MSc Climate Change

The MSc Climate Change offers students a solid grounding in the physical basis of climate change as well as introducing strategies to adapt to and mitigate against its impacts and consequences. UCL Geography has expertise ranging from reconstructing past climates, through global modelling to adapting future water resources in Africa.

Overview

There is a pressing national and international need to understand the nature and consequences of climatic change and to develop adaptation strategies. The UCL Climate Change MSc Programme provides rigorous scientific and vocational training for the next generation of climate change professionals. Students will acquire knowledge and understanding of the Earth System (atmosphere, hydrosphere, biosphere, lithosphere) and the nature and causes of climate variability and change.

The Programme combines empirically-based climate and environmental science with state of the art modelling, specifically that concerned with understanding the impacts of climate change. The Programme seeks to place climate change within the context of broader anthropogenic environmental change, and social policy dimensions.

The Programme provides an ideal foundation for PhD research, or for employment with a wide range of private industries, NGOs, government agencies and environmental consultancies.

Structure

The MSc Climate Change is completed over one year (calendar) full time. All students study four core modules in the first term (autumn) to build a solid knowledge about the fundamentals of climate science. In term two (spring) students take four advanced courses from a range of options. Students subsequently undertake a piece of original research leading to a dissertation of up to 12,000 words (60 credits) with the support of an academic supervisor.

COMPULSORY MODULES (Term One)

Module code	Module title	UCL Credit value
GEOG0044	Global Environmental Change	15 credits
GEOG0109	Models in Environmental Science	15 credits
GEOG0118	Climate Dynamics	15 credits
GEOG0120	Past Climates	15 credits

OPTIONAL MODULES (Term Two)

The four optional modules are normally selected from the following list, but not exclusively so. Due to sabbaticals and staff changes, not all modules are available every year, and module availability is subject to change. If you have questions relating to a specific optional module available in the forthcoming year, please contact the course convenor.

Module code	Module title	UCL Credit value
GEOG0035	Environmental GIS	15 credits
GEOG0067	Surface Water Modelling	15 credits
GEOG0083	Politics of Climate Change	15 credits
GEOG0099	Cities and Climate Change	15 credits
GEOG0101	Ocean Circulation and Climate Change	15 credits
GEOG0112	Climate Change Impacts to Hydro-ecological Systems	15 credits
GEOG0113	Terrestrial Carbon: Modelling and Monitoring	15 credits
GEOG0121	Climate Modelling	15 credits
GEOG0122	Biological Indicators of Environmental Change	15 credits
GEOG0123	Climate Proxies	15 credits

Students on the MSc Programme embark on a Dissertation (60 credits) in May, which lasts until the end of the programme in September. The Department enjoys strong links with industry, and projects are regularly carried out in collaboration with organisations outside the college. With the range of expertise available in the department and across UCL, this leads to a very wide variety of possible topics for investigation.

