MA in Food and Development
Brighton and Hove, United Kingdom
MA
DURATION
2 years
LANGUAGES
English
PACE
Full time, Part time
APPLICATION DEADLINE
EARLIEST START DATE
STUDY FORMAT
On-Campus
* UK
Key Summary
About: The MA in Food and Development at The University of Sussex draws on expertise at the Institute of Development Studies and the School of Global Studies. You’ll study food security, nutrition, sustainable food systems, value chains, corporate power and agri-food technology. The course builds analytical, writing, presentation and independent social science research skills at a research-intensive campus near Brighton.
Career Outcomes: You’ll be prepared to work as specialists and advisers on food and development in governments, international development agencies, civil-society organisations and social movements. Graduates can also move into policy analysis, programme management, research, advocacy and consultancy and beyond.
Food is a cross-cutting development issue that concerns hunger, food insecurity, malnutrition, environment sustainability, power politics, social justice and cultural identity. It is about the global and the local, and the hard trade-offs that the globalisation era has brought about.
This MA draws on wide-ranging expertise of faculty at both IDS and School of Global Studies at Sussex (where you’ll be based).
You’ll gain an advanced understanding of the complex relationship between food and development. We build your analytical and practical skills, improving your ability to engage critically with issues such as:
- food and nutrition security
- sustainable food systems
- value chains and corporate power
- agri-food technology and its contestations.
We understand that deciding where and what to study is a very important decision. We’ll make all reasonable efforts to provide you with the courses, services and facilities described in this prospectus. However, if we need to make material changes, for example due to government or regulatory requirements, or unanticipated staff changes, we’ll let you know as soon as possible.
American Student Loans and Federal Student Aid
If you’re receiving – or applying for – USA federal Direct Loan funds, you can’t undertake your placement/internship in the USA if the number of credits for the placement/internship exceeds 25% of the total credits for your course. Find out more about American Student Loans and Federal Student Aid
Scholarships
Our aim is to ensure that every student who wants to study with us is able to despite financial barriers so that we continue to attract talented and unique individuals.
Find out about the essentials of Masters study online on Saturday 23 November from 10:30am-2:30pm.
Full-time and part-time study
Choose to study this course full time or part time, to fit around your work and personal life. Modules for the full-time course are listed below. For details about the part-time course, contact us.
Core modules
Core modules are taken by all students on the course. They give you a solid grounding in your chosen subject and prepare you to explore the topics that interest you most.
Autumn teaching
- Critical Debates in Development Theory
- Food Politics and Development
Spring teaching
- Research Methods and Professional Skills
Summer teaching
- Dissertation (Food and Development)
Options
Alongside your core modules, you can choose options to broaden your horizons and tailor your course to your interests. This list gives you a flavour of our options, which are kept under review and may change, for example in response to student feedback or the latest research.
While it’s our aim for students to take their preferred combinations of options, this can’t be guaranteed and will be subject to timetabling. Options may be grouped and if so, students will be able to choose a set number of options from the selection available in any particular group.
Spring teaching
- Climate Change and Development
- Climate change: Impacts and Adaptation
- Competing in the Green Economy
- Nutrition
- Poverty, Vulnerability and the Global Economy
- Sustainability and Policy Processes: Issues in Agriculture, Environment and Health
Summer teaching
- Dissertation with Placement (Global Studies)
We regularly review our modules to incorporate student feedback, staff expertise, as well as the latest research and teaching methodology. We’re planning to run these modules in the academic year 2023/24. However, there may be changes to these modules in response to feedback, staff availability, student demand or updates to our curriculum. We’ll make sure to let you know of any material changes to modules at the earliest opportunity.
We’ll do our best to provide as much optional choice as we can, but timetabling constraints mean it may not be possible to take some module combinations. The structure of a small number of courses means that the order of modules or the streams you choose may determine whether modules are core or optional. This means that your core modules or options may differ from what’s shown here.
Check back in January 2024 for the modules running in the academic year 2024/25.
1st in the world for Development Studies (QS World University Rankings by Subject 2023)
Throughout the course we focus on developing both your academic and practical skills – including analytical, writing and presentation skills. You’ll also gain a thorough understanding of social science research methods and gain independent research skills.
We expect our graduates to become specialists and advisers in food and development issues worldwide, working for:
- governments
- international development agencies
- civil-society organisations
- social movements engaged with food-related themes.
