Postgraduate Diploma in Law- Environmental and Natural Resources Law

Our Postgraduate Diploma in Environmental and Natural Resources Law at University College Cork takes advantage of a concentration of legal expertise in the field at the School of Law where our staff have held advisory roles with a wide range of Irish and international agencies and organisations, including, for example, the European Environment Agency, the Environmental Protection Agency, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, an Bord Pleanála (Irish Planning Board), and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.The Postgraduate Diploma programme at UCC offers you a wide variety of legal topics ranging across traditional areas of environmental law, policy regulation, and governance, as well as planning and land-use law, heritage protection, international environmental law, marine environmental law, natural resources law, and human rights law. It aims to prepare our graduates for a variety of careers in the broader environmental regulatory space, including in the legal professions, governmental and regulatory agencies, environmental NGOs, compliance and sustainability roles in industry, academia, and environmental consultancy.Environmental and Natural Resources Law offers you a wide choice of options, allowing you to take a broad and diverse range of specialist modules. We seek to integrate theoretical and practical aspects of the application of environmental and natural resources law, and to connect module content with legal and regulatory frameworks operating locally, nationally, regionally, and globally. As far as possible we facilitate flexible workload arrangements, to suit recent law graduates and environmental professionals alike.Exposure to the more technical aspects of environmental and natural resources law is also available through optional science-based, non-law modules on GIS and Remote Sensing for example. In addition, students have access to selected non-programme but complementary law modules, covering such areas as Law of the Sea, International Human Rights Law, Corporate Insolvency Law, International Refugee Law, and International Criminal Law, etc.This shorter programme may be attractive to legal professionals and others who may prefer not to make an initial commitment to a full master’s programme. Graduates of the Postgraduate Diploma may further progress their studies by completing a 12,500-word research dissertation and graduating with a Masters in Law (LLM).

Applicants must be approved by the School of Law. Applicants must normally hold a Second Class Honours Grade I in a primary honours Law degree (NFQ, Level 8). Applicants with other third-level qualifications and/or relevant professional experience are also encouraged to apply.Applications from overseas candidates are welcome, and their qualifications will be considered on a case-by-case basis.