Environmental Policy, Strategy and Leadership University College Dublin

Overview

The Environmental Policy, Strategy and Leadership programme from the University College Dublin takes an international perspective on environmental issues and explores the increasingly complex environmental challenges that societies and governments face across the globe, addressing contemporary environmental debates such as Climate Change, Water Policy, Energy Security and Sustainability, and Urban Resilience. 

Teaching is focused on areas and skills within environmental policy-making, and an integrated group-project module provides practice-based insights into the policy-making process. 

Students can enhance their own specialist research interests during the completion of a thesis or internship in the third trimester. 

Students may gain practical experience in policy analysis, environmental assessment, cost-benefit analysis, public participation, and risk management. Key professional skills for future career development include leadership, problem-solving, communication, media skills, report writing, group work, presentation skills and project management. UCD Environmental Policy has an established international track record as a leading research centre in environmental policy and is in the Top 150 QS World University Rankings by subject area.

Programme Outcomes

• Acknowledge the spatial consequences of policy approaches, and recognize the importance of fairness in environmental policy processes and outcomes.

• Apply their professional knowledge using tools and transferable skills to generate integrated and evidence-based responses to environmental challenges, including climate change, to achieve a more resilient and sustainable future.

• Communicate effectively verbally, graphically and through written documents and to communicate concepts, knowledge and conclusions to peers, specialist and non-specialist audiences within an interdisciplinary environment.

• Demonstrate effective research, policy analysis tools and evaluation skills and the ability to develop evidence-based policy proposals.

• On successful completion of the programme students should be able to: Appreciate environmental policy research, develop skills as autonomous researchers, and recognize the value of research as an input into improved policy making and policy implementation.

• Understand how environmental policy is operationalised within the wider political, institutional and legal frameworks, and understand the social, economic and political context that informs approaches to achieve sustainable development.

• Understand the challenges and responsibilities of assessing tradeoffs in their response to environmental challenges and be open to critically assessing, debating and reflecting on these, and acting in the interests of the common good.

• Work effectively both on their own and as part of a team in an interdisciplinary context.

Career opportunities

• To date, the graduates have been very successful in gaining employment in environment related fields in a diverse range of public, private and NGO  organisations. 

• Past graduates are now working for a number of agencies both nationally and internationally including private (e.g. Samsung Electronics; Wisetek;  Citi Bank; AWN Consulting; EnvEcon; Irish Water), public bodies (e.g. Department  of Public Expenditure and Reform; Dutch Ministry for Foreign Affairs) and NGO organisations (e.g. Jesuit Centre for Faith and Justice; Plant life Economy Foundation; Amazon Environmental Research Institute Brazil; publicpolicy.ie; Global Action plan Ireland), in a range of environmental positions (e.g. environmental consultants; policy officers; researchers; climate officers; environmental justice officers). 

• Graduates have also gone on to pursue further study (PhDs).

Accreditation

Officially accredited and/or recognized by the Department of Education and Skills, Ireland, University College Dublin is a large (20,000-24,999 students) coeducational higher education institution.