The Department of Environmental Sciences and Policy aims to create a network of collaborating scientists and environmentally-trained professionals in Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. It is hoped that these individuals will work together to solve environmental problems common to the region. It offers a series of intensive two, three or four-week courses in the social sciences and humanities . Almost without exception, environmental disturbance is the result of economic activity, the cycle by which goods and services are manufactured and then consumed.
Agriculture continues to push out the margins of production turning wilderness into farmland.
Emissions from factories, cars and homes are altering the chemistry of the atmosphere with attendant changes in climate patterns. Consequently many national and international agencies are now encouraging the adoption of economic instruments to help resolve economic problems. This new MSc course explores the relationship between man's economic activity and the environment. In particular it considers how economic tools may be used to help develop a more environmentally sustainable economy. The course also considers the role of risk analysis where the environmental impact of development is uncertain.