Oxford Environment student gets top underwater award

An MSc student at the University of Oxford`s Environmental Change Institute is the youngest recipient of the world’s most prestigious award for underwater exploration. Alasdair Harris, 23, is to receive the British Sub Aqua Club Medal from the Duke of Edinburgh in a ceremony on 15 November at Buckingham Palace.

The award is in recognition of his diving achievements and for raising awareness of the need to conserve threatened coral reefs. Alasdair has led underwater expeditions charting unexplored coral reefs in Madagascar, Tanzania, Comoros, Tamaras and New Zealand. „My aim is to help conserve the unique reefs of the Western Indian Ocean, many of which have never been seen underwater before,“ said Alisdair, a student on the Environmental Change Institute`s MSc in Environmental Change and Management.

The Environmental Change Institute`s MSc, now in its ninth year, is a popular forerunner of a new suite of interdisciplinary Master`s degrees at the School of Geography and the Environment. The new MSc in Humans, Nature and Society has already attracted 25 students. Next year sees the first intake of the Oxford MSc in Biodiversity, Conservation and Management.

Afifa Raihana is Youth Representative of the United Nations Environment Programme in Bangladesh, „I chose the ECI MSc because I want to make changes and influence policymakers back home. I also want to share with my classmates from 21 countries our success stories, our sustainable lifestyle, and how consumption in the West has a direct effect on the lifestyle of Bangladeshis.“

Luba Mandzy, previously at Harvard, is one of the first to study the new Humans, Nature and Society MSc. „My background is heavily towards the scientific side of environmental issues. This course will broaden my understanding of the theoretical debates and practical concerns of environmental policy.“

„This is a revolutionary time for Oxford. We are educating a new international generation of environmental leaders trained in crosscutting sustainability science,“ says Professor Andrew Goudie, Head of the School of Geography and the Environment.