The BSc in Sustainability is an innovative undergraduate degree that aims to equip its graduates with the interdisciplinary knowledge and skills to address sustainability challenges by combining environmental, social and economic perspectives. After a common first year, each student will retain an interdisciplinary perspective throughout their degree, but will elect to focus on:

Sustainability with Environmental Science OR Sustainability with Social Sciences, Policy and Law OR Sustainability with Business and Economics

The programme is based on the following principles:

• Interdisciplinarity – in-depth knowledge within a core or focal discipline, complemented by a range of perspectives and skills from others. Specific modules and activities to foster an interdisciplinary approach and outlook.


• Flexibility – capacity to choose between broad areas, core disciplines and combinations of modules.


• Applicability and employability – grounding in the real-world application and uptake of new ideas, innovations and policies and the processes by which this occurs.


• A global perspective – the programme reflects UCD’s global outlook and the need for international partnership in addressing global environmental challenges.

1 - articulate clear awareness and understanding of critical global sustainability challenge
2 - critically discuss evolving theory, concepts, policy and the ethics and values of sustainability
3 - apply a holistic, interdisciplinary and practical approach to sustainability
4 - demonstrate competence in a range of research and analytical methodologies
5 - deploy well-developed critical and intellectual skills in innovative and creative approaches to unfamiliar or dynamic contexts and problems
6 - exhibit the knowledge and skills needed to develop a career in sustainability and environmental management, including communication, project planning, project management and interdisciplinary teamwork skills
7 - become engaged, solution-focussed global citizens with capacity for lifelong learning
8 - become engaged, solution-focussed global citizens with capacity for lifelong learning
9 - articulate clear awareness and understanding of critical global sustainability challenges

Students’ performance will be reviewed at the end of the academic year. Students who fail 50% or more of their registered modules, and who fail to progress to the next stage of their programme, will be identified under the UCD Continuation – Academic progress policy. Students’ performance will continue to be reviewed in subsequent trimesters and students will be invited to meetings with the College of Science office for support and guidance.

Where the rate of progression and performance over two academic years is deemed unacceptable, a case will be submitted to the Governing Board for review. A recommendation for discontinuation may be the outcome of this review.

As Stages 3 and 4 have the most dynamic components of the programme, and the material studied previously may no longer be relevant, a student who has been away from the programme for a significant period should be required to register again to Stage 3. The upper limit for completion of Stages 3 and 4 should be six years if they choose to do 120 credits with 20 in each year.

You may apply to study abroad for the Spring trimester of Stage 3.
The BSc Sustainability has a range of universities within and outside Europe that it currently partners with to offer students exchange opportunities.
Please visit the UCD Global Exchanges page here to find further information about the application process.

Graduates will enjoy careers as consultants, managers and advisers in large organisations and private businesses. An interdisciplinary education in sustainability theory, policy and practise will equip you to work in areas such as renewables, clean technology management and energy efficiency, or advise industries on social and environmental strategies. Many opportunities also exist in international organisations such as the UN, the European Environment Agency and the European Commission, government departments and state agencies such as the Environmental Protection Agency and the National Parks and Wildlife Service and in local authorities and Non-Governmental Organisations.

Kirsten Southard
Programme Manager, BSc Sustainability
UCD Science Office
Room E1.09, O'Brien Centre for Science
Belfield, Dublin 4
Email: sustainability@ucd.ie

Students must take 50 credits of programme (core/option) modules. The remaining 10 credits must be used for electives and/or option modules. All students must take MATH10230 Mathematics for Agriculture 1 unless they have taken MATH10350 Calculus for Mathematical and Physical Sciences or MATH10310 Calculus for Science in Stage 1. If you have taken a calculus module in Stage 1, please get in touch with sustainability@ucd.ie to confirm.

Students are required to complete 50 credits of programme (core/option) modules. The additional 10 credits must be used for electives and/or option modules. Students must ensure by the end of their degree that they have at least 100 credits from Level 2 and above, of which at least 40 credits must be Level 3 and above. It is important to bear this in mind while choosing options and/or electives in Stages 3 and 4.

Students are required to complete 60 credits of programme (core/option) modules. Students must ensure by the end of their degree that they have completed at least 100 credits from Level 2 and above, of which at least 40 credits must be Level 3 and above. It is important to bear this in mind while choosing option modules in Stage 4.

