Agroecology, Water and Food Sovereignty MSc

at Coventry University

Why you should study this course
 

• This course is currently one of the only courses of its kind, enabling you to analyse the complex interactions between social and natural systems, theory and practice, scientific and non-scientific knowledge, politics and people, and how these shape food and agriculture outcomes.
   
• Students on this course are embedded in the Centre for Agroecology, Water and Resilience (CAWR), an international research centre. Many of the centre’s current 50+ researchers contribute directly to the MSc programme, providing you with opportunities (subject to availability) to get directly involved in CAWR research and whose expertise is available to support you to tailor your own study and research specialisations.
   
• We aim to provide a relaxed and informal learning environment and take student wellbeing seriously. Every student will have access to a personal tutor.
   
• The course is delivered at CAWR’s teaching facilities4 at the prestigious Ryton Gardens, which houses modern lab facilities, a five-acre organic farm and extensive and beautiful organic gardens.
   
• Course content is complemented by dedicated career advice for MSc students, specifically tailored to the field of ecologically sustainable and socially just food and farming and the organisations working therein.

What you'll study

In the one-year, full-time MSc programme, you undertake seven core teaching modules. These are designed to immerse you in the ongoing research being undertaken at CAWR and help you understand and address the key issues facing food and farming in the 21st century.

Diverse modes of assessment aim to hone your knowledge and skills. For the Project module, you will conduct an independent research project on a topic of your choosing. You will have the opportunity to select from a range of projects presented by CAWR researchers enabling you to contribute directly to their work.

MODULES

• Policies and Institutions for Food and Water Sovereignty – 15 credits
   

  This module aims to introduce you to a range of progressive thinking and actions that are oriented towards food and water policymaking, and institutions. Adopting a ‘real-world’, people-centered, bottom-up approach, it will locate contemporary struggles for food system transformation at different scales, and in their wider policy and institutional contexts.
   

• Global Processes for Water Sustainability and Resilience – 15 credits
   

  This module is concerned with identifying and understanding the fundamental processes that underpin environmental systems and their relevance to the pursuit of water sustainability and resilience. The module will encourage you to develop a deeper understanding of environmental and societal processes, how human behaviour can influence these processes and the ways in which modified processes impact on both natural and human systems. Assessment: 3000 word Technical Report.
   

• Community Self-Organisation and Resilience – 15 credits
   

  This module focuses on the complex and contested ways in which communities self-organize to manage the food and water resources upon which they depend. The module will focus on how communities can organise food and water resources for resilience. It will also address issues around the use of science and technologies by communities and issues of financial self-organisation.
   

• Resilient Food and Water Systems in Practice – 15 credits
   

  This module aims to provide you with a broad perspective on the applied dimensions of agroecological food and water systems.
   

• Participation, Power, and People’s Knowledge – 15 credits
   

  This module will explore the politics behind knowledge, focusing on the structures of power and its links to creating or silencing knowledge production. It will also explore how creative participatory practice has been used by communities, social movements, and civil society groups to tackle oppression and advance social justice.
   

• Agroecological Techniques and Practices – 15 credits
   

  This module is concerned with agricultural technologies that sustain yields whilst ensuring food nutritional health. Key areas include the maintenance of soil fertility (for example using green manures and composted wastes), weed, pest and disease management (for example by using cultural and biological controls), the importance of biodiversity and the efficient management of key resources, such as water, energy and plant varieties.
   

• Gender, Food Systems and Natural Resources – 15 credits
   

  This module critically assesses how the use, management and knowledge of land, water and the wider ecology is gendered. We will investigate the theory, policy and practice of gender in the governance of food systems and natural resources and analyse the shortcomings of attempts to integrate women into development programmes.
   

• Stabilisation Agriculture – 15 credits
   

  This module aims to familiarise you with stabilisation theory relevant to agriculture, landscape and urban management. The module also aims to provide you with practical skills in the planning and design of stabilisation agriculture programmes, and in the planning and evaluation of urban agriculture policies.
   

• Leading Diverse Workforces – 10 credits
   

  This module aims to provide you with a framework of knowledge and understanding of how to effectively lead and develop people in a strategically diverse and inclusive way. You will be given the opportunity to develop strategic priorities for leadership, equality, diversity and inclusion.
   

• Project – 50 credits
   

  This module aims to extend your experience of independent investigative work with a view to enhancing your ability to undertake research on an issue or issues relevant to one or more of the modules on this course. The module aims to develop your ability to carry out research independently, critically, and sensitively, to contribute to new knowledge acquisition in furtherance of the common good, and to commission, manage, and evaluate research within a variety of socially and ecologically appropriate contexts.

How you'll learn
 

Teaching and learning methods may include:
 

• Lectures
   
• Seminars
   
• Tutorials
   
• Presentations
   
• Group projects
   
• Workshops
   
• Discussions
   
• Participatory methods
   
• Personal Reflection
   

The number of contact hours may vary from semester to semester, however, on average, it is likely to be around 12-15 contact hours per week. In addition, you will be expected to undertake significant self-directed study each week, depending on the demands of individual modules.

UK

Applicants are expected to hold at least a second-class honour’s degree in a relevant social or natural science discipline.

English language requirements

IELTS: 6.5 overall (with at least 5.5 in each component area)
If you don't meet the English language requirements, you can achieve the level you need by successfully completing a pre-sessional English programme before you start your course.

UK

£10,600 per year

International

£16,950 per year

International Pathways 2022 Scholarship

You could enjoy a £3,000 reduction in tuition fees.

Our high-quality foundation, international year one and pre-masters courses are for international students who do not meet the requirements for direct entry to their preferred Coventry University undergraduate or postgraduate course. We can support you to achieve the academic and/or English grades you need and help you gain the personal and professional skills required to study at university.

We want to encourage ambitious international students like you to study at Coventry University, so we’ve secured extra financial support for you worth £3,000, to help with the cost of tuition fees, living expenses and accommodation.

The scholarship application deadline is:

September 2022 intake: 31 July 2022

Careers and opportunities

On successful completion of the course, you will be able to:
 

• Undertake transdisciplinary assessments of many of the key issues facing 21st century food and agriculture, bridging their political, social and ecological dimensions and the different systems of knowledge through which these are revealed.
   
• Communicate more effectively around food and agriculture, particularly from an agroecological and food sovereignty perspective, utilising more precise knowledge, concepts and language.
   
• Design and implement an independent research project in an area of your specialisation (including understanding how to utilise the relevant methods and facilities).
   
• Situate yourself in a wider movement of food and agricultural systems transformation, with a better understanding of your role – and contributions - therein.
   
• Build effective and impactful collaborations.
   
• Advocate for food more ecologically sustainable and socially just food and agricultural systems, based on in-depth knowledge of the challenges that inhibit their attainment, and the solutions that are required for their overcoming.
   

Career opportunities may include employment in development organisations, local and national governing bodies, international institutions, or entrepreneurship in sectors such as agriculture, environmental management, civil society, and policy. You may also decide to pursue scholarly research to strengthen the impact of academia on shaping resilient societies.

Where our graduates work
 

The course is designed to appeal to a wide range of graduates from a variety of disciplines. Students successfully completing the course may have the opportunity to go on to do a PhD at the Centre or elsewhere, and pursue a career in academia. Other potential employers include:
 

• National and international government agencies
   
• Non-governmental organisations
   
• Research and development organisations
   
• Vocational teaching and training
   
• Community based organisations
   
• Private sector, including small food companies and the farming sector.