MSc Sustainability And Business

If you have a positive vision of the future, want to lead innovation and do business better – either across a large organisation or through your own startup – then our Sustainability and Business Masters degree is ideal for you.

Uniquely based outside of a business school, we are preparing you, the next generation of innovators, to think, develop and reinvent sustainable enterprises in an increasingly challenging world.

Learn what shapes the relationships between business, environment and society, and how individuals and organisations can address social and environmental problems by means of creating and developing new businesses and innovation.

You will develop specialist skills to meet the growing need for sustainable entrepreneurship and innovation. Although large corporations are more visible, real innovation in sustainability is emerging and being driven by new businesses.

Practical skills – like developing ideas and plans for new sustainable ventures, pitching to investors and acting as a change agent within large organisations – give you experience of genuine business challenges faced in the real-world.

This course is co-delivered by the Sustainability Research Institute within the School of Earth and Environment and the Leeds University Business School’s Centre for Enterprise and Entrepreneurship Studies, and during your studies you may have the chance to learn directly from award-winning academics, professionals in government, large corporations, stakeholders and entrepreneurs.

Course highlights

• Leading in the field for over 10 years, you will be taught by academics from the Sustainability Research Institute – one of the largest academic groups of sustainability experts in the world.

• Uniquely based outside a business school – you will focus on how sustainability leads business practice. You will use key interdisciplinary research methods and approaches that relate to environmental management and corporate social responsibility.

• Be taught by members of Business and Organisations for Sustainable Societies (BOSS), a leading research group in business and sustainability.

• Study modules taught by the Leeds University Business School through the Centre for Enterprise and Entrepreneurship Studies.

• Join a truly global School – think beyond Leeds and gain a wider perspective by studying alongside students and academics from across the world.

• Opportunities for engagement with industry partners and field visits to businesses and enterprises in the Leeds city region.

Programme team

The Programme Leader, Dr Rory Padfield, is an interdisciplinary social scientist whose research focuses on themes such as supply chain and natural resource governance, sustainable consumption and production, and corporate sustainability across and between different scales of business organisations. He is also co-leader of the Business and Organisations for Sustainable Societies research group.

The wider programme team is made up of researchers and academics who work within the Business and Organisations for Sustainable Societies (BOSS) research group in the Sustainability Research Institute, as well as members of staff from the Leeds University Business School’s Centre for Enterprise and Entrepreneurship Studies. This allows you to learn about the same themes but from two unique perspectives.

Active research environment

The School of Earth and Environment is home to five world-leading research institutes, which are at the heart of our active research environment – working to tackle the planet’s most pressing environmental challenges. Throughout your degree you will be taught by experts who are leaders in their fields, and be directly engaged with their cutting-edge research.

The Business and Organisations for Sustainable Societies (BOSS) group is a transdisciplinary team of researchers, who are focused on critically evaluating the role of businesses and organisations and how they can incorporate sustainability in their systems, including their activities and throughout their supply chains.

Industry links

We have strong links with industry and during your studies you may have the chance to learn directly from award-winning academics, professionals in government, large corporations, stakeholders and entrepreneurs.

Online taster courses

Our Environmental Challenges collection is a five-part series of free online courses, delivered via FutureLearn. Ideal for current undergraduate students or mid-career professionals considering a Masters degree, this series explores how environmental management policies are developed and the challenges surrounding their formulation.

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