Become a leader in water science and management with our interdisciplinary MSc, designed to tackle global challenges and open diverse career pathways.
Water is fundamental to life on Earth and the functioning of healthy ecosystems and societies. But the world faces significant challenges to sustainable water supplies. Limited usable freshwater, unevenly distributed across the world, in addition to climate-driven floods and droughts, impacts economies, increases conflict potential, and degrades ecosystems, making future water sustainability unpredictable. To address these urgent challenges the world needs graduates with expertise in freshwater problems.
This MSc will give you a solid understanding of water in terms of the hydrological cycle, its forcing by climate and climate change, partitioning of water between the surface and subsurface, water availability to and use by ecosystems, and the sustainable management of water-related hazards and water resources. Youll explore the social context of water problems in terms of environmental sustainability, as well as knowledge of the climate system and the regional expressions of climate change and develop the skills to analyse and quantify sustainability of water resources and hazards, to handle and analyse large datasets that are proliferating across the globe, and to engage with numerical models.
The interdisciplinary nature of the programme will open up potential career pathways in academia, development, government, or environmental consultancy. You would be well equipped to address global challenges including those associated with sustainable development goals, as well as national and subnational environmental priorities in countries around the world.
*Price shown is for indicative purposes, please
September 2025
Cathays Park Campus
Park Place,
Cardiff,
CF10 3AT, Wales, United Kingdom
Students need to have achieved a 2:1 honours degree in a relevant subject area such as biology, earth science, economics, environmental science, geography, or hydrology, or an equivalent international degree. IELTS certificate with an overall score of 6.5 with 5.5 in all subskills, or evidence of an accepted equivalent.
*There may be different IELTS requirements depending on your chosen course.
Cardiff University offers world-leading teaching, a vibrant campus life with diverse activities, excellent facilities, and global career prospects.