Students must take 5 credits from the Social Sciences, Policy & Law specialisation options. Students must take 5 credits from the Business & Economics specialisation options. Students can choose to take an additional 5 credits from either of these option lists; this means that students can choose to take two 5 credit modules or one 10 credit module from either Social Sciences, Policy & Law or Business & Economics option lists. The remaining credits must be selected from Environmental Sciences option modules.

SCI30120 ES Sustainability Internship (5 credits) is listed as an option module but is not possible to select it yourself. It will be added to your Autumn module registration manually by staff once you have successfully completed the module.

Module ID	Module Title	Trimester	Credits
Stage 2 Core Modules
GEOG20230	Intro: GIS for Sustainability	Autumn	5
MATH10230	Mathematics for Agriculture I	Autumn	5
SUST20010	Sustainability: Research Tools	Autumn	5
ECON10010	Principles of Microeconomics	Spring	5
ENVB20050	Principles of Environmental Biology & Ecology	Spring	5
SUST20020	Careers, Communication and Innovation in Sustainability	Spring	5
Stage 2 Core Modules
Stage 2 Options - C)MIN0OF: Students must take CHEM00010 in Autumn if they did not take Leaving Cert. Chemistry or if their LC Chemistry grade was less than H5/O1 before taking CHEM10050 in Spring. Students with Leaving Cert. Chemistry grade H5/O1 or above are eligible to take CHEM10050 and are not eligible to take CHEM00010. All Environmental Sciences specialisation students must take CHEM10050 by the end of Stage 2. CHEM20090 Chemistry for Biology must be taken by the end of Stage 3.
CHEM00010	Introductory Chemistry	Autumn	5
CHEM20090	Chemistry for Biology	Autumn	5
CHEM10050	Basis of Organic and Biological Chemistry	Spring	5
Stage 2 Options - C)MIN0OF: Students must take CHEM00010 in Autumn if they did not take Leaving Cert. Chemistry or if their LC Chemistry grade was less than H5/O1 before taking CHEM10050 in Spring. Students with Leaving Cert. Chemistry grade H5/O1 or above are eligible to take CHEM10050 and are not eligible to take CHEM00010. All Environmental Sciences specialisation students must take CHEM10050 by the end of Stage 2. CHEM20090 Chemistry for Biology must be taken by the end of Stage 3.
Stage 2 Options - F)MIN10CR: Students must take 50 credits of core and option modules. The remaining 10 credits must be used for electives and/or option modules.
AESC10010	Land Use and the Environment	Autumn	5
BIOL10140	Life on Earth	Autumn	5
BSEN20180	Intro to Env Footprinting	Autumn	5
COMP10290	Computation for Scientists	Autumn	5
GEOG20040	Rivers, Estuaries and Coasts	Autumn	5
GEOG20150	Quaternary Environmental Change	Autumn	5
GEOL20180	Geoscience perspectives on the UN Sustainable Development Goals	Autumn	5
GEOL20200	Dynamic Earth	Autumn	5
GEOL20250	Crystals to Sedimentary Rocks	Autumn	5
MATH10350	Calculus in the Mathematical and Physical Sciences	Autumn	5
ZOOL20020	Animal Behaviour	Autumn	5
GEOL20110	Global Environmental Change	Autumn and Spring (separate)	5
BSEN20190	Intro to Carbon and Energy Footprinting	Spring	5
DSCY10060	Energy, Climate Change & Policy	Spring	5
FOR20110	Forests, Climate and Carbon	Spring	5
GEOG10080	Dynamic Earth	Spring	5
GEOG20060	Weather, Climate and Climate Change	Spring	5
GEOL10040	Earth, Environment and Society	Spring	5
GEOL20210	Field Geology and Mapwork	Spring	5
MATH10290	Linear Algebra for Science	Spring	5
STAT10060	Statistical Modelling	Spring	5
Stage 2 Options - F)MIN10CR: Students must take 50 credits of core and option modules. The remaining 10 credits must be used for electives and/or option modules.
Stage 3 Core Modules
SUST30020	Sustainability in Action(SUST)	Autumn	5
BIOL30030	Working with Biological Data	Spring	5
MKT10720	Marketing: An Introduction	Spring	5
SPOL30220	Social Policy, Social Justice and the Environment	Spring	5
Stage 3 Core Modules
Stage 3 Options - B)MIN0OF: All students must take CHEM20090 Chemistry for Biology in Stage 3 if not already taken in Stage 2.
