MSc Sustainable Agriculture and Food Security

You will gain a broader understanding of relevant issues through knowledge acquisition, intellectual enquiry, debate, and team/individual research.

In addition to lectures, you will participate in case studies, seminars and management projects. This approach fosters teamwork and complements individual study and student learning.

The in-person teaching sessions are timetabled on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays, with core modules mainly on Tuesdays and Thursdays each week. This means your presence on campus would depend on a combination of your elective modules and core modules each semester. This scheduling allows you to fulfil other commitments you may have, such as work, family and interests. For part-time students the module sessions are timetabled with fewer days a week.

The modules available for this course are shown below. They may change for your year of study as we regularly review our module offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Modules

• 4038a Integrated Agricultural Systems: Explore complex systems including agroforestry, regenerative agriculture and vertical farming
• 4201 Poverty and Food Security: Examine the inter-relationships between poverty and food security
• 4250 International Rural Development: Critically engage with normative and historical concepts of development theory and practice
• 4409 Facing the global challenges in food and agriculture: Discuss challenges affecting food production, including the global population increase and the energy crisis
• 4413 Research Skills: Develop research competencies related to data collection and analysis
• 4727 Managing Global Soils in a Changing Climate: Understand the fundamentals of soil processes key to protecting this precious resource
• 4414 Research Dissertation: Undertake an independent research project with guidance from a supervisor

PLUS a choice of THREE elective modules (all modules 15 credits each):

• 4203 Small Scale Farming and Local Food Supply: Examine how small scale farmers contribute to food systems on a national and global scale
• 4262 Sustainable Business Strategy: Investigate how businesses can embed sustainability into their core business models
• 4263 Entrepreneurship and Business Planning: Understand and critically evaluate the linkages between entrepreneurship and venture creation, development and growth
• 4278 Organic Systems: Understand the agroecological principles and practices of organic systems
• 4722 Climate Change and Sustainability: Critically assess the causes and impacts of climate change
• 4723 Crop Technology and Innovation: Gain an understanding of the various technologies applied to improve crop production globally
• 4724 Environmental Science in Agriculture: Develop practical skills in interpreting environmental data within agricultural contexts
• 4725 Environmental Technology and Innovation: Develop creative solutions for sustainable farming landscape transformation
• 4726 Livestock Production Technology and Innovation: Appraise the science behind different livestock technologies and evaluate their benefits, disadvantages and applications in different real-life systems

The availability of electives to individual students will be dependent on timetabling considerations and on sufficient students electing to take part.

Disclaimer information

The University has established various rules and regulations that you must agree to and follow if you accept an offer to study with us. View our full disclaimer notice.

• International organisations - United Nations (UN), Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) etc
• Government departments in various countries
• NGOs internationally - Envrionment Agency, National Farmers' Union (NFU), Country Landowners Association (CLA) etc
• Research institutes​

"Every module was a new adventure, taking us from our familiar UK landscape right across the world. Led by academics who were extremely knowledgeable and very often leaders in their field, it was also packed with opportunities for independent research and problem solving. I cannot recommend this course more highly.
Life changing."

Iris McCormick, Graduate

We welcome applications from applicants with non-standard qualifications who are able to demonstrate knowledge, experience and skills developed in the workplace or elsewhere and which are relevant to the programme of study. Applicants will need to use their personal statement to provide further details supported by a CV. All non-standard applications will be considered by the Programme Manager on a case-by-case basis and applicants can expect that an interview may be required as part of the admissions process.

If English is not your first language, you will need to reach the requirements outlined in our English language requirements for the level of study. For postgraduate taught programmes this is IELTS Academic min. overall 6.5 with no element below 5.5 (or equivalent). English language tests usually have a validity of two years from the date the test is taken.

Offers will typically be made in line with the academic requirements set out above. Offers can be conditional or unconditional. An unconditional offer will be made to applicants who have already met the conditions and provided evidence that conditions have been met. Where academic or language requirements have not yet been fulfilled, applicants will receive a conditional offer stating the requirements that must be met. 

2024-25 Applicants

For the academic year 2024-25 the tuition fees for this course are:  

Tuition fees may be subject to an inflationary increase each year as set out in our Access and Participation Plan 2019/20.

For full details, please visit the fees and funding webpage.

Please note: International students can study on a part-time basis only if they are in the UK with a different type of visa (other than Student Visa/Tier 4 General) that allows them to undertake part-time study and their visa does not expire prior to the end date of the proposed course of study.

Scholarships

The University offers a range of generous fee waivers and bursaries. To find out more about the scholarships, awards and bursaries available, please visit the scholarships webpage.