Environmental Geology and Land Contamination (Taught)

Overview
On this Environmental Geology and Land Contamination Master's degree course, you'll learn how to investigate and understand contaminated sites. You'll learn how the whole geo-environmental system influences the movement of contaminants from source to potential receptors, through modules that cover hydrology, geochemistry, site investigation, geotechnics, and land assessment.

Many countries have a significant legacy of contaminants in the ground caused by industrial and mining activity. These pollutants can pose a significant risk to human health and the environment, so specialist expertise is required to ensure land is safe for use or development.

Demand for expertise is increasing, and in the UK alone the market for environmental consultancy is expected to grow by almost £10 billion to £16 billion by 2027 (Consultancy UK).

This course provides practical training in every aspect – from field and site work, to laboratory analysis and data interpretation – so once you graduate, you can pursue varied roles in the specialist area of contaminated land consultancy, regulation and remediation, both in the UK and overseas.

Earth systems and environmental sciences at the University of Portsmouth is ranked 4th of all post-1992 universities for research quality as part of the Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2021.

The School of Environment, Geography and Geosciences offers a limited number of scholarships for international postgraduate students.

Eligibility
This course accepts UK, EU, and international students.

Course highlights

• Learn from experts in the field, with extensive knowledge of groundwater hydrology, environmental geology and contaminated land management

• Benefit from our industry links and complete a professional research project in collaboration with industry partners

• Use our geotechnical and analytical labs, gaining practical experience in the use of a range of soil and environmental testing facilities in our environmental chemistry analysis laboratory

• Train in fieldwork techniques such as walk-over surveys, sample collection and testing, and the use of GIS and interpretation of remote sensing

• Produce professional conceptual site models (CSM) and learn about risk assessment approaches for contaminated land and water

Careers and opportunities
Environmental geologists and specialists in the identifiction and treatment of contaminated land are employed by Government and non-Government organisations, as well as commercial land and property developers.

Graduates also go into academic or commercial research roles, or a postgraduate research degree in earth and environmental sciences.

Graduates of this course have gone onto roles such as:

• Environmental consultant

• Geo-environmental consultant

• Geo-environmental engineer

• Engineer

Career outcomes shown are sourced from the latest available graduate outcome surveys. The data shows career outcomes at 15 months after graduation.

Career planning
During your course you'll have expert career support from your tutors and our Careers and Employability Centre – which you can access for up to 5 years after you graduate.

Course structure
Full-time (1-year):

• On-campus, in-person core teaching takes place on Mondays and Tuesdays

• We recommend that full-time students allocate around 37 hours per week to their studies – equivalent to a full-time job

Part-time (2-years):

• On-campus, in-person teaching takes place on Mondays or Tuesdays

• We recommend that part-time students allocate around 18 hours per week to their studies – equivalent to a part-time job

Studies include teaching time (lectures, lab time, etc), tutorials, course work, independent learning and assessments.

On-campus, in-person teaching takes place over two teaching blocks (September to January and January to May). From May onwards, you'll focus on the development and realisation of your research project.