Advanced Sustainability for Brewing and Distilling (Taught)

MSc Advanced Sustainability for Brewing and Distilling offers you the opportunity to delve into sustainability problems and solutions relevant to the malting, brewing, distilling and allied industries. Sustainability is a multifaceted term that is strongly associated with both climate change and our transition towards a low-carbon society and achieving Net Zero. As a result, many sectors and industries have developed pathways and strategies towards decarbonisation and set ambitious targets to reach national and international Net Zero goals. All these targets and strategies are underpinned by the concept of sustainability or adopting enhanced sustainable practices. It is therefore vital that individual sectors and industries evaluate their current operations and assess a viable roadmap to decarbonisation which addresses factors across technology, environment, economy and society. You’ll explore core theories and subjects across bioscience, engineering, brewing, distilling, and sustainability to set you up for a wide range of future-proof careers.

During your studies, you’ll develop your science, engineering skills and sustainability knowledge to the requirements of the brewing and distilling sector and gain a specialist expertise. You’ll explore sustainability issues involved in the beverage industry, including within raw materials, explore specific business case studies, and propose sustainable solutions to combat the increasing issues faced by industry.

You’ll learn from a comprehensive course structure, exploring the principles, processes, and raw materials involved in sustainable brewing and distilling, whilst also choosing optional courses to customise your learning based on your interests and goals. Study options range from economics and management to sustainable solutions and circular economies of future foods.

Customise your learning

This master’s programme offers you the unique opportunity to specialise in brewing and distilling sustainability. During semester one and two you can customise your degree to match your specific interests or desired career pathway by studying five mandatory courses plus choosing three further options from a range of relevant specialist courses, including economics of renewable energy, carbon solutions, process intensification, future foods, and management in the food and beverage industries.

In semester three, you’ll have the opportunity to further customise your learning, by analysing a particular brewing and distilling industry-based sustainability challenge or topic in depth through your research project/dissertation. You’ll be required to demonstrate your mastery of the subject area by designing, planning, and conducting a piece of original research applied to the brewing, distilling, and allied trades sector. You may also have the option to work with an industrial collaborator on your dissertation, and many recent MSc Brewing and Distilling projects have been collaborations between industry and students.

You can choose whether to study the programme full-time or part-time. This flexibility allows you to fit your postgraduate studies around your lifestyle. You can begin the programme in September, and the full-time course will last 12 months full time or 24 months part time. If you decided to study part-time, you register for two courses per semester and progress to the dissertation at the end of your second year.

Course content

Year 1
Mandatory September
Beverage Process Sustainability
Principles of Sustainability Criteria
Optional September
Economics of Renewable Energy
Process Intensification
Future Foods

Mandatory January
Research and Professional Practice
Beverage Industry Sustainability
Raw Materials Sustainability for Brewing and Distilling

Optional January
Carbon Solutions
Management in the Food and Beverage Industries

Mandatory May
MSc Research Project in Bioscience