BA

English Studies and Climate Change

BA English Studies and Climate Change Code FQ73 Attend an Open Day Attend an Open Day

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Key Facts

FQ73

  • UCAS Tariff

    120 - 104

  • Course duration

    3 years

Available for September start 2025

Further details on entry requirements

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Our combined degree of English Studies and Climate Change at Aberystwyth University provides a thorough and critical understanding of the ideological debates that shape the ways we read and write, challenge our perceptions of the places we read and write about, and interrogate who we are.

Come and join us in the Department of English and Creative Writing at Aberystwyth to study this fascinating and topical subject. You will encounter texts that explore and represent climate change, that evaluate the climate challenge and its political, economic, social, and ecological impacts.

By raising provocative questions about human responses to climate change, this course will equip you with the skills and knowledge to analyse diverse perspectives on a global challenge. You will also have an opportunity to develop your own writing across a wide range of styles, informed by your understanding of the science and politics underpinning the climate crisis.

Course Overview

Why study English Studies and Climate Change at Aberystwyth University? 

  • You will be part of an exciting Interdisciplinary Learning Community where you will investigate the science of climate change from multiple subject perspectives (Geography, Biology, Politics, and of course Literary analysis). 
  • You will engage in a problem-based learning approach where you will be presented with real-life scenarios and simulations, enabling you to develop negotiation and team-building skills that are essential to a wide range of employment settings.
  • You will gain subject-specialist knowledge of fictional and non-fictional responses to the climate - from Romanticism’s accounts of 1816 “the year without a summer” to alternate futures analysis in contemporary speculative fiction.
  • You will analyse the causes and consequences of climate change and environmental degradation, and how literature from the nineteenth century to the present-day comments upon climate change.
  • You will develop practical skills in Crisis Writing across genres and forms whilst also acquiring the subject-specialist knowledge and skills of an English graduate, including the ability to draw on your experience and knowledge of this fascinating subject in your own writing about the climate crisis.
  • You will examine links between climate change and other global challenges (such as conflict, migration, inequality, and isolationism) and the ways in which these challenges are communicated to diverse audiences. 
  • You will reflect on the ways in which the planet’s habitats, resources, and ecological systems are reflected in the stories we tell and how such stories challenge the political status quo.
Our Staff

All academic staff in the Department of English and Creative Writing are active scholars and experts in their fields. They are either qualified to PhD level or have commensurate experience. Our Lecturers either hold or are working towards a Higher Education teaching qualification and the majority of academic staff also hold the status of Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

Modules September start - 2025

Please note: The modules listed below are those currently intended for delivery during the next academic year and may be subject to change. They are included here to give an indication of how the course is structured.

* Also available partially or entirely through the medium of Welsh

Careers

As a graduates of this degree you will be well-placed to pursue a career in climate change management, adaptation and mitigation, both in the UK and abroad. Additionally, you will be suited to careers in related areas, such as environmental education and consultancy or conservation. You may also follow the example of the many students who have undertaken further postgraduate study, either at Masters or Doctoral level.

Teaching & Learning

The breakdown below will provide you with an illustration of what you may study during the three year degree scheme.

During your first year, core modules will provide you with the necessary foundation for successful engagement with literature and creative writing at university level. You will study writing from Chaucer to Defoe. You will also investigate the science of climate change, working with staff and students from other disciplines and engaging in an interdisciplinary approach to the study of this fascinating subject. 

In addition, you will choose from an exciting range of option modules that cover a broad range of places and periods and that will allow you to respond to what you are learning either creatively, through your own writing, or critically, through essays.

During your second and third years, you will build on your work with staff and students from other disciplines in the core module: The Governance of Climate Change. You will be presented with global real-life problems and develop the skills essential to addressing current and future global challenges. You will also take core modules that will give you detailed knowledge of fictional and non-fictional responses to the climate, and you will develop your own creative writing in whatever genre or form you choose in Crisis Writing. In addition, you will choose from a wide range of option modules through which you can tailor your programme to suit your specific interests. Our writing and English modules cover a broad range of genres that will engage you in ideological debates that shape the ways we read and write, challenge perceptions of the places we read and write about and interrogate who we are. 

The Creative Writing Project or English Dissertation in the final year will allow you to synthesise your multi-disciplinary and subject-specific knowledge and work with academic supervisors across traditional subject boundaries. There will be an opportunity for you to attend our annual Writing Retreat held at an historic site in the beautiful mid-Wales countryside, and work on your final year project. This is a fitting culmination to a degree that will challenge you to become informed, skilled, and impassioned advocates for change.

Typical Entry Requirements

UCAS Tariff 120 - 104

A Levels BBB-BCC

GCSE requirements (minimum grade C/4):
English or Welsh

BTEC National Diploma:
DDM-DMM

International Baccalaureate:
30-28

European Baccalaureate:
75%-65%

English Language Requirements:
See our Undergraduate English Language Requirements for this course. Pre-sessional English Programmes are also available for students who do not meet our English Language Requirements.

Country Specific Entry Requirements:
International students whose qualification is not listed on this page, can check our Country Specific Entry Requirements for further information.

The University welcomes undergraduate applications from students studying the Access to Higher Education Diploma or T-level qualifications, provided that relevant subject content and learning outcomes are met. We are not able to accept Access to Higher Education Diplomas or T-levels as a general qualification for every undergraduate degree course.
Our inclusive admissions policy values breadth as well as depth of study. Applicants are selected on their own individual merits and offers can vary. If you would like to check the eligibility of your qualifications before submitting an application, please contact the Undergraduate Admissions Office for advice and guidance.

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