Literature and the Environment Cardiff University

Overview

In an age defined by multiple environmental crises, including a worsening climate emergency, it is more urgent than ever that we interrogate, disrupt and reform the ideas of nature and environment that shape our environmental policies and behaviours.

Our MA in Literature and the Environment will equip you to become an impactful voice in our environmental future. This innovative programme is taught by research-active academics working in a wide range of literatures and periods within the new and dynamic field of literature and the environment. Staff research expertise covers a diverse range of literary, theoretical and interdisciplinary work, including medieval, romantic, 20th-century and contemporary literatures, Welsh literature, literature and science, and ecocritical theory. We offer expert teaching and supervision across a wide range of areas of research specialisation and our programme of study provides a comprehensive and varied research-led introduction to this exciting new field.

This programme is comprehensive and diverse and is underpinned by our research expertise and excellence. It offers breadth and depth in terms of the texts and the periods covered, as well as the methodologies to which you’ll be introduced.

You’ll be taught by staff who are at the forefront of research across literature and the environment, giving you the chance to engage with the latest learning and current and emerging debates in the field.

We’re committed to your professional and personal development, and the skills and employability focus of our programme will help you gain the skills and practical experience to meet your career ambitions. It will prepare you for a range of academic careers specialising in literature and the environment and for environmentally focused careers outside academia. A live project opportunity will give you the chance to develop your collaborative research skills in response to an environmentally focused brief set by a local employer working in the environmental and/or cultural sector. Working in a small group, you’ll directly apply your learning working to research and respond to your brief before presenting your research and recommendations.

We’ll offer tailored support and opportunities to develop your ideas and how you present them throughout your studies. You’ll be offered the chance to present a conference-style paper on your dissertation at a conference, honing your public-speaking skills and the ways in which you articulate and introduce your ideas.

This degree programme will help you to build your skills profile, giving you highly desirable transferable skills useful for the current job market. Your research, communication, collaboration and presentation skills will be enhanced through opportunities, via teaching and assessment, to write for public and online audiences (such as writing a podcast or a blog posts), write reports, work as part of a research group, and present research.