Course description
Programme
This programme integrates physical and biological sciences. It offers students a broad and integrated understanding of global change, delivered by colleagues from different disciplines, some with close associations with industry and policy makers. Many of the staff are research leaders and the teaching will relate to current cutting-edge research within the School of GeoSciences.
Learning Outcomes
Graduates will:
* acquire conceptual and analytical skills to enable critical evaluation of perceived environmental problems;
* receive training in a range of generic professional skills;
* develop skills to write a research paper in an area which may later be developed for PhD study;
* develop links with research projects at national and international levels to enhance future career development.
Students' intellectual skills will be enhanced by the critical evaluation of data acquired through sampling in the natural environment. Students will also have the opportunity to enhance their career development through links with research projects at national and international levels.
How You Will Be Taught
The programme consists of a training component during the first and second semesters and an individual research project, written up as a dissertation.
The Earth's climate and natural environments vary on a wide range of time scales, from years to millions of years, in response to external forcing and internal dynamics within the coupled system. Many of these changes are 'natural'. However, over the past few decades humans have become the dominant agents of change; for example, through modification of atmospheric composition by fossil fuel burning and land-use changes, and through direct alteration of both the physical and ecological environments.
Within the School we can draw on expertise starting from the origin of the Earth and the geological records of the distant past, through to studies of present-day processes, such as soil microbes interacting with atmospheric gases, or the record of ocean circulation held within the shells and skeletons of living molluscs and corals. It is delivered by colleagues from different disciplines, some with close associations with industry and policy-making, including ecologists, oceanographers, meteorologists, geologists, agriculturalists and geographers. Many of these staff are research leaders, and the teaching will relate to current cutting-edge research within the School.
Students are able to devise study programmes suited to their personal interests and career goals through their choice of optional courses and the individual research project. Research training will be interspersed with project planning and preliminary data collection to prepare students for the dissertation project.
Programme Structure
The programme starts in September each year and consists of:
* a training component during the first and second semesters (September to mid-February - Blocks 1-3);
* an individual research project, written up as a dissertation (March to August).
Taught Component
The taught component consists of 80 credits of taught courses. All students must attend and complete the compulsory core course:
* P01149 - Recent Global Environmental Change - (10 credits)
A further 70 credits are selected from the following courses offered within related MSc programmes:
* P00688 - Atmospheric Quality and Global Change - (20 credits)
* P00741 - Contemporary Issues in Earth Observation - (10 credits)
* P01523 - Forest Ecosystems - (20 credits)
* P00685 - Foundations in Ecological Economics - (20 credits)
* P00807 - Principles of Environmental Sustainability - (20 credits)
* P00808 - Research Methodology - (20 credits)
* P00692 - Soil Protection and Management - (20 credits)
* P00729 - Water Resource Management - (20 credits)
Dissertation
During the 1st Semester the research (dissertation) project will be developed and some preliminary work carried out. Most of the data collection, analysis and submission of a dissertation not exceeding 30,000 words will take place between beginning of March and end of August. We have identified these general areas:
* atmosphere-biosphere feedbacks
* land-water fluxes of carbon and nitrogen
* landscape-climate interactions
* anthropogenic environmental change
* abrupt climate change
* ecosystems as part of the climate system
The subject of the dissertation is chosen by the student in consultation with prospective supervisors and the Programme Director. A principal supervisor and a second supervisor are appointed to guide and monitor the work. Supervisors may be drawn both from within and without the University, allowing students to conduct research in a wide range of areas relevant to global change.
The degree will be awarded on the basis of the dissertation work but students are required to pass the taught courses at a minimum level (50%) in order to proceed to the dissertation element.