CHEM20090	Chemistry for Biology	Autumn	5
Stage 3 Options - B)MIN0OF: All students must take CHEM20090 Chemistry for Biology in Stage 3 if not already taken in Stage 2.
Stage 3 Options - C)MIN25CR: Students must take 50 credits of core and option modules. The remaining 10 credits must be used for electives and/or option modules.
BSEN30240	Waste Management	Autumn	5
BSEN30310	The Bioeconomy; A strategy for sustainable fuel, material and chemical production	Autumn	5
BSEN30360	Life Cycle Assessment	Autumn	5
CHEM20080	The Basis of Physical Chemistry	Autumn	5
ENVB30010	Systems Ecology	Autumn	5
ENVB30020	Wildlife Conservation and Fisheries Management	Autumn	5
GEOG20040	Rivers, Estuaries and Coasts	Autumn	5
GEOL20180	Geoscience perspectives on the UN Sustainable Development Goals	Autumn	5
GEOL20200	Dynamic Earth	Autumn	5
GEOL20250	Crystals to Sedimentary Rocks	Autumn	5
GEOL30040	Sedimentary Environments	Autumn	5
STAT20110	Introduction to Probability	Autumn	5
ZOOL20020	Animal Behaviour	Autumn	5
ZOOL30050	Diversity of Invertebrates	Autumn	5
BSEN30560	Measures to Mitigate Climate C	Spring	5
CHEM20110	Env & Sustainable Chemistry	Spring	5
ENVB30100	Ecological and Environmental Microbiology	Spring	5
FOR20110	Forests, Climate and Carbon	Spring	5
GEOL30340	Low Temperature Geochemistry	Spring	5
GEOL30380	Geomaterials and Geoenergy	Spring	5
ZOOL30020	Arthropoda	Spring	5
ZOOL30060	Biogeography and Field Biology	Spring	5
Stage 3 Options - C)MIN25CR: Students must take 50 credits of core and option modules. The remaining 10 credits must be used for electives and/or option modules.
Stage 4 Core Modules
SUST40020	Env. Sciences Research Project	2 Trimester duration (Aut-Spr)	20
SUST40050	Interdisciplinary Project	Autumn	10
Stage 4 Core Modules
Stage 4 Options - B)MIN5CR: Students must take 5 credits from the Social Sciences, Policy & Law specialisation options. Students must take 5 credits from the Business & Economics specialisation options. Students can choose to take an additional 5 credits from either of these option lists; this means that students can choose to take two 5 credit modules or one 10 credit module from either the Social Sciences, Policy & Law or the Business & Economics option lists.
GEOG30860	Environmental Assessment	Autumn	5
LAW30470	International Human Rights Law	Autumn	5
SOC30560	Global Inequalities	Autumn	5
GEOG30840	The Urban Environment	Spring	5
GEOG30940	Global Risks and Resilience	Spring	5
SPOL41120	Sustainable Futures and Public Policy	Spring	10
Stage 4 Options - B)MIN5CR: Students must take 5 credits from the Social Sciences, Policy & Law specialisation options. Students must take 5 credits from the Business & Economics specialisation options. Students can choose to take an additional 5 credits from either of these option lists; this means that students can choose to take two 5 credit modules or one 10 credit module from either the Social Sciences, Policy & Law or the Business & Economics option lists.
Stage 4 Options - C)MIN5CR: Students must take 5 credits from the Business & Economics specialisation options. Students must take 5 credits from the Social Sciences, Policy & Law specialisation options. Students can choose to take an additional 5 credits from either of these option lists; this means that students can choose to take two 5 credit modules or one 10 credit module from either Social Sciences, Policy & Law or Business & Economics option lists. Economics of the Environment, Economics of Climate Change and Economics of Natural Resources are relevant modules that might be of interest.
ECON20010	Intermediate Microeconomics I	Autumn	5
ECON20060	Irish Economy: Policy Making in a Global Context	Autumn	5
ECON20080	Economic Policy Analysis	Autumn	5
ECON30610	Economics of Natural Resources	Autumn	5
BMGT20050	Business Across Borders	Autumn and Spring (separate)	5
ECON20040	Statistics for Economists	Autumn and Spring (separate)	5
BMGT20080	Consulting with NGOs	Spring	5
BMGT20100	Developing Future Leaders	Spring	5
BMGT20130	Managing Business Ethics	Spring	5
