The master’s degree in Political Ecology, Degrowth and Environmental Justice opens its inscription process

The master’s degreee in Political Ecology, Degrowth and Environmental Justice given by ICTA-UAB has open the inscription process for its 3rd edition. The selection process will be carried out from May to August, as applications arrive to the master’s coordination, and the classes will start on October 1st, 2020. This year, the master is offering two or three scholarships (or 4-6 half scholarships) covering the tuition fee. Being an activist, being affected by a socio-environmental conflicte or coming from lower-middle income countries are some of the main criteria to assign the scholarships. Applications for admision can be sent here.

This is the first Master of its kind, and one of the first all in the world in the flourishing field of Political Ecology. The Master builds on a successful series of international Summer Schools on Environmental Justice and Degrowth, two ongoing European Research Council projects on global -in which the Atlas of environmental justice has been created (https://ejatlas.org/)- and urban environmental justice. And it benefits from the several top researchers that are currently working at ICTA-UAB (the Institute for Environmental Studies and Technology) and R&D (Research and Degrowth) in Barcelona, the two institutes co-organizing this program.

We live in an era of growing inequalities, poverty and environmental disasters. Environmental and social problems are inter-related. Environmental problems have political causes and political solutions - they are a matter of power and inequality. Addressing climate change calls for system change- our program offers the knowledge and tools for thinking and bringing forward such system change. Organizers aspire to train the next generation of environmental justice activists, engaged civil servants, and entrepreneurs of the new cooperative economy, those who will put in action the best ideas for creating a society that is fair, enjoyable and ecologically sustainable.

Students will get theoretical classes from top scholars in the fields of environmental conflicts, urban gentrification, ecological economics and governance of the commons. The group of teachers includes well-known names in the field, such as Joan Martinez-Alier, Isabelle Anguelovski and Giorgos Kallis. 

Students will be trained in using methods to conduct qualitative and quantitative analysis of complex problems -such as multi-criteria evaluation, surveys, Q-methodology, and material flow analysis, learn the EJAtlas of environmental justice and support environmental activists by adding more cases to it. They will be taught by practitioners who are experts in their fields, how to facilitate a group process, how to write a policy report or a newspaper article, how to run a social or environmental justice campaign and how to set-up a cooperative.