Environmental Studies

The Environmental Studies (ENS) master's degree program is open to graduates of bachelor’s and master’s degree programs in social and natural sciences dealing with environmental issues, as well as those scientific areas connected with these issues. We offer these students a broad insight into issues concerning the links between society and the natural world, as well as the ability to reflect not only on their starting positions on issues of environmental protection and nature. During the two-year full-time study, we devote our attention to questions of the social, economic, political, legal, philosophical, historical, religious and other contexts of environmental issues.

In addition, continuing from the ENS bachelor's program, this study program further enhances the inter- and intra-personal competences of students. Thus it prepares them to manage both small and large teams, to be able to reflect on successes and failures and, on the basis of such reflection, to be capable of changing the strategies and approaches required for problem-solving.

The main emphasis is then placed on the ability to interconnect the issues of how the social sciences and natural sciences approach environmental problems, and the ability to evaluate the quality of information that comes from both sides of the scientific spectrum on these particular issues.

For the sake of clarity, the master's degree is thus divided into particular study blocks or specializations. The first block consists of compulsory courses for all students, regardless of their specialization. For example, there are the expanding methodological subjects (e.g. Quantitative Research in Environmentalism, Qualitative Research in Environmentalism) and subjects examining the normative aspects of environmental issues (e.g. Environmental Ethics II, Aesthetic Perception of Nature). The other four blocks connect the thematically oriented compulsory option subjects in such a way that their completion provides the student with better orientation in a more specialized area. Three of these four study blocks follow from the bachelor’s level specializations to further develop them.

A) Environmental Economics (this study specialization is a continuation of the bachelor-level option Social – Environmental Business)

B) Civics and Politics (this study specialization is a continuation of the bachelor-level option Civic Engagement and Public Administration)

C) City, Countryside, Landscape (urban and rural views on environmental issues) – this study specialization does not connect to a bachelor-level option

D) Society and Environmental Issues (this study specialization is a continuation of the bachelor-level option Cultural Environmentalism)

These four blocks are optional. Their main goal is to enable students to better orient themselves in a particular area of the scholarly and educational orientation of the department and its study programs.

After successfully completing his/her studies the graduate is able to:

• Graduates obtain a comprehensive university education in the field of environmental studies, enabling them to apply their skills in the public, non-profit and private sectors. They will be capable of analyzing specific environmental problems.
• Graduates will deepen their knowledge gained in the bachelor's degree program, especially in the areas of environmental and ecological economics, sociology, philosophy, ethics, aesthetics, psychology, history and selected disciplines of the natural s
• Graduates will acquire a detailed knowledge of the methodology of empirical environmental sciences and the methodology of writing a final thesis. On the basis of their own choice, they will obtain either a thorough knowledge of qualitative or quantit
• Graduates will acquire the comprehensive abilities to conduct a reflective scientific work using the principles involved in working with scientific texts, to evaluate the quality of scientific texts and to interpret their findings. Graduates will als
• Graduates will deepen their competences relating to teamwork, to a systematic approach to problem-solving and to critical thinking; they will also develop their analytical skills and their ability to creatively solve problems.

The aim of the study program is to prepare university-educated professionals capable of reflecting on environmental issues in their work, as well as in the role of future managers, especially in the communication of environmental topics in the fields of sociology, economics and education. These professionals and managers will have knowledge of both the scientific context and social conditionality of environmental issues. As a result, they will be prepared to successfully pursue employment in a relatively wide range of organizations addressing environmental issues from a variety of perspectives: from working in government and autonomous authorities, to conducting environmentally-oriented entrepreneurial activities and holding positions in environmental NGOs and civil society organizations.

The aim of the internship is to enable students to become acquainted with the nature and organization of an institution and, through the content, activities and selected projects, to obtain a realistic idea of possible future employment, as well as to enable students to use their acquired theoretical knowledge in practice.

The internship is compulsory and is enrolled as the course Professional Internship HEN408. The student must complete a minimum of 100 hours of work in a selected institution. The internship can be done either regularly during the semester, or in a continuous block of at least 2.5 weeks (as agreed with the institution where the work is done). Institutions in which the internship is taking place should be linked to the environmental area and may be in either the state (e.g. municipal or regional authority, research institution, Protected Landscape Area), or non-governmental sectors (e.g. non-governmental environmental organization, environmentally-oriented enterprise, farm).

The diploma thesis in the Environmental Studies program is theoretical, comprehensive, or empirical. The work deals with the humanities and social science aspects of environmental issues, with possible overlap with the natural sciences. Students should demonstrate the ability to work critically with scholarly texts, to develop the concepts and theories found in them, to find relevant answers to the given question, and to apply appropriate methodology in the elaboration of empirical work. The length of the work is 18,000 - 29,000 words of basic text, which means the actual body of the work, including notes, but excluding the bibliography, attachments, abstract and table of contents. Guidelines for final state examinations and the elaboration of the diploma thesis are regulated by FSS Directive No. 6/2019 on state final examinations for students of the Faculty of Social Studies of Masaryk University.

If graduates wish to continue their studies at the doctoral level, our department also offers further education possibilities. For a decade, there has been a Ph.D. study program at our department, which is now accredited as an independent program under the title Environmental Studies. As in the master's degree program, there is the possibility (but not obligation) to study in three different fields – Environmental Aspects of the City and Landscape, Pro-environmental Behaviour and Action, and Environmental Economics.

The doctoral study program is primarily aimed at graduates in the academic sphere, but also applies to management in state and non-governmental institutions and organizations. Preparation at the master's level allows graduates to continue their doctoral studies in other departments of the faculty, as well as other humanities-oriented faculties and specializations.