Environment and Society (2024)

The Environment and Society Masters programme is designed for graduates of undergraduate qualifications in social sciences, humanities, law, economics, education, management or environmental sciences. Students build on their qualifying degrees to gain advanced knowledge of environmental challenges, emergent inequalities, as well as global and local responses to environmental change. Conceptually, students learn to distinguish between different environmental perspectives and their application to concrete case studies. Students in the Master of Environment and Society complete a selection of core papers and engage in meaningful, independent research. The structure of the degree allows students to include relevant papers from other disciplines, such as environmental science, law and management, and provides an ideal way to encourage close interconnections between theory and practice across a broad range of issues and topics relevant to environment and society.

A Postgraduate Certificate (PGCert(EnvSoc)) and Postgraduate Diploma in Environment and Society (PGDip(EnvSoc)) are also available.


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  • Prescriptions for the PGCert(EnvSoc), PGDip(EnvSoc) and MEnvSoc

    To be eligible to be considered for enrolment in graduate Environment and Society papers, a student should normally have at least a B average in either the best three of their 300 level papers of their major or all the undergraduate papers of their major.

    To complete a PGCert(EnvSoc)) students must complete 60 points in papers listed for Environment and Society, including at least one of ANTHY521 or POLSC537.

    To complete a PGDip(EnvSoc) students must complete 120 points in papers listed for Environment and Society, including at least 60 points from papers in Appendix A of the MEnvSoc regulations, including at least one of ANTHY521 or POLSC537. Students may include a 30-point dissertation.

    To be admitted to the MEnvSoc, a student must have completed either:

    a) a bachelor's degree in social sciences, environmental sciences, law, economics or management and have gained at least a B grade point average in either the best three of their 300 level papers in their major or all of the undergraduate papers of their major, or

    b) A bachelor's degree with honours or a postgraduate diploma in social sciences, environmental sciences, law, economics or management and have gained at least a B grade point average across all 500 level papers.

    Completion requirements for the MEnvSoc vary according to admission criteria:

    Students admitted under a) above must complete 180 points at 500 level in Environment and Society, including at least 60 points from Appendix A of the MEnvSoc regulations, including either ANTHY521 or POLSC537, and 30-60 points from papers in Appendix A or Appendix B of the MEnvSoc regulations. Across their programme students must complete at least 45 points from the papers listed for the subject in Appendix C of the MEnvSoc regulations.

    Students admitted under b) above must complete 120 points at 500 level in Environment and Society, including 30-60 points from papers in Appendix A of the MEnvSoc regulations, including either ANTHY521 or POLSC537. Across their programme students must complete at least 45 points from the papers listed for the subject in Appendix C of the MEnvSoc regulations.

    Notes:

    1. Students admitted under a) above may, at the discretion of the programme convenors, be required to include one of the following research methodology papers in their programme of study: ANTHY515, EDUCA500, MAORI570 or MNMGT581.

    2. Students admitted under a) above may, at the discretion of the programme convenors, include up to 30 points in relevant papers outside of Appendix A or B of the MEnvSoc regulations.

  • 500 Level

    Code Paper Title Points Occurrence / Location
    ALPSS590Directed Study30.024X (Hamilton)
    This paper allows students from the Division of Arts, Law, Psychology and Social Sciences to undertake research on a specific topic related to their major under the guidance of academic staff.
    ALPSS591Research Project30.024X (Hamilton) & 24X (Tauranga)
    A research report on the findings of a theoretical or empirical or practice-led investigation (up to 12,500 words maximum).
    ALPSS592Dissertation60.024X (Hamilton) & 24X (Tauranga)
    A research report on the findings of a theoretical or empirical or practice-led investigation (up to 25,000 words maximum).
    ANTHY515Ethnographic Research Methods30.024A (Online)
    This paper provides an in depth introduction to ethnographic research, including its ethical, theoretical, and methodical components.
    ANTHY521Cultural Perspectives on Environmental Issues30.024B (Hamilton)
    This paper uses an anthropological lens to understand human-environment relations and critically engages with current environmental concerns, beliefs, practices and ideologies.
    EDUCA500Culturally Responsive Methodologies incorporating kaupapa Māori and Critical Theories30.024X (Block - Tauranga)
    Culturally Responsive Methodologies utilise kaupapa Maori and critical theoretical frameworks to develop contexts within which the researched community can define the terms for engaging, relating and co-creating new knowledge.
    ENVPL510Planning Theory15.024B (Hamilton)
    This paper discusses the various theories that influence how we plan our world. It will cover issues such as power, justice, governance, politics, neoliberalism, marxism, gender, democracy and environmental racism.
    ENVSC504Pollution and Environmental Contaminants15.024B (Hamilton)
    This paper examines the ecological effects of chemical and non-chemical pollution. Analysing online databases and the scientific literature provides practical and theoretical understanding of the impacts of pollution and methods to measure such effects.
    ENVSC505Environmental Systems: Biogeosciences across Scales15.024A (Hamilton)
    This paper examines how core concepts in the multidisciplinary field of biogeochemistry provide a systems understanding across scales.
    EVSOC593Environment and Society Thesis90.024X (Hamilton)
    An externally examined piece of written work that reports on the findings of supervised research.
    GEOGY520Human Dimensions of Environmental Change30.024B (Hamilton)
    This paper examines the increasing risks imposed on human communities by global environmental change. The paper establishes a platform for the critical analysis of human-environment relations by introducing students to important theoretical developments including the role of culture-nature dualisms, theories on population-environme...
    HISTY512Environmental History30.024A (Hamilton)
    Environmental History explores the ways in which human societies, cultures, and economies have imagined and shaped, as well as been shaped by, the natural world across time and place from the development of agriculture to 20th century environmental movements.
    LCOMM584Sustainable Futures30.024B (Hamilton)
    Individuals and organisations operate in contexts that are increasingly complex and uncertain. They face issues that are global in nature and which threaten long term sustainability. To successfully meet fast changing futures, contexts and stakeholders must be addressed. New styles of leadership and management are thus required, ac...
    MAORI502Sustainable Resource Issues30.024A (Online)
    This paper examines contemporary issues facing natural resource management among indigenous peoples with a particular focus on the experiences of Maori and Pacific peoples.
    MAORI570Te Mahi Rangahau: Māori, Pacific and Indigenous Research Methods and Issues30.024A (Online)
    This paper introduces students to a range of research issues, helps students identify and apply the most effective methodology, understand, review and apply various research methods including kaupapa Maori and indigenous epistemologies.
    MNMGT581Research Methods in Management Studies30.024A (Hamilton), 24B (Hamilton) & 24C (Online)
    This paper aims to introduce students to the assumptions underlying the different methodologies and methods for performing research in the social sciences. The focus is on interpretive, positivist, critical, and mixed methods. The paper attempts to give students the conceptual and methodological resources needed to think and conver...
    POLSC537Environmental Politics and Public Policy30.024A (Hamilton)
    This paper introduces students to the complexities and challenges of environmental policy processes, and develops skills in scholarly research on environmental policy making. A significant focus of the paper is on analysing and understanding the complex intersections of institutions, culture, science and technology, and systems of ...
    PSYCH555Environmental Psychology15.024B (Hamilton) & 24B (Tauranga)
    Provides students with theoretical and practical knowledge in Environmental Psychology, the study of the transaction between humans and their natural and built environments.
    THMGT502Tourism Development and the Environment30.024B (Hamilton)
    This paper provides students with an opportunity to learn about the tourism industry, and to appreciate the different management issues from a tourism perspective.

2024 Catalogue of Papers information current as of : 12 March 2024 7:59pm

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