Environment, Climate & Sustainability

The Environment, Climate & Sustainability Training Pathway, consisting of Durham, Newcastle, Northumbria, Teesside and Queen’s University Belfast, will bring together interdisciplinary expertise with a distinctive social science focus.

The pathway, made up of 13 different department/schools across the five Universities, will all approach this pathway in an unique way focusing on the significant Global Challenge and ESRCs strategic priority area of climate change and sustainability.

Students who do not have a Masters will take the full Masters in Research Methods Masters (MARM) prior to beginning their PhD studies. Applicants who have a non-ESRC accredited Masters qualification will take the 60 credit PG Cert in Research Methods.

Northumbria University

The Environment, Climate and Sustainability pathway at Northumbria is located within the Department of Geography and Environmental Sciences which offers a rich research environment for ambitious, cross-disciplinary and imaginative proposals for PhD study. The Department brings together the subject areas of Human Geography, Environmental Sciences and Physical Geography, with scholars working on a wide range of subjects related to global development; the climate crisis and climate adaptation; energy futures; ecology; biodiversity; nature-based solutions and responses to environmental degradation; volunteering, activism, and civil society. Our research expertise spans diverse geographical regions and ecosystems (air, land and water), including across Europe, Asia, the Americas, Africa, and the Polar regions.

We encourage PhD proposals which seek to understand the diverse ways in which individuals, communities, policymakers, and civil society are impacted by and responding to the challenges of environmental degradation and pollution, the climate crisis, large-scale resource extraction, biodiversity and habitat loss, water scarcity, conflict, migration and displacement, and how they are envisioning more just and sustainable development futures. Interdisciplinary proposals that aim to work across Human Geography, Environmental Sciences and/or Physical Geography are especially welcome.

If you would like further information, please feel free to contact departments directly.