International Master's Programme in Environmental Social Science
The International Master's Programme in Environmental Social Science (SMSMO) explores how human behaviour, power relations, institutions, and governance shape climate action, biodiversity protection, and sustainable development. Specialize in Political Science, Human Geography, or Social Anthropology while gaining skills to design policies and sustainability solutions.
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PARIS, DECEMBER 12, 2015. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (2nd left); Christiana Figueres (left), Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC; Laurent Fabius (2nd right), President of the COP21 climate summit and French president François Hollande (right), celebrate after the adoption of Paris Agreement. Photo: UN Photo/Mark Garten © December 12, 2015/Flickr CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
Why choose this programme?
Focus on the political drivers of environmental and sustainability problems
Understand how politics, institutions, economic systems, and collective action shape environmental outcomes and sustainability transformations.
Combine disciplinary depth with interdisciplinary expertise
Graduate with a master’s degree in Political Science, Human Geography, or Social Anthropology, while specializing in Environmental Social Science.
Tackle interlinked global environmental challenges
Study the governance of climate change, biodiversity, natural resource management, environmental security, and sustainable development in a rapidly changing geopolitical context.
Learn to design sustainability solutions that work in practice
Develop skills to design and evaluate environmental policies, institutions, and governance strategies across local, national, EU, and global levels.
Study in a global hub for sustainability and environmental governance
Stockholm hosts world leading institutions working on environmental policy, international climate governance, and sustainability research.
The first semester of the programme includes four obligatory, interdisciplinary courses that provide an introduction to environmental social science research. The second and third semesters consist of optional advanced courses from various social science disciplines, in addition to obligatory method courses worth a total of 15 credits. In the second or third semester, it can also be possible to do an internship worth 15-30 credits. The degree project constitutes 30 credits and is written during the fourth semester.
Since a degree can only be issued in a main field of study in which the student has been awarded at least 60 credits, the programme offers three possible master’s degrees: Human geography with a specialisation in environmental social science, Social anthropology with a specialisation in environmental social science, and Political science with a specialisation in environmental social science. In order to be awarded a degree in the main field of study, the student is required to have completed 15 credits of method courses, 15 credits of advanced courses, and 30 credits of a degree project in the relevant main field of study. The main field of study is chosen during the first semester.
The education plan states the eligibility requirements, the composition of the programme, as well as the goals and expected study results of the programme.
Year 1
Semester 1
Period A
Environment, Lifestyles and Individuals
Period B
Environment och Local Communities
Period C
Environment, Markets and Politics
Period D
Environment and Global Governance
Semester 2 and 3
Optional advanced level courses in Environmental Social Science
Compulsory courses in Social Science methods
Internship
See below for more information about internship within the programme:
Internship within the International master’s programme in political science
Year 2
Semester 3
See above
Semester 4
Degree project
Before you apply for a Master's programme you need to make sure you have the required academic qualifications and language skills. In addition to the general entry requirements, the programme and the master's level courses have specific entry requirements.
Applications are open during the national admissions round from March 16 through April 15 for the Fall semester 2026.
All applications are to be submitted electronically through universityadmissions.se (English) or antagning.se (Swedish).
If the university where you gained your Bachelor’s degree does not implement the European Credit Transfer System (ECTS), alongside your academic transcript you will need to submit a statement detailing how the credit system from the university in question corresponds to the ECTS. The statement should contain the following information:
- Your personal information
- The name of your degree
- How many credits within your university’s system equals 1, 10 and 30 ECTS
- If applicable, how many credits a semester of full-time studies entail at the university which issued your Bachelor’s degree, stated both in credits of the original system, and in ECTS
The statement should be signed and stamped by an official person at your degree issuing university, such as a study counsellor, administrator, Director of Studies etc.
Please note that all parts of the application must be submitted directly to universityadmissions.se or antagning.se. No documentation should be sent to the department.
Please also observe that applications to this programme should not include a statement of relevant work and/or research experience, or a motivation letter.
The general requirement to study a Master's programme in Sweden is a Bachelor's degree from an accredited institution of higher learning, corresponding to at least 180 credits in the European Credit Transfer System.
To apply for the International Master's Programme in Environmental Social Science you must have a Bachelor’s degree (180 ECTS) in a social science subject, with a BA thesis (15 ECTS).
Or
A Bachelor’s degree (180 ECTS) with a thesis (15 ECTS) in one of the following main fields of study:
- Geography with a specialization in human geography
- History with a specialization in environmental history
- Law with a specialization in environmental law
- Environmental science with a specialization in social science.
All applicants should have English proficiency equivalent to English Course B or English 6.
If your bachelor’s degree did not include a thesis you can share a paper you have written for one of your courses. The lowest threshold for what we approve as an equivalent exam work is a research paper of a minimum of 15 pages containing the following components:
- A research question
- A theory section
- Clearly specified method(s) and research design
- Analysis of an empirical case or material/a data section
If you don´t have a Bachelor´s degree/Bachelor´s studies from Sweden (and not have your academic record in Ladok), you need to submit your degree project together with your other academic qualifications.
If your thesis/degree project is not written in Swedish or English, please submit a brief summary (roughly 1 page) in English along with your thesis/degree project. The summary should describe the thesis/degree project's content and structure.
We make a selection among the eligable applicants. The selection of students is based on grades of academic courses and the relevance of previous studies in relation to the programme
If you have questions about the admissions process or the general eligability, please contact University Admissions, or the Admissions Office at Stockholm University.
If you have questions about the specific requirements, the selection process or the programme, please contact impress@statsvet.su.se.
