Applications are now open for the MSc in Nature Recovery, Restoration and Rewilding.
Led by Dr. Ian Thornhill and Dr. Anna Gilchrist of the School of Environment, Education and Development at the University of Manchester, the programme will focus on current and future challenges such as biodiversity and species loss, environmental degradation and habitat destruction.
The course comprises six modules – People and Nature, Planning for Nature Recovery, Rewilding: Principles and Practice, Environmental Restoration, Methods for Ecological Analysis, and the Nature Positive Field Tour. It is hoped students will go on to make a significant contribution to mitigation efforts and help reverse growing threats to the biosphere.
‘Developing solutions to the environmental crises will require interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary approaches. From the outset, we’ll be equipping students with a diverse portfolio of learning opportunities, including lectures and seminars given by experts in transformative conservation, delivering a blend of philosophical, ethical and applied perspectives’ said Dr. Thornhill, Co-Programme Director.
‘The NR3 programme is about delivering positive change and rebuilding what’s been lost. We want to work with students from a range of disciplines and backgrounds to explore how we can give autonomy back to nature,’ he continued.
According to the United Nations, we are now halfway through ‘the decade of ecosystem restoration’, but habitat and biodiversity loss continue to increase. Meanwhile, our systemic understandings of the importance of protection and restoration of nature is often limited with policy stifled by economic limitations and a lack of awareness among the electorate, albeit concern is growing.
‘For too long, humans have viewed nature as something that should be at our mercy, eradicating anything that is messy, disruptive or poses a threat. We are finally being shown the reality that we are at the mercy of nature, and that our systematic dismantling of ecosystems, now threatens humanity itself,’ said Dr. Gilchrist, Co-Programme Director of MSc Nature Recovery, Restoration and Rewilding.
‘Current generations must act now – going beyond saving what little we have left, to actively working to put back what we have taken away,’ she continued. ‘We have to do this, not just by understanding the natural science of how to transform ecosystems, but also by changing the hearts and minds of people – this Masters is all about showing students how to do both.’
More details and information on how to apply for the University of Manchester’s MSc Nature Recovery, Restoration and Rewilding can be found here.
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Image: University of Manchester