People

Chris Brierley Associate Professor Programme Convenor Chris convenes the Climate Change MSc programme. His research revolves around the use of earth system models to answer questions about past and future climate change. His ongoing work for the Palaeoclimate Model Intercomparison (Climate of the Past, 2020) forms part of the past climate communities contribution to the upcoming Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change's 6th Assessment Report.
Anson Mackay Professor of Environmental Change Anson works in the Environmental Change Research Centre and the Palaeoclimate Research Group within the Department of Geography. For over 20 years he has worked on assessing human and climatic impacts on some of the world’s most important freshwater ecosystems, including Lake Baikal and the Aral Sea in central Asia, and the Okavango Delta in southern Africa. Key to much of this work is the use biological organisms and stable isotopes to reconstruct past environments.
Jon French Professor of Physical Geography Jon directs the Coastal and Estuarine Research Unit. His research interests extend across coastal, estuarine and lacustrine environments and mainly concern the dynamics of coupled natural, socio-economic and engineered infrastructral systems and their resilience to geohazards and climate change. He has expertise in hydrodynamic and physical process modelling, data-driven 'machine learning' methods, and behavioural system modelling.
Chronis Tzedakis Professor of Physical Geography Chronis joined UCL in 2009 as Professor of Physical Geography. He has been a pioneer in the study of long terrestrial sequences, documenting the response of vegetation to orbital- and millennial-scale climate variability and the importance of glacial tree refugia as museums and cradles of biodiversity. His work has shed light on when interglacials occur and how long they last, contributing towards an extended Milankovitch theory of ice ages.
Helene Burningham Reader in Physical Geography The central focus of Helene's research is to explain coastal behaviour, system dynamics and mechanisms of forcing over decadal to century timescales. In particular, her research explores the relative importance of intrinsic system control versus external climate forcing on the geomorphology and morphodynamics of coastal sedimentary systems.
Sam Randalls Associate Professor Sam has worked at UCL since 2007. His research interests are at the interface of business, science and the environment, with a particular focus on weather and climate. Recent research focuses on the development of 19th century weather-related insurance and histories of climate policies.
Pushpa Arabindoo Associate Professor in Geography & Urban Design Pushpa Arabindoo is a co-director of UCL Urban Laboratory where she leads the priority theme of Wasteland. With an undergraduate degree in Architecture, an MS in Urban Design and a PhD in Planning, her work assumes an inter-disciplinary approach to urban studies, drawing from engineering and natural sciences to humanities and the social sciences. Her research is set in the Indian city of Chennai where she has investigated a range of issues from middle-class activism to subaltern politics and ecological imaginaries around nature, water and waste.
David Thornalley Associate Professor David is Deputy Chair of the Physical Geography MSc programmes and Deputy Director of the London NERC DTP. His research investigates the role of the ocean in the climate system. Recent work (Nature, 2018; GRL, 2020) is revealing the exceptional nature of industrial era changes in Atlantic circulation and ecosystems.
Richard Taylor Professor of Hydrogeology Richard's research seeks to inform sustainable, safe water supplies in low-income countries. From 2009 to 2018, he led a global (IAH) Commission on Groundwater and Climate Change and is currently a contributing author to two chapters of the IPCC's 6th Assessment Report, Water Cycle Changes and Africa.
Philip Lewis Professor of Remote Sensing The main focus of Philip's research is monitoring vegetation using Earth Observation methods. He has built a focus, in his own work and that of his research group, around developing and applying new methods in this area, with a key emphasis on moving the field from loose empirical correlations to making use of physically-based models.
Viv Jones Professor of Environmental Change Viv uses fossils preserved in lake sediments to infer recent and Holocene environmental change in a range of environments from Madagascar to Svalbard; she has investigated the effects of pollution in Scotland, carbon burial in Greenland and biodiversity changes in Russia. She is an expert in the identification of diatom algae and enjoys teaching how these fossils can be widely used to reconstruct past environments.
Jonathan Holmes Professor of Physical Geography Jonathan is Director of the Environmental Change Research Centre. His research is concerned with reconstruction of late Pleistocene and Holocene climate using lake sediments, abrupt climate change, human–climate interactions and data–model comparisons. He has authored over 100 publications and supervised/co-supervised 21 PhD students.

Chris Brierley
Associate Professor
Programme Convenor

Chris convenes the Climate Change MSc programme. His research revolves around the use of earth system models to answer questions about past and future climate change. His ongoing work for the Palaeoclimate Model Intercomparison (Climate of the Past, 2020) forms part of the past climate communities contribution to the upcoming Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change's 6th Assessment Report.

Anson Mackay
Professor of Environmental Change

Anson works in the Environmental Change Research Centre and the Palaeoclimate Research Group within the Department of Geography. For over 20 years he has worked on assessing human and climatic impacts on some of the world’s most important freshwater ecosystems, including Lake Baikal and the Aral Sea in central Asia, and the Okavango Delta in southern Africa. Key to much of this work is the use biological organisms and stable isotopes to reconstruct past environments.

Jon French
Professor of Physical Geography

Jon directs the Coastal and Estuarine Research Unit. His research interests extend across coastal, estuarine and lacustrine environments and mainly concern the dynamics of coupled natural, socio-economic and engineered infrastructral systems and their resilience to geohazards and climate change. He has expertise in hydrodynamic and physical process modelling, data-driven 'machine learning' methods, and behavioural system modelling.

