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Master of Arts (Honours) Sustainable Development


MA (Hons) Sustainable Development: First Year
Code Module name Credits
SD1000 What is Sustainable Development? 20 AND
SD1004 Sustainable Development Goals: Challenges & Opportunities 20 AND
80 credits from Level 1000 options

Further requirements

Choose 120 credits in the academic year

Sufficient credits from 2000-level modules in a partner subject with passes at the grade required to permit entry to Honours in that subject (exceptions to this may only be made with the permission of the relevant Director of Teaching).
MA (Hons) Sustainable Development: Second Year
Code Module name Credits
^ SD2005 From Sustainable Development to Human Security 20 AND
^ SD2006 Changing Natures 20 AND
^ SD2100 Sustainable Scotland 20 AND
60 credits from Levels 1000 and 2000 options

Further requirements

Choose 120 credits in the academic year
Choose a minimum of 80 Level 2000 credits

Sufficient credits from 2000-level modules in a partner subject with passes at the grade required to permit entry to Honours in that subject (exceptions to this may only be made with the permission of the relevant Director of Teaching).

Automatic entry to Honours requires

  • passes in modules marked ^

Entry to Honours

Students who meet the requirements specified above, and who meet all other programme requirements, will be given automatic entry into Honours programmes.

See: www.st-andrews.ac.uk/students/academic/academic-advising/glossary/honours-entry/ )

MA Honours

The general requirements are 480 credits over a period of normally four years (and not more than five years) or part-time equivalent, of which the final two years form an approved Honours programme of 240 credits, of which 90 credits are at 4000 or 5000 level and at least a further 120 credits at 3000 and/or 4000 or 5000 levels.

MA (Hons) Sustainable Development: Third Year
Code Module name Credits
SD3101 Developing a Sustainable Development Research Proposal 10 AND
( SD3102 Sustainable Development Field Course 20 OR
SD3103 Field Course for Sustainable Development - East Africa
Not running in 2025-2026 		20 ) AND
View list At least 10 credits from Module List: GG3206 - GG3212 AND
GG3206 Quantitative Methods for Social Scientists 10
GG3207 Qualitative Methods for Human Geographers 10
GG3208 Survey Design 10
GG3209 Spatial Analysis with GIS 10
GG3210 Remote Sensing 10
GG3211 Research Design and Methods for Physical Geography 10
GG3212 Data Analysis for Physical Geography 10
Note:
- Not all modules are available in every academic year and/or semester
- Individual modules may have requisites to satisfy to be eligible to select them

For further details, see the module catalogue entry for each individual module above
View list Between 30 and 90 credits from Module List: SD3111 - SD4226 AND
SD3111 Home and Energy Geographies 30
SD3223 Navigating the Complexity of Coupled Social and Ecological Systems 20
SD4110 Transitioning to Sustainability: Community, Nature and Governance 30
SD4111 Coasts and Seas: Conservation and Planning for Sustainable Futures 30
SD4116 Building Sustainable, Inclusive and Just Cities 30
SD4117 The Blue Economy and Maritime Security Intersections and Interdependence 30
SD4118 Extractive Environments 30
SD4120 Valuing Environments 30
SD4124 Sustainable Catchment Management 30
SD4125 Biocultural Diversity: Understanding Ecosystem Change in the Anthropocene 30
SD4126 Sustainable Populations 30
SD4127 Environment and Health 30
SD4128 Coordinating a Humanitarian Disaster Response 30
SD4129 Digital Inequalities and Sustainable Development: Trends, Patterns, and Implications 30
SD4130 Communication and Visualisation for Sustainable Development 30
SD4131 Critical Dimensions of Environmental Management 30
SD4132 Extreme Events and Society in a Changing Climate 30
SD4133 Migration and Sustainable Development: Displacement, policy and lived realities 30
SD4225 Green Politics: Theory and Practice 30
SD4226 Global Health Disparities 30
Note:
- Not all modules are available in every academic year and/or semester
- Individual modules may have requisites to satisfy to be eligible to select them