BMGT20150	Sustainable Operations & Supply Chain Management	Spring	5
BMGT20160	Business and Social Enterprise	Spring	5
BMGT20210	Business and the European Union	Spring	5
ECON10020	Principles of Macroeconomics	Spring	5
ECON20120	The Economics of the European Union: Institutions, Policies and Crises	Spring	5
ECON20130	Economic History: From the Middle Ages to the Second World War	Spring	5
ECON20160	Economics of the Environment	Spring	5
ECON20180	Intermediate Microeconomics II	Spring	5
ECON30500	Field Experiments Social Sci	Spring	5
ECON30600	Economics of Climate Change	Spring	5
Stage 4 Options - C)MIN5CR: Students must take 5 credits from the Business & Economics specialisation options. Students must take 5 credits from the Social Sciences, Policy & Law specialisation options. Students can choose to take an additional 5 credits from either of these option lists; this means that students can choose to take two 5 credit modules or one 10 credit module from either Social Sciences, Policy & Law or Business & Economics option lists. Economics of the Environment, Economics of Climate Change and Economics of Natural Resources are relevant modules that might be of interest.
Stage 4 Options - D)MIN10CR: Students must take 5 credits from the Social Sciences, Policy & Law specialisation options. Students must take 5 credits from the Business & Economics specialisation options. Students can choose to take an additional 5 credits from either of these option lists; this means that students can choose to take two 5 credit modules or one 10 credit module from Social Sciences, Policy & Law or Business & Economics option lists. The remaining credits must be selected from Environmental Sciences option modules. SCI30120 ES Sustainability Internship (5 credits) is listed as an option module but is not possible to select it yourself. It will be added to your Autumn module registration manually by staff once you have successfully completed the module.
AESC30080	Agri-Environmental Issues and Policy	Autumn	5
BOTN40270	Biology and Ecology of Coastal Wetlands	Autumn	5
CVEN30110	Introduction to Transportation and Traffic Engineering	Autumn	5
ENVB40040	Environmental Impact Assessment	Autumn	5
ENVB40310	Peatlands and Environmental Change	Autumn	5
GEOG30370	River Catchment Management	Autumn	5
GEOG30860	Environmental Assessment	Autumn	5
GEOL30040	Sedimentary Environments	Autumn	5
GEOL40450	Environmental Geoscience	Autumn	5
SCI30120	ES Sustainability Internship	Autumn	5
ZOOL40500	Ornithology	Autumn	5
BSEN40110	Advanced Air Pollution	Spring	10
BSEN40350	Renewable Energy Systems Analysis	Spring	5
BSEN40400	LCA Applications	Spring	5
BSEN40560	Biorefinery Process & Tech	Spring	5
ENVB30100	Ecological and Environmental Microbiology	Spring	5
ENVB40020	Marine Community Ecology	Spring	5
ENVB40290	Ecological Modelling	Spring	5
GEOL30340	Low Temperature Geochemistry	Spring	5
GEOL30380	Geomaterials and Geoenergy	Spring	5
ZOOL40280	Biological Invasions	Spring	5
Stage 4 Options - D)MIN10CR: Students must take 5 credits from the Social Sciences, Policy & Law specialisation options. Students must take 5 credits from the Business & Economics specialisation options. Students can choose to take an additional 5 credits from either of these option lists; this means that students can choose to take two 5 credit modules or one 10 credit module from Social Sciences, Policy & Law or Business & Economics option lists. The remaining credits must be selected from Environmental Sciences option modules. SCI30120 ES Sustainability Internship (5 credits) is listed as an option module but is not possible to select it yourself. It will be added to your Autumn module registration manually by staff once you have successfully completed the module.

		Award		GPA
Programme	Module Weightings	Rule Description	Description
BHSCI016	Stage 4 - 50.00% Stage 3 - 50.00%	Standard Honours Award	First Class Honours	3.68	4.20
			Second Class Honours, Grade 1	3.08	3.67
			Second Class Honours, Grade 2	2.48	3.07
			Pass	2.00	2.47