I completed my MSc Environment & Sustainability! | Thoughts & Reflections

Hello! I should probably say welcome back because it’s been quite a while since I last updated The Low Waste Weekly. There is a good reason though (which you can guess from the title) I completed my MSc Environment & Sustainability!

It’s felt an age since I started the Master’s degree (way back in October 2021 to be exact) and it has hands down been one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do. Not only was the switch from a creative Bachelor’s degree (which I graduated from in 2020) to an academic Master’s degree quite a lot to get my head around, but I also have been doing this whilst working full time. It has pushed my time management (and patience) to the limit. But, I’m extremely proud that I managed it, and I’ve officially handed in my 12,000-word dissertation!

Working it around my job

Aside from the more-than-I-ever-could-have-imagined-possible stress this Master’s has put me through, studying for a degree in environment ad sustainability has been so rewarding. I did my MSc Environment & Sustainability at Birkbeck, University of London. It’s a university tailored for people who already have careers. Their lectures are set in the evening periods from 6 pm-9 pm, meaning I could work the study alongside my full-time job. I have to say, this element to the degree was great and I managed to strike quite a good balance.

The degree itself was really thorough, and I learnt a lot across the four modules and dissertation. The course was quite varied too with modules in everything from environmental management to the business side of sustainability. I particularly enjoyed learning about environmental policy too. It really wasn’t an area I’d tapped into much before so it was interesting to learn more.

The Dissertation

Writing the dissertation was probably the part I least enjoyed (I’ll be frank here). Not because I didn’t enjoy my topic area but the sheer length of the whole process. It really pushed me to my absolute limit, and I’ll be honest, I did lose steam by the end.

Despite the stress, I have to say it’s definitely a Master’s course I’d recommend. We all understand by now the destruction climate change is having on our planet. Now more than ever we need to be clued up on this topic and influence those with the power to do something about it. Knowledge is power (as they say) and I feel so much more educated on the climate crisis on the whole now. Not to mention Birkbeck being a really great institution to have done it at.

And so here I am, I did it! It’s done! and I can honestly say I’m officially finished with education (well, for a very long time anyway). I now have just over a month until I receive my mark, and then you can formally know me as Lisa Gibson MSc BA (Hons). A very proud moment indeed.