MSc (Masters)/Diploma in Ecological Economics

The science and management of sustainability - linking environmental, social and economic systems.

The programme offers a one year, flexible, inter-disciplinary approach to the study of the interactions between the natural environmental and socio-economic systems. Established in 1994, this is one of the longest-standing Masters programmes in Ecological Economics anywhere in the world.

In essence, the programme is about 'operationalising' sustainability and environmental management through the application of economic principles. Since the economic principles of efficiency and cost-effectiveness are applied in virtually all decisions concerning conservation and environmental management, an understanding of these principles and an ability to apply them is critical training for anyone seeking employment in this field.

Each student year group includes those with an economics background who want to gain a specialism in this evolving discipline as well as students from Life Sciences, Humanities and the Arts who have had no prior exposure to economics.

Since ecological economics is concerned with culture, ethics, sociology and human development, this mixing of disciplines and life experiences in the MSc class is actively encouraged and creates academic synergies.

Contents of this page

• Introduction
• Teaching and Research Facilities
• Programme Objectives
• Programme Structure
• Study Tour
• Research Project
• Careers
• Fees and Funding
• How to Apply

Introduction

Ecological economics is a transdisciplinary field of study which focuses on areas where economic activity is increasingly seen to be in conflict with both the well-being of the ecological system and the well-being of the human social system. The ecological system ultimately supports all activities, while the benefits of economic activity should ultimately be directed to the human social system.

This holistic perspective is what differentiates a programme in ecological economics from one, say, in conventional environmental economics. Environmental economics is about determining efficiency conditions for the extraction of resources and the release of pollution emissions. Ecological economics adds the social and ethical dimensions to this analysis.

Ecological economics then emphasises the relationship between the economic, ecological and social systems. These relationships are explored in the programme at a number of scales from the local to the global. The transdisciplinary nature of ecological economics means that academics and practitioners in this field search for truly holistic perspectives.

Although one aim of the programme is to give students a thorough training in conventional economics, another aim is to develop the criticisms that might be levelled at (amongst others) conventional economists for their disciplinary reductionism, or what Joseph Schumpeter refers to as a 'preanalytical vision'.

Holism is about recognising that no one single discipline (economics included) has all the answers. This is particularly the case for 'operationalising' sustainability, where any real-life solutions require an appraisal not just of economic efficiency (although this is important) but also social equity and environmental justice, and the consequences of any human intervention on natural ecosystems.

It is of course first important to define and to understand thoroughly what exactly the economic preanalytical vision is before its limitations can be drawn out and this is one of the important outcomes of the programme. Core economics is taught from first principles, although with a perspective and focus that is intended to stimulate not only those who are new to economics but also those with a prior training in the discipline.

Insights come from diverse sources, stretching from philosophy through branches of the social sciences to natural sciences, including ecology and thermodynamics. Ideas presented in the programme relating to social justice go back to Ancient Greek philosophy, while economic concerns with the biophysical limits to human resource exploitation and pollution emissions are apparent in the work of many classical economists in the eighteenth century such as John Stuart Mill.

These ideas were pre-cursors to the sustainable development paradigm. The landmark 1987 UN World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED, 1987) defined sustainable development as 'development which meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs'.

The WCED report defines as one critical objective the need to merge environment and economics in decision-making. This objective has been taken forward in the Millenium Development Goals. It is to this end that ecological economics in general and this Programme in particular are directed.

Teaching and Research Facilities

The School of GeoSciences at the University of Edinburgh and the Scottish Agricultural College (that administers the programme) are in unison ideally suited to providing an Ecological Economics MSc programme directed to the end of merging environment and economics.

In order to conduct teaching and research that is truly transdisciplinary in nature, a pre-requisite is to have a team of academics with a range of disciplinary strengths.

The Scottish Agricultural College [SAC] has had links with the University for over a century. The compulsory courses in the Programme are taught by staff in the Land Economy and the Environment Research Group [LEERG]. LEERG carries out inter-disciplinary research in environmental economics, biodiversity preservation, sustainable rural livelihoods and social cohesion, the socio-economics of water quality and other policy orientated research.

In terms of methodologies that sit within the ecological economics paradigm, LEERG has research expertise in multi-criteria analysis, analytical hierarchy process, benefits transfer and the economic valuation of non-market goods, cost-benefit analysis, environmental impact assessment, life cycle assessment, econometrics, fisheries bio-economic modelling etc.

Aside from LEERG, SAC also offers a sister MSc in Environmental Protection and Management from the Crop and Soils Research Division and thus students on the Ecological Economics MSc/Diploma can tap into the range of disciplinary skills offered by this sister programme.

The School of GeoSciences has ninety academic staff working in ecology, geology, geography and rural development. This disciplinary diversity and the associated diversity in the suite of course options offered allows students to devise study programmes suited to their personal interests and career goals and aspirations. Between the School and SAC, there is an unparalleled breadth of research expertise that allows students to select a wide range of dissertation topics.

