Courses
Environmental Humanities & Social Sciences
The Department of Environmental Humanities and Social Sciences is a trans-disciplinary department with a holistic approach to understanding human interactions with the natural, social, and cultural environment.
Welcome to the Department of Environmental Humanities and Social Sciences!
Our programmes focus on three main overlapping programme areas in Environmental Humanities as follows; Outdoor & Environmental Education [natural], History & Geography [cultural] and Applied Social Care [social]. These have shared programme streams and electives.
We offer a range of undergraduate programmes – in Outdoor & Environmental Education, Applied Social Care, History & Geography, Community Development and Youthwork. The department also currently offers postgraduate programmes in Applied Leadership & Management, Sustainability Leadership, as well as Outdoor Education, Sustainability & Wellbeing.
We value our unique natural and cultural environment as a basis for learning integration with natural, social and cultural interactions.
Our staff are actively engaged in a range of research and community projects:
- ATU Mayo Green Campus; The first Institute of Technology Campus in Ireland to be awarded An Taisce Green Campus in 2011! Green Campus Coordinator: Anne Wiseman, e-mail: anne.wiseman@atu.ie
- Lasmuigh Outdoor Education journal; The new Professional Practice Journal for the Outdoor Sector on the Island of Ireland
- Our annual student led Food for Thought event, in collaboration with Afri
- The Mayo Rising event – creating the collective leadership to address global sustainability challenges in our communities.
We are hosting two international conferences in 2026:
Dr Deirdre Garvey
Head of Department, Environmental Humanities and Social Sciences
Meet our Head of Department
Dr Deirdre Garvey
Head of Department, Environmental Humanities and Social Sciences