Chronis Tzedakis
Professor of Physical Geography

Chronis joined UCL in 2009 as Professor of Physical Geography. He has been a pioneer in the study of long terrestrial sequences, documenting the response of vegetation to orbital- and millennial-scale climate variability and the importance of glacial tree refugia as museums and cradles of biodiversity. His work has shed light on when interglacials occur and how long they last, contributing towards an extended Milankovitch theory of ice ages.

Helene Burningham
Reader in Physical Geography

The central focus of Helene's research is to explain coastal behaviour, system dynamics and mechanisms of forcing over decadal to century timescales. In particular, her research explores the relative importance of intrinsic system control versus external climate forcing on the geomorphology and morphodynamics of coastal sedimentary systems.

Sam Randalls
Associate Professor

Sam has worked at UCL since 2007. His research interests are at the interface of business, science and the environment, with a particular focus on weather and climate. Recent research focuses on the development of 19th century weather-related insurance and histories of climate policies.

pushpa-arabindoo Pushpa Arabindoo
Associate Professor in Geography & Urban Design

Pushpa Arabindoo is a co-director of UCL Urban Laboratory where she leads the priority theme of Wasteland. With an undergraduate degree in Architecture, an MS in Urban Design and a PhD in Planning, her work assumes an inter-disciplinary approach to urban studies, drawing from engineering and natural sciences to humanities and the social sciences. Her research is set in the Indian city of Chennai where she has investigated a range of issues from middle-class activism to subaltern politics and ecological imaginaries around nature, water and waste.

David Thornalley
Associate Professor

David is Deputy Chair of the Physical Geography MSc programmes and Deputy Director of the London NERC DTP. His research investigates the role of the ocean in the climate system. Recent work (Nature, 2018; GRL, 2020) is revealing the exceptional nature of industrial era changes in Atlantic circulation and ecosystems.

Richard Taylor
Professor of Hydrogeology

Richard's research seeks to inform sustainable, safe water supplies in low-income countries. From 2009 to 2018, he led a global (IAH) Commission on Groundwater and Climate Change and is currently a contributing author to two chapters of the IPCC's 6th Assessment Report, Water Cycle Changes and Africa.

Philip Lewis
Professor of Remote Sensing

The main focus of Philip's research is monitoring vegetation using Earth Observation methods. He has built a focus, in his own work and that of his research group, around developing and applying new methods in this area, with a key emphasis on moving the field from loose empirical correlations to making use of physically-based models.

Viv Jones
Professor of Environmental Change

Viv uses fossils preserved in lake sediments to infer recent and Holocene environmental change in a range of environments from Madagascar to Svalbard; she has investigated the effects of pollution in Scotland, carbon burial in Greenland and biodiversity changes in Russia. She is an expert in the identification of diatom algae and enjoys teaching how these fossils can be widely used to reconstruct past environments.

Jonathan Holmes
Professor of Physical Geography

Jonathan is Director of the Environmental Change Research Centre. His research is concerned with reconstruction of late Pleistocene and Holocene climate using lake sediments, abrupt climate change, human–climate interactions and data–model comparisons. He has authored over 100 publications and supervised/co-supervised 21 PhD students.

Fees and funding

Information on fees and funding can be found on the main UCL website.

Applications

You can apply for a place on this Programme via UCL Admissions.

Potential applicants are expected to have a First or Upper Second-Class Honours degree in a relevant discipline (e.g. Environmental Science, Geography, Oceanography, Biology, Chemistry or Engineering) from a UK university or an overseas qualification of an equivalent standard. Applicants with relevant professional experience in climate science or environmental management will also be considered. Formal qualifications in mathematics are not a prerequisite for entry to the programme but students are expected to have an aptitude for mathematical studies and if necessary to undertake revision prior to the start of the programme. Academic enquiries may be emailed to the Geography Department. Overseas applicants will need a recognised English language qualification. Further information relating to your country and UCL can be found on the international prospective students website. To find out if your degree is recognised by UCL please contact UCL Admissions.

Careers

Graduate careers are diverse and include environmental consultancy, catastrophe modelling, government planning and PhD research. Take a look at our Careers page to see where some of our students have gone on to work.

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