Programme Objectives

The objectives of the programme are:

• to provide a form of rigorous academic training that also enhances the prospectives for employment in the field of sustainability and conservation;
• to outline economics from first principles;
• to identify the biophysical and socio-cultural limits to growth in the production and consumption that arises from economic activity;
• to describe theoretical principles of ecological economics associated with these limits to growth;
• to learn tools that allow these principles to be applied to environmental problems that are by their nature multi-dimensional;
• to appreciate the systematic interaction between ecology, social systems and economics which is vital in finding solutions to these problems;
• to examine and to criticise how environmental and social policy is formulated and implemented in developed and developing world economies in light of this systematic interaction;
• to encourage and to provoke discussion and debate about environmental controversies;
• to develop and enhance skills in specialist topics linked to the student's own interest.

Programme Structure

The programme starts in September each year and lasts nine months for the Diploma and twelve months for the MSc. The curriculum consists of six taught courses each of equal weight (September to April) followed by a period of individual dissertation project work (May to August). The study tour, which takes place in Spring, is also an integral part of the programme.

Each course consists of a balance of lectures, seminars, workshops and visits. Two of the courses are compulsory:

• Foundations in Ecological Economics
• Applications in Ecological Economics

The Foundations course takes place in the first semester and the Applications course in the second. As well as these two core courses, the student, in consultation with the Programme Director, chooses two optional courses in each semester, i.e. four optional courses in total to accompany the two core courses.

Two optional courses are taught as part of the MSc in Ecological Economics, although it is not compulsory for students to pick either of these options:

• Project Appraisal
• Environmental Impact Assessment

The Centre for Environmental Change and Sustainability [CECS] operates a number of courses that are closely aligned to the ethos of ecological economics and these have proved to be popular options for MSc students from previous years:

• Culture,Ethics and Environment
• Principles of Environmental Sustainability
• Management of Sustainable Development
• Environment and Development
• International Development
• Society and Development

There are a host of other potential MSc course options but listed below are the ones that have been chosen by students in previous years.

• Recent Global Environmental Change
• Atmospheric Quality and Global Change
• Principles of GIS
• Water Resource Management
• Waste Reduction and Recycling
• Participation in Policy and Planning
• Land Use/Environment Interactions
• Rural Development

Note that students cannot be guaranteed a place on any optional courses. A short synopsis of each course can be found here. The timetable for the 2005-06 session and further details on the MSc programme can be found in the MSc handbook. Some courses are delivered in the College of Humanities and Social Science whereas others are located in the College of Engineering. This is of course in keeping with the multi-disciplinary ethos of ecological economics.

Study Tour

A compulsory part of the Programme is the MSc study tour which normally takes place in April or May. The objectives of this study tour are:

• to see instances of conflict between ecosystem conservation and human development needs on the ground;
• to discuss with local stakeholders why these conflicts have arisen and persisted;
• to appraise the policy instruments and institutional structures that are in place/could be put in place to resolve these conflicts;
• to link this appraisal with ecological economics theory.

In previous years the study tour has been in Wales, Greece, Morocco and lately to Kenya. A synopsis of the 2006-7 study tour can be found here.

Research Project

In the dissertation segment of the MSc, the student carries out an individual research project under the supervisory guidance of at least one member of SAC/University of Edinburgh staff. MSc candidates write up their dissertation (of up to 20,000 words) which is submitted on or before an assigned date in August. Candidates for the Diploma submit a shorter report by the end of June.

The range of topics chosen and methodologies applied by students on the programme over the years has been vast. Some have been published in peer reviewed academic journals and many more have found immediate applicability.

The topic is chosen in consultation with the Programme Director. Some topics may be suggested as part of on-going research projects that staff are involved with. Others have been suggestions made by external organisations that have links with the programme such as the Scottish Environment Protection Agency [SEPA], the Scotland and Northern Ireland Forum for Environmental Research [SNIFFER] and Scottish Natural Heritage [SNH]. In the majority of cases, the student defines his or her own project idea.

In 2005, the UK Environment Agency [EA] set up a prize dissertation competition that was open to any student submitting an environmental economics/policy dissertation at any UK university.

The EA asked programme directors to nominate three students from their respective MSc cohorts. Despite the fierce competition, all three candidates from the Ecological Economics MSc were awarded prizes. To put this in context, there were only five prizes in total for the whole of the UK.

Dissertation topics for the 2004-5 MSc Ecological Economics cohort are given below. Downloadable PDF files of dissertation abstracts for 2004-5 can be found here and for 2003-4 here.

