Discover a Master's in the Environment or Climate Change

[00:00:00] Speaker 1: So, if we fail to recognise the social element of the environmental issues that the world faces, we'll fail to design effective solutions. So, we really need students who are creative and critical enough to be able to engage with these environmental issues and then to find those solutions for us. There's quite a bit of overlap in the Masters of Climate Change Science and Policy, the Masters of Environmental Science and the Masters of Environmental Studies. The key element that you'll develop more so in the Masters of Environmental Studies is an understanding of the social elements of the environmental issues that we're facing around the world. [00:00:38] Alex Lowe: Climate change is one of the most pressing issues in our world. We don't have much time to wait and we need to understand the issues. We need better skills and we also need more people to study and promote climate change solutions. [00:00:56] Andrew Rees: I guess broadly with a definition of environmental science, what is an environmental scientist? I look into them as someone who is interested in Earth systems generally. So, the atmosphere, the hydrosphere, the biosphere and the lithosphere. So, someone who's interested in environmental science very much has a grounding, has a love of nature and the environment. They notice that things are kind of going astray a bit and they're using the toolkit of the scientist data collection and analysis in order to remedy those issues. Kia ora, my name is Andrew Rees and I'm a Senior Lecturer in Environmental Science at Victoria University of Wellington. [00:01:34] Alex Lowe: My name is Alex Lowe and I am Senior Lecturer in Climate Change. I am also the Program Coordinator for the Master of Climate Change Science and Policy. [00:01:42] Speaker 1: Tēnā koutou, ko Aotea te waka, ko Taranaki te maunga, ko Wanganui te awa, ko Ngā Rauru te iwi, ko Pakaraka te marae, ko Billy Van Utrecht tōkuinga. So, the introduction I just gave is a pepeha and that identifies for Māori our genealogical connections both to the landscape and to the people of the landscape. So, the Masters of Environmental Studies Program is very much about the social aspects of environmental issues. The focus is the development of these really important social sciences skill to actually engage with these environmental issues, define them well or define the human element or the societal element of them and then solutions that really focus on change in society. We have a focus on how Indigenous voices are being negotiated in contemporary environmental research policy and governance. We have environmental psychology which allows you to reflect on your own place in the environmental issues that we're talking about. Then we have environmental activism which appeals to lots of people. And then we have a focus on environmental policy as well. So, lots of different avenues for people to pursue. [00:02:56] Alex Lowe: Our Master of Climate Change Science and Policy has both science and policy components there. And the other programmes such as Master of Environmental Science focuses on the science. Whereas the Environmental Studies Master has a stronger focus on the human dimensions. We are standing in between the two programmes, addressing both dimensions, the science and policy. But at the same time, we also allow and encourage our students to select elective courses from other programmes, which means that even if you join the Master of Climate Change Science and Policy, you will be able to take some courses from the other two programmes. In fact, many of our students are also interested in environmental studies generally and also environmental science. [00:03:48] Andrew Rees: So, you'll want to have a background in science and the joy of environmental science is that it's so broad. Any discipline will do, so you could be a biologist, a physicist, a chemist, a data scientist. You'll want to have some sort of backing or background in scientific methods. But the way that we've structured the Master of Environmental Science at Victoria University of Wellington is perhaps you've been in industry or you've been working for a few years and you want to upskill. Or perhaps you've got a background more in policy and management. We've designed the Masters of Environmental Science to be pretty generalist depending on your specific situation. We're happy to take you in and teach you the skills that you need to address these environmental issues. [00:04:33] Speaker 1: So, Wellington is a great place to study in a Masters of Environmental Studies because of its explicit connections to government agencies here in Wellington being in the capital. I think that gives our students a really good sense of being able to influence not only policy but culture of Aotearoa New Zealand in terms of our environmental ethic. [00:04:54] Andrew Rees: New Zealand's an excellent place for a host of reasons. One, it's essentially a real-time sandbox. The environment is changing so drastically in so many ways. So, it's got the Southern Alps which are some of the fastest created mountains but also the fastest eroding mountains in the world because we're on plate tectonic boundaries. We're in the zonal westerlies so lots of precipitation hits New Zealand year round. So, in terms of atmospheric interplay, lithospheric interplay, it's really, really interesting. [00:05:25] Alex Lowe: Our university is the only university in New Zealand offering a specialised master programme in climate change. So, we are in a much better position in offering you the right skill sets related to climate change specifically. [00:05:42] Speaker 1: If you're interested in getting to know more about the Masters of Environmental Studies. [00:05:46] Alex Lowe: If you would like to learn more about the Masters of Climate Change Science and Policy programme. [00:05:50] Andrew Rees: If you're interested in learning more about the environment. Please get in touch with us. [00:05:54] Alex Lowe: And we welcome you in the Victoria University of Wellington. Covered up. [00:05:58] Speaker ?: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. [00:05:58] Alex Lowe: Thank you. [00:05:59] Speaker ?: Thank you.