Environmental Science

Environmental science is a broad and integrative discipline that draws on biology, chemistry, geology, geography and ecology to understand how natural systems function and how human activity is altering them. From soil degradation and air quality to water pollution, biodiversity loss and the complex dynamics of climate change, the field encompasses both the science of environmental problems and the tools and approaches needed to address them.

The University of Northampton offers this programme in a part-time format, making it accessible to students who need to fit university study around other commitments. Part-time study requires self-discipline and the ability to manage your learning over a longer timeframe, but it also allows you to develop your understanding progressively and to connect the ideas you encounter in the programme to contexts you are already engaged with, whether through work, volunteering or personal experience. The curriculum covers the scientific foundations of environmental understanding alongside applied topics in environmental assessment, management and policy.

You will develop skills in data collection and analysis, fieldwork, laboratory techniques and the communication of environmental information to different audiences.

Environmental science develops a way of thinking that is both rigorous and integrative, requiring you to hold together evidence from multiple scientific disciplines and to understand how physical, biological and human systems interact. It also develops the practical skills needed to investigate environmental conditions and to present findings that can inform management decisions.

Graduates work in environmental consultancy, conservation, local and national government, environmental regulation and inspection, ecological surveying, sustainability management, environmental education and research. The part-time route is particularly well suited to those already working in a related field who wish to formalise and deepen their scientific knowledge, or to those transitioning into environmental work from another background. Postgraduate study in environmental science, ecology, geography or sustainable development is available for those wishing to specialise further.