For further details, see the module catalogue entry for each individual module above
View list Between 0 and 60 credits from Module List: Sustainable Development Partner Modules
BL3000 Field Course 10
BL3308 Methods in Aquatic Biology 20
BL3309 Ecosystems and Conservation 20
BL3316 Co-Evolution: Living Together 20
BL3318 Biology of Marine Organisms 20
BL3320 Statistical and Quantitative Skills for Biologists 10
BL4251 Tropical Marine Biology 15
BL4254 Fisheries Research 15
BL4255 Marine and Environmental Biotechnology 15
BL4258 Foraging in Marine Mammals 15
BL4260 Biological Oceanography 15
BL4262 Environmental Drivers of Marine Habitats 15
BL4266 Conservation Research Methods 15
BL4268 Science Communication of Biodiversity and Conservation 15
BL4270 Plant-Environment Interactions 15
BL4281 Animal Communication and Cognition 15
BL4274 Evolutionary Developmental Biology 15
BL4278 Biology of Dinosaurs and Other Extinct Vertebrates 15
BL4281 Animal Communication and Cognition 15
BL4282 Biology and Behaviour of Social Insects 15
BL4285 Complex Systems in Animal Behaviour 15
EN3202 Literature and Ecology 30
FM4110 Images and Impact: The Uses of Film 30
FM4113 Ecocinema: The Nature of Film 30
ID4001 Communication and Teaching in Science 15
ID4002 Communication and Teaching in Arts and Humanities 15
MN4227 Corporate Social Responsibility, Accountability and Reporting 20
MN4238 Sustainable Development and Management 20
MN4266 Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs): Contexts, Contributions, and Challenges 20
MO3338 Disease and the Environment (c. 1500 - 2000) 30
SA3062 Anthropology, Indigenous Peoples and Resource Extraction 30
GG3280 Geopolitics 30
GG3281 Quaternary Environmental Change 30
GG3283 Migration and Mobilities 30
GG4243 Geographies of Race, Racialisation and Racism 30
GG4244 Decolonial Geographies 30
GG4245 Biogeography and the Earth System 30
GG4246 Geographies of Disability 30
GG4247 Geographies of Health in sub-Saharan Africa 30
GG4248 The Nature of Political Ecology 30
GG4249 Placing Peru: A Decolonial Development Geography 30
GG4250 Diversity, Inequality and Place 30
GG4251 Volcanic Ash: Dispersal, Impacts and Applications 30
GG4252 Ice and Climate 30
GG4253 Cultural Geographies of Climate Activism 30
GG4254 Health and Social Inequalities Across the Life Course 30
GG4255 Geographies of Urban Housing 30
GG4256 Coastal Processes 30
GG4257 Urban Analytics: A Toolkit for Sustainable Urban Development 30
GG4258 Water in the Environment 30
GG4259 Glaciology 30
GG4260 Social Infrastructure and Urban (Re)development 30
VP3010 Vertically Integrated Project: Biodiversity Literacy 30
VP3015 Vertically Integrated Project: Biodiversity Literacy 30
VP3040 Vertically Integrated Project: Explaining Climate Impacts: Using Filmmaking to Explain Climate Change 30
VP3045 Vertically Integrated Project: Explaining Climate Impacts: Using Filmmaking to Explain Climate Change 30
VP3080 Vertically Integrated Project: Looking after Eden 30
VP3085 Vertically Integrated Project: Looking after Eden 30
VP3110 Vertically Integrated Project: Mutual Aid Clinic 30
VP3115 Vertically Integrated Project: Mutual Aid Clinic 30
VP3030 Vertically Integrated Project: Dolphin Acoustics at the Interface of Biology and Computer Science 30
VP3035 Vertically Integrated Project: Dolphin Acoustics at the Interface of Biology and Computer Science 30
VP3070 Vertically Integrated Project: Housing in St Andrews 30
VP3075 Vertically Integrated Project: Housing in St Andrews 30
VP4010 Vertically Integrated Project: Biodiversity Literacy 30
VP4015 Vertically Integrated Project: Biodiversity Literacy 30
VP4040 Vertically Integrated Project: Explaining Climate Impacts: Using Filmmaking to Explain Climate Change 30
VP4045 Vertically Integrated Project: Explaining Climate Impacts: Using Filmmaking to Explain Climate Change 30
VP4080 Vertically Integrated Project: Looking after Eden 30
VP4085 Vertically Integrated Project: Looking after Eden 30
VP4110 Vertically Integrated Project: Mutual Aid Clinic 30
VP4115 Vertically Integrated Project: Mutual Aid Clinic 30
VP4030 Vertically Integrated Project: Dolphin Acoustics at the Interface of Biology and Computer Science 30
VP4035 Vertically Integrated Project: Dolphin Acoustics at the Interface of Biology and Computer Science 30
VP4070 Vertically Integrated Project: Housing in St Andrews 30
VP4075 Vertically Integrated Project: Housing in St Andrews 30
Note:
- Not all modules are available in every academic year and/or semester
- Individual modules may have requisites to satisfy to be eligible to select them

