Due to impending changes to the funding structure of the MSc Human Ecology, reflecting wider changes in Strathclyde University’s approach to funding Masters courses, the CHE Board of Directors has decided that we are unable guarantee the quality of the course beyond the graduation of our current cohorts. We will therefore not be offering the course to a new intake in September 2009.

We have worked through the implications of this decision with Dr. Robert Rogerson, Head of the Department of Geography and Sociology, and are able to confirm the current partnership will remain to guarantee all our students are able to complete their studies with us.

The CHE has thrived over the years because we have learned something about how to flow through cycles of organisational (re)birth and death. As the financial pressures on the department (and therefore the MSc) have become more apparent in the last two years, a wide group of tutors and graduates have sought to develop the Human Ecology programme in such a way as to allow us access to opportunities beyond our current partnership with the Department of Geography and Sociology. This work has included a powerful overhaul of the syllabus, as well as significant development work that enables us to communicate the evidence of the strengths of CHE’s work over the years within and outwith academia.

For example, at the 2008 AGM, we discussed the potential for a community of practice to sustain the reciprocal relationships that are at the heart of our commitment to each other within the CHE community.  At Easter last year, a group of 25 graduates demonstrated the vitality of this commitment by gathering in Falkland to reflect on how to re-invent the MSc, and we thank the efforts of all who attended, and in particular Verene Nicolas, Gerri Smyth, Myshele Goldberg and Helen Jeans, who have worked incredibly hard to re-create the course for the 2008-9 intake.

We are also pleased to report that we are exploring a continued relationship with the Department of Geography and Sociology that may allow us to build on our work together in the past four years - to create a sustainable future for collaborative teaching and research into Human Ecology in the department.

On 23 April, there was a vibrant AGM where potential new directions were discussed and working groups were formed, looking at how CHE can most effectively serve the world of 2010-2015. At the heart of our enterprise will remain CHE’s ethic of living in respectful and vibrant community with each other and the earth, and we will be sharing the news as seeds of ideas begin to sprout and grow.

If you’d like to be involved with this new stage of CHE’s evolution, or make a donation to support us, please contact This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Photo by graduate and director Myshele Goldberg.