image processing and the Petrel Seismic interpretation software.
  • Access to key subject journals databases – see the in the library for an up-to-date list.
  • Essential instruction booklets (laboratory handbooks) are provided.
  • The cost of project poster printing if this applies to your course.
  • If you choose to take the undergraduate optional placement year you can get 20% of your Student Finance England maintenance loan whilst on that placement.

Additional course costs

  • You’ll need to budget for printing and stationery for personal study, and books if you decide to buy your own.
  • In most cases coursework submissions are electronic but you may wish to print notes which would involve an extra cost.
  • Many students choose to buy their own hardware, software and accessories. The amount spent will depend on your individual choices, but this expenditure is not essential to pass any of our courses.
  • If you don’t already have one, you will also need a passport for your second-year residential trip.
  • Travel and accommodation costs are included for all mandatory taught residential field trips, but you may need to budget for food in some cases. Depending on your preferences and the trip you could budget around £100 for this.
  • Optional field trips may include additional costs, for example, for travel, food and drink. This will vary depending on how many you choose to take part in, where the trip is located and how long it lasts.
  • You may also want to buy appropriate outdoor clothing for fieldwork, for example walking boots, wellies and waterproofs.
  • If you choose to take an optional placement year you’ll be expected to cover your own travel, accommodation, food and drink.

Location and student life

Campus where this course is taught

Moulsecoomb campus

Two miles north of Brighton seafront, Moulsecoomb is our largest campus and student village. Moulsecoomb has been transformed by a recent development of our estate. On campus you'll find new Students' Union, events venue, and sports and fitness facilities, alongside the library and student centre.

Over 900 students live here in our halls, Moulsecoomb Place and the new Mithras halls – Brunswick, Goldstone, Hanover, Preston and Regency.

Moulsecoomb has easy access to buses and trains and to all the exciting things happening in our home city.

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Accommodation

We guarantee an offer of a place in halls of residence to all eligible students. So if you applied for halls by the deadline you are guaranteed a room in our halls of residence.

Brighton: Moulsecoomb

Halls of residence
We have self-catered halls on all our campuses, within minutes of your classes, and other options that are very nearby.

You can apply for any of our halls, but the options closest to your study location are:

  • Mithras Halls are stylish new high-rises in the heart of the student village at our revitalised Moulsecoomb campus with ensuite rooms for more than 800 students.
  • Varley Park is a popular dedicated halls site, offering a mix of rooms and bathroom options at different prices. It is around two miles from Moulsecoomb campus and four miles from the city centre, and is easy to get to by bus.

Want to live independently?
We can help – find out more about private renting.

Relaxing in halls

Modern accommodation at Moulsecoomb

Mithras halls room with a view

Relaxing in halls near the campus

Student Union social space

Student Union social space at Moulsecoomb

Local area

About Brighton

The city of Brighton & Hove is a forward-thinking place which leads the way in the arts, technology, sustainability and creativity. You'll find living here plays a key role in your learning experience.

Brighton is a leading centre for creative media technology, recently named the startup capital of the UK.

The city is home to a national 5G testbed and over 1,000 tech businesses. The digital sector is worth over £1bn a year to the local economy - as much as tourism.

All of our full-time undergraduate courses involve work-based learning - this could be through placements, live briefs and guest lectures. Many of these opportunities are provided by local businesses and organisations.

It's only 50 minutes by train from Brighton to central London and there are daily direct trains to Bristol, Bedford, Cambridge, Gatwick Airport, Portsmouth and Southampton.

Map showing distance to London from Brighton
Brighton Beach sunset

Maps

Moulsecoomb campus map

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Support and wellbeing

Your course team

Your personal academic tutor, course leader and other tutors are all there to help you with your personal and academic progress. You'll also have a student support and guidance tutor (SSGT) who can help with everything from homesickness, managing stress or accommodation issues.

Your academic skills

Our Brighton Student Skills Hub gives you extra support and resources to develop the skills you'll need for university study, whatever your level of experience so far.

Your mental health and wellbeing

As well as being supported to succeed, we want you to feel good too. You'll be part of a community that builds you up, with lots of ways to connect with one another, as well having access to dedicated experts if you need them. Find out more about how we support your wellbeing.

Sport at Brighton

Sport Brighton

Sport Brighton brings together our sport and recreation services. As a Brighton student you'll have use of sport and fitness facilities across all our campuses and there are opportunities to play for fun, fitness or take part in serious competition. 

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Sports scholarships

Our sports scholarship scheme is designed to help students develop their full sporting potential to train and compete at the highest level. We offer scholarships for elite athletes, elite disabled athletes and talented sports performers.

Find out more about sport scholarships.

Students playing frisbee

Stay in touch

Ask a question about this course

If you have a question about this course, our enquiries team will be happy to help.

01273 644644

Statistics

Find out more about how the academic year and degree courses are organised, and about learning and assessment activities you might get to grips with at Brighton. More specific information about this course is detailed in the programme specification (linked below). You can find out also about the support we offer to help you adjust to university life.

Course and module descriptions on this page were accurate when first published and are the basis of the course. Detailed information on any changes we make to modules and learning and assessment activities will be sent to all students by email before enrolment, so that you have all the information before you come to Brighton.

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Course specification

Course specifications are the approved description of each course. They contain a breakdown of the content and structure of the course, learning outcomes and assessment. Course specs are updated following course changes.

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