For further details, see the module catalogue entry for each individual module above

Further requirements

Choose between 120 to 160 credits in academic year

By the end of Year 4 students should have at least 240 credits at 3000 and 4000 level, of which least 120 credits in SD coded modules at 3000 and 4000 level, 90 of which must be at 4000 level; Up to 120 credits may come from partner subject list across both years of honours.
MA (Hons) Sustainable Development: Fourth Year
Code Module name Credits
SD4297 Dissertation in Sustainable Development 30 AND
View list Between 30 and 90 credits from Module List: SD3111 - SD4226 AND
SD3111 Home and Energy Geographies 30
SD3223 Navigating the Complexity of Coupled Social and Ecological Systems 20
SD4110 Transitioning to Sustainability: Community, Nature and Governance 30
SD4111 Coasts and Seas: Conservation and Planning for Sustainable Futures 30
SD4116 Building Sustainable, Inclusive and Just Cities 30
SD4117 The Blue Economy and Maritime Security Intersections and Interdependence 30
SD4118 Extractive Environments 30
SD4120 Valuing Environments 30
SD4124 Sustainable Catchment Management 30
SD4125 Biocultural Diversity: Understanding Ecosystem Change in the Anthropocene 30
SD4126 Sustainable Populations 30
SD4127 Environment and Health 30
SD4128 Coordinating a Humanitarian Disaster Response 30
SD4129 Digital Inequalities and Sustainable Development: Trends, Patterns, and Implications 30
SD4130 Communication and Visualisation for Sustainable Development 30
SD4131 Critical Dimensions of Environmental Management 30
SD4132 Extreme Events and Society in a Changing Climate 30
SD4133 Migration and Sustainable Development: Displacement, policy and lived realities 30
SD4225 Green Politics: Theory and Practice 30
SD4226 Global Health Disparities 30
Note:
- Not all modules are available in every academic year and/or semester
- Individual modules may have requisites to satisfy to be eligible to select them

