Course overview

There has never been a better or more important time to study the environmental sciences. It is currently the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (2005–2014) and with the Government putting sustainability at the heart of all its policies, there is a growing shortage of skilled people who can translate environmental knowledge into actions that can make a positive difference to the changing world we live in. Our courses will equip you with the skills and knowledge necessary to make these changes, whether in local government, industry, consultancy or non-governmental organisations.

Increasing environmental legislation is forcing all businesses to account for their environmental impact. This requires large numbers of environmentally trained graduates to take on these environmental surveys and investigations and thus the job market for you, as an environmental science graduate, continues to expand.

Our environmental degree pathways have a strong science foundation, which will make you highly employable across a wide range of careers, from laboratory-based forensic investigations or chemical impact surveys to field-based conservation work, contamination investigations or ecological surveys. Both field and laboratory work are fully integrated in both pathways of our environmental science programme, with residential field courses (typically overseas) offered in all three years of each pathway. This work is supplemented by many day trips to our nearby National Parks, World Heritage sites and the Isle of Wight.

Professional accreditation

This degree is accredited by the Institution of Environmental Sciences (IES). Professional accreditation is the first stage towards professional certification which is increasingly required for environmental scientists to work throughout the EU and for chartered career progression within the UK.

Course content

Before getting to grips with environmental investigations you will need to study the basic sciences in year one. You will learn specialist topics and laboratory, field and computational skills in year two and then you will gain in-depth, expert subject knowledge in year three. You will also learn how to document your work and produce reports to professional standards.

Year one

The programme is structured so that core units common to both environmental science degrees make up this year. This makes transfer between this degree and BSc (Hons) Marine Environmental Science very easy. Core units at include:

• Science for Earth Systems: ensures that you have the basic chemistry and physics knowledge and related laboratory skills to succeed in the analytical and contamination units that appear later in the course.
• Environmental Systems: introduces the complex nature of our world and its problems, from climate change to soil erosion, ever increasing populations and resource depletion.
• Quantitative Methods: basic mathematical and IT skills necessary to complete scientific calculations and use standard and specialist software.
• Planet Earth: understanding the Earth’s geological processes, systems and functions.
• Introduction to Oceanography: introduces the geology, biology, physics and chemistry of the oceans.
• Marine and Terrestrial Ecology: focuses on interactions between organisms and between organisms and their environment. The unit integrates theoretical knowledge with work in the field.

Year two

Our degree pathways diverge in year two with the following core units available:

• Environmental Fieldwork and Analysis: a one-week residential field course involving a range of field investigations, sampling and analytical methodologies. This work currently takes place in Tenerife or Malta. You will also learn how to apply the correct statistical analyses to the results of environmental surveys.
• Environmental Geochemistry and Analytical Techniques: This unit explores the relationships between Earth's formation and evolutionary processes, global biogeochemical cycles, element mobility and the creation and conservation of soil resources. It also provides group demonstrations and hands-on practical work, using appropriate advanced analytical instrumental techniques, to gain experience and understanding of the methods involved in measuring selected key elements from the biogeochemical cycles.

Typical unit options include:

• Oceanography
• Coastal Environments
• Energy Resources
• Hydrology and Freshwater Ecosystems
• Flood Hazards
• Environmental Forensics
• Climate Change
• Scientific and Technical Diving Techniques (PADI accredited course)

Year three

Core units include:

• Environmental Auditing Assessment: the techniques required to conduct environmental audits, risk assessments and impact assessments and the legislation behind these processes.
• Environmental Science Project: an individual research project on your chosen environmental topic.

The following specialist options are available:

• Waste Management and Environmental Pollution
• Climate Change
• Contaminated Land amd Groundwater Management
• Groundwater Protection
• Applied Coastal Geomorphology
• Environmental Science Study Tour (field trip to Belize or Portugal)

Teaching and assessment

Unit assessment is typically a combination of coursework and examination. Coursework may be professional field or laboratory notebook recordings, reports, site surveys, poster displays or oral presentations. Computer-based exercises and environmental data analysis are also incorporated into some unit assessments.

As a final-year student you will choose and undertake a major field and/or laboratory-based research project with support from our internationally experienced course tutors. Some students use this as an opportunity to be adventurous and travel abroad; recent projects have been conducted in Brazil, Canada, USA, Romania, Ukraine, Tenerife, Singapore, Hong Kong, Cyprus, Costa Rica, Zakynthos and Iceland.

Career prospects

The range of career opportunities within the environmental field is increasing annually and our graduates have recently been employed in such wide ranging areas as:

• environmental, engineering and ecological consultancies
• regulatory authorities and government agencies
• private company environmental departments
• underwater exploration
• conservation
• postgraduate training and research

Facilities and features

Our Environmental Research Institute and School building contain fully equipped environmental laboratories for the analysis of a wide range of environmental samples. Marine environmental scientists will also have access to a modern, well-equipped, harbour-side marine teaching and research facility, as well as boats and harbour facilities for marine excursions and diving courses. We also make use of several local coastal and harbour study centres which support our educational activities. This includes a multi-activity outdoor environmental laboratory on the Isle of Wight that offers excellent resources for studying climate change, coastal erosion, landslide hazards, tidal ecology, hydrology, woodland ecology, conservation and the impact of tourism on the environment.

You will learn to analyse materials for elemental composition and structure using state-of-the-art equipment such as atomic absorption spectrophotometry (AAS), X-ray fluorescence and diffraction systems, electron and atomic force microscopes and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometers (ICPMS).

Entry requirements

View all the entry requirements for BSc (Hons) Environmental Science for the academic year 2013/14 (opens in new window).