• Well being, social capital, environmental attitudes and individual preference for a public good: A case study of an urban green space redevelopment
• Regulation of N Leaching from Agriculture: An Assessment of Alternative Policy Instruments for Scotland
• Towards a system of Integrated Environmental and Economic Accounts: Green Accounting for Guatemala
• Applying the Sustainable Livelihoods Approach to test for social-ecological Resilience
• Adoption of Agri-Environmental Measures: A Multi-Objective Programming Model for trade-off analysis of Scottish cereal farms
• Green Public Procurement: An economic evaluation of the Scottish Executive's car fleet
• Multi Criteria Analysis in Ecotourism: using Analytical Hierarchy Process an aid in Environmental Impact Assessment to determine factors influencing ecotourism carrying capacity in Lugu Lake Nature Reserve, China
• The long-term economic viability of Environmental Management Systems: using Multi Criteria Analysis surveying techniques to establish trends in Environmental Management System implementation and efficiency
• Public Participation under the Water Framework Directive: An Application of Fuzzy Cognitive Mapping in the Pinios River Basin in Thessaly, Greece
• The economics of flood management: A case study in the River Lossie Catchment, Scotland
• Evaluating sustainability indicators of Clean Development Mechanism Forestry projects using Multi-Criteria Analysis: Case study of Los Tuxtlas, Mexico
• The accuracy of regulatory cost estimates: A study of the London congestion Charging Scheme
• Using the Analytical Hierarchy Process to assess the sustainability of different scales of ecotourism

Careers

The programme has an excellent track record in terms of graduate employment. As has been discussed above, economic principles of efficiency and cost-effectiveness are pervasive in decision-making and thus students with a postgraduate training in their application are saught after in the recruitment market.

Former students are working in a variety of fields:

• environmental consultancies (e.g. Jacobs, ERM)
• international and governmental agencies (e.g. UNEP, World Agroforestry Centre)
• Non-Governmental Organisations (e.g. Friends of the Earth)
• Governmental Organisations (e.g. Canadian Environment Ministry, Scottish Executive)
• private sector financial institutions (e.g. AMP Capital Investors sustainable funds team, Swiss Re Insurance)
• private multinationals (e.g. BP, AngloGold)
• environmental education and research (e.g. Macauley Institute, University of Edinburgh)

Further, approximately one in four students go on to doctoral research programmes. The student's choice of course options and (in particular) the dissertation segment can be tailored toward their chosen career path.

As Programme Director, I am often contacted with questions regarding the level of vocational training provided by the Masters and the employment prospects after graduation. In February 2006, I emailed a handful of alumni to ask them if they would mind providing a brief synopsis of their current employment responsibilities and to comment on the role that the Masters has played. Their responses (and in most cases contact details) are available to download here.

Fees and Funding

The University's fees for the 2006/7 session are set out below:

• UK and EU students: University tuition fees £4100; Annual programme costs £700; Study tour costs £700.
  Total payable £5500.
• Overseas students: University tuition fees £12450; Annual programme costs £700; Study tour costs £700.
  Total payable £13850.

The Scholarships Office provides the latest information on scholarships available to applicants.

Overseas students may apply to their local office of the British Council for a Chevening Scholarship, or to other international agencies such as the World Bank.

The Programme is eligable for Shell Centenary Scholarship for graduates from non-OECD countries.

For the 2005-6 session, the Ecological Economics programme was awarded five Student Awards Agency for Scotland places. These funded places are available to Scottish applicants and EC applicants but not to other non-Scottish UK applicants.

The majority of students who take the programme are self-funding, either through savings, family support or student loans.

How to Apply

Applicants should have a University honours degree or its equivalent. Since there is an explicit ethico-social element to the course, students from a Humanities or Arts background are equally as likely to gain entry onto the programme as those from a Life Sciences or Engineering background. Related work experience is desirable although not essential. Evidence of proficiency in English must be provided by those for whom this is not their first language. Pre-programme English tuition is available at the University's Institute for Applied Language Studies.

If you have any queries or wish to submit an application form please contact the programme administrator or programme director:

Jenny Thomson
MSc Ecological Economics programme administrator
Peter Wilson Building
The University of Edinburgh
West Mains Road
Edinburgh EH9 3JG.
Tel 44 (0)131 535 4041
Fax 44 (0)131 667 2601
E-mail:

or

Salman Hussain
MSc Ecological Economics programme director
Peter Wilson Building
The University of Edinburgh
West Mains Road
Edinburgh EH9 3JG
Tel 44 (0)131 535 4307
Fax 44 (0)131 667 2601
E-mail:

If your first language is not English, you are required to satisfy the University that you have sufficient fluency to work effectively. You must, therefore, provide documentary evidence of your current English language capability. The most suitable evidence is an IELTS certificate, which can be obtained from your local office of the British Council, or alternatively its American equivalent (the TOEFL test).

The application should be supported by two referees.

Checklist

When you submit your application, it should contain:

1. A fully completed Postgraduate Application Form.
2. A completed Equal Opportunities Monitoring Form.
3. English language certificate (required only for students for whom English is not their first language).
4. Copies of transcripts or certificates of appropriate academic and/or professional qualifications.
5. A brief statement (not exceeding 250 words) explaining how you expect the Programme to assist you in achieving your career aspirations.
6. Two independent references.

A decision on whether or not to make an Offer of Admission to the programme is usually made within three weeks of the receipt of a complete application. If you do not receive a response within this time then please email the Programme Director.

As degree programmes and course units are subject to frequent review, the information contained in these pages should be considered illustrative rather than contractual. Applicants for postgraduate study should consult the Terms and Conditions of Admission set out in the Postgraduate Prospectus.