For further details, see the module catalogue entry for each individual module above
View list Between 0 and 60 credits from Module List: Sustainable Development Partner Modules
BL3000 Field Course 10
BL3308 Methods in Aquatic Biology 20
BL3309 Ecosystems and Conservation 20
BL3316 Co-Evolution: Living Together 20
BL3318 Biology of Marine Organisms 20
BL3320 Statistical and Quantitative Skills for Biologists 10
BL4251 Tropical Marine Biology 15
BL4254 Fisheries Research 15
BL4255 Marine and Environmental Biotechnology 15
BL4258 Foraging in Marine Mammals 15
BL4260 Biological Oceanography 15
BL4262 Environmental Drivers of Marine Habitats 15
BL4266 Conservation Research Methods 15
BL4268 Science Communication of Biodiversity and Conservation 15
BL4270 Plant-Environment Interactions 15
BL4281 Animal Communication and Cognition 15
BL4274 Evolutionary Developmental Biology 15
BL4278 Biology of Dinosaurs and Other Extinct Vertebrates 15
BL4281 Animal Communication and Cognition 15
BL4282 Biology and Behaviour of Social Insects 15
BL4285 Complex Systems in Animal Behaviour 15
EN3202 Literature and Ecology 30
FM4110 Images and Impact: The Uses of Film 30
FM4113 Ecocinema: The Nature of Film 30
ID4001 Communication and Teaching in Science 15
ID4002 Communication and Teaching in Arts and Humanities 15
MN4227 Corporate Social Responsibility, Accountability and Reporting 20
MN4238 Sustainable Development and Management 20
MN4266 Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs): Contexts, Contributions, and Challenges 20
MO3338 Disease and the Environment (c. 1500 - 2000) 30
SA3062 Anthropology, Indigenous Peoples and Resource Extraction 30
GG3280 Geopolitics 30
GG3281 Quaternary Environmental Change 30
GG3283 Migration and Mobilities 30
GG4243 Geographies of Race, Racialisation and Racism 30
GG4244 Decolonial Geographies 30
GG4245 Biogeography and the Earth System 30
GG4246 Geographies of Disability 30
GG4247 Geographies of Health in sub-Saharan Africa 30
GG4248 The Nature of Political Ecology 30
GG4249 Placing Peru: A Decolonial Development Geography 30
GG4250 Diversity, Inequality and Place 30
GG4251 Volcanic Ash: Dispersal, Impacts and Applications 30
GG4252 Ice and Climate 30
GG4253 Cultural Geographies of Climate Activism 30
GG4254 Health and Social Inequalities Across the Life Course 30
GG4255 Geographies of Urban Housing 30
GG4256 Coastal Processes 30
GG4257 Urban Analytics: A Toolkit for Sustainable Urban Development 30
GG4258 Water in the Environment 30
GG4259 Glaciology 30
GG4260 Social Infrastructure and Urban (Re)development 30
VP3010 Vertically Integrated Project: Biodiversity Literacy 30
VP3015 Vertically Integrated Project: Biodiversity Literacy 30
VP3040 Vertically Integrated Project: Explaining Climate Impacts: Using Filmmaking to Explain Climate Change 30
VP3045 Vertically Integrated Project: Explaining Climate Impacts: Using Filmmaking to Explain Climate Change 30
VP3080 Vertically Integrated Project: Looking after Eden 30
VP3085 Vertically Integrated Project: Looking after Eden 30
VP3110 Vertically Integrated Project: Mutual Aid Clinic 30
VP3115 Vertically Integrated Project: Mutual Aid Clinic 30
VP3030 Vertically Integrated Project: Dolphin Acoustics at the Interface of Biology and Computer Science 30
VP3035 Vertically Integrated Project: Dolphin Acoustics at the Interface of Biology and Computer Science 30
VP3070 Vertically Integrated Project: Housing in St Andrews 30
VP3075 Vertically Integrated Project: Housing in St Andrews 30
VP4010 Vertically Integrated Project: Biodiversity Literacy 30
VP4015 Vertically Integrated Project: Biodiversity Literacy 30
VP4040 Vertically Integrated Project: Explaining Climate Impacts: Using Filmmaking to Explain Climate Change 30
VP4045 Vertically Integrated Project: Explaining Climate Impacts: Using Filmmaking to Explain Climate Change 30
VP4080 Vertically Integrated Project: Looking after Eden 30
VP4085 Vertically Integrated Project: Looking after Eden 30
VP4110 Vertically Integrated Project: Mutual Aid Clinic 30
VP4115 Vertically Integrated Project: Mutual Aid Clinic 30
VP4030 Vertically Integrated Project: Dolphin Acoustics at the Interface of Biology and Computer Science 30
VP4035 Vertically Integrated Project: Dolphin Acoustics at the Interface of Biology and Computer Science 30
VP4070 Vertically Integrated Project: Housing in St Andrews 30
VP4075 Vertically Integrated Project: Housing in St Andrews 30
Note:
- Not all modules are available in every academic year and/or semester
- Individual modules may have requisites to satisfy to be eligible to select them

For further details, see the module catalogue entry for each individual module above

Further requirements

Choose 120 credits in academic year

By the end of Year 4 students should have at least 240 credits at 3000 and 4000 level, of which least 120 credits in SD coded modules at 3000 and 4000 level, 90 of which must be at 4000 level; Up to 120 credits may come from partner subject list across both years of honours.

Study abroad

In the case of students who spend part of the Honours programme on a recognised Study Abroad scheme, the Programme Requirements will be amended to take into account overseas courses which are approved by the relevant St Andrews School in the Learning Agreement (see www.st-andrews.ac.uk/students/study-abroad/academic ).