Environmental Biology

This integrated masters course advances your skills in environmental biology research. You'll study how to write research proposals and how to communicate your research to a wider audience. You'll develop your project management skills and your grasp of analytical techniques. All of these are essential if you decide you'd like a research career.

Our course uncovers the human impacts on our natural environment. You will study environmental threats and management. The biggest threats to biodiversity are climate change, habitat loss, invasive species. You'll study the effect of these threats, and learn ways to manage and reduce them.

Topics include:

• Ecology

• Conservation

• Animal behaviour

• Botany

• Sustainability

• Environmental protection

You'll gain experience in surveying techniques that are used when working as an ecologist. Day trips, field work and visits to local sites will include activities such as:

• bat surveys

• phase one habitat surveys

• sustainable homes

• renewable energy

• winter tree ID

Throughout your degree you have the opportunity to choose from a range of additional options. You can apply to do these when you get here:

• Industry placement - you can add a year in industry between years three and four

• Study abroad - options include our Malaysia campus, Australia, Canada, or Europe

Core modules in your first year introduce the principles of ecology and biodiversity. You'll learn about evolution and behaviour. Studying how natural selection has shaped how organisms interact with their environment. Learning through lectures, lab sessions and field visits.

In year two you'll gain more practical fieldwork skills as part of a non-residential field course. The Ecology module teaches you how interactions between species can drive co-evolutionary processes.

In the second year and third years, you have lots of optional modules. You can choose to study plant evolution and ecology in The Green Planet module.

In your third year the research project enables you to use your skills to work on a piece of original research. This can be lab, field or literature based. You will design the study, collect and analyse data. Optional modules include Conservation, Evolutionary Ecology and the Arctic Ecology Field Course.

The additional fourth year enables you to graduate with an integrated masters level qualification. You'll carry out an independent piece of research, and have modules to support this. You'll develop further skills in the co-ordination and communication of research projects.