Nature, environment and the Arts
Join us to explore some of the many connections between the Arts, nature and the environment, through our short online and in-person courses.
Our wide-ranging Culture and Humanities programme spans from the Ice Age to today, and across different cultures.
You can explore ‘Art and Environment in Ice Age Europe’, learn about animals in Renaissance Art, or think about environment and politics in indigenous art today. You can consider how Romantic poetry finds new resonance through ‘ecocritical’ readings, or study genre-busting literary non-fiction about the connections between walking and writing in urban, rural and desert landscapes.
You can also complement your studies with courses from our Science and Nature programme, including courses on botany, trees, geology, the Amazon, and the science of climate change.
Explore our exciting programme below!
6 courses available
Astronomy for Autumn EveningsWhat can you observe in Autumn? Join Radmila Topalovic to learn how to distinguish planets, stars and galaxies in the autumn sky.Keeley Street
Sun 1 Nov 2026Radmila TopalovicFull fee £49.00 Senior fee £39.00 Concession £32.00- Earth's six major mass extinctions: an introduction
An introductory course on a long-term perspective of extinction events throughout earth’s history, reminding us of the fragility of the planet's ecosystems. Looking back over the last 450 million years of earth’s history we will go beyond the extinction of the dinosaurs to mass extinctions that were even more devastating.
Keeley Street
Sat 5 Dec 2026Gary RetallickFull fee £79.00 Senior fee £63.00 Concession £51.00 - Spring wildlife walks
London has some of the best urban wetland nature reserves in the world. In this course, we’ll explore two contrasting, but equally rewarding, wetland sites, learning about the common birds and other animals that live there, as well as the challenges of urban conservation. Both sessions offsite.
Off Site
Sat 17 Apr 2027Ben ChappleFull fee £79.00 Senior fee £63.00 Concession £51.00 - The geology beneath British landscapesBritain encompasses a fascinating variety of beautiful landscapes, from the lakes and hills of the north-west to the flatlands of East Anglia. This course gives you a practical introduction to the unique geology beneath these areas, covering main rock types and geological periods.
Online
Sat 17 Apr 2027Andres MesaFull fee £79.00 Senior fee £63.00 Concession £51.00 - Being Ecological: Cultivating Environmental Consciousness in Cultures of Climate Crisis
This course will introduce students to exciting initiatives in twenty-first century cultural discourse that attempt to reconceptualise what an ecological consciousness might be or feel like. Drawing on theoretical and literary texts, films, performance art, and political activism, we will explore radical ways of rethinking and reinhabiting our relations with more-than-human worlds, and how they open new possibilities for living on a damaged planet.
Keeley Street
Wed 26 May 2027Katie GossFull fee £189.00 Senior fee £151.00 Concession £123.00 - Art and critical theory: rethinking 'nature'Explore the role of critical theory within the field of art history, and learn new ways of thinking about art by focusing on how recent authors have been rethinking our understanding of nature.
Online
Wed 9 Jun 2027Irina ChkhaidzeFull fee £139.00 Senior fee £139.00 Concession £90.00
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