MSc Pollution and Environmental Control

Fees for entry in 2027 have not yet been set. For reference, the fees for the academic year beginning September 2026 were as follows:

• MSc (full-time)
  UK students (per annum): £16,300
  International, including EU, students (per annum): £36,800

The fees quoted above are fully inclusive of tuition, administration and computational costs.

Fees for entry are subject to yearly review. The University reserves the right to increase your tuition fee by up to 7% each year for courses lasting more than one year, including to reflect rising costs associated with delivering our educational and wider student experience. Postgraduate fees information .

Always contact the admissions team if you are unsure which fee applies to your qualification award and method of attendance.

International student CAS deposit

Self-funded international applicants are required to pay a deposit of £2500 towards their tuition fees before a confirmation of acceptance for studies (CAS) is issued. Some applicants will be required to pay a higher deposit. More information on tuition fee deposits .

All students should normally be able to complete their programme of study without incurring additional study costs over and above the tuition fee for that programme. Any unavoidable additional compulsory costs totalling more than 1% of the annual home undergraduate fee per annum, regardless of whether the programme in question is undergraduate or postgraduate taught, will be made clear to you at the point of application. Further information can be found in the University's Policy on additional costs incurred by students on undergraduate and postgraduate taught programmes (PDF document, 91KB).

We offer a number of postgraduate taught scholarships and awards to outstanding UK and international students each year.

The University of Manchester is committed to widening participation in master's study, and allocates £300,000 in funding each year. Our Manchester Master's Bursaries are aimed at widening access to master's courses by removing barriers to postgraduate education for students from underrepresented groups.

We also welcome the best and brightest international students each year and reward excellence with a number of merit-based scholarships. See our range of master’s scholarships for international students .

And, if you have completed an undergraduate degree at The University of Manchester, or are currently in your final year of an undergraduate degree with us, you may be eligible for a discount of 10% on tuition fees if you choose to study on a taught postgraduate course here. Find out if you're eligible and how to apply .

For more information on master's tuition fees and studying costs, visit the University of Manchester funding for master's courses website to help you plan your finances.

This course outlines the issues required to be considered when preparing a research project with reference to pollution and environmental control, and then provides the opportunity to apply these to the project that will form the basis of the student’s dissertation. The principles will outlined and the students guided through the development through a series of small group tutorials. Formative assessments for a draft research proposal presentation and a draft research proposal report will provide the foundations for summative assessment of a feasibility report.

Registration on MPEC – Masters in Pollution and Environmental Control

All students will be expected to have basic IT and communication skills, notably the ability to: utilise word processing and spreadsheet software, access and search the internet, including appropriate library databases of scientific and other published and unpublished literature; set out solutions to quantitative and other coursework problems in a clear and logical manner.

The tutorials will be delivered in 11 weekly tutorials lasting up to 2 hours. These will be delivered by tutors under the guidance of the project leads. The following subjects will be covered, although the specific week-by-week timings given here are a guide and are subject to the practicalities of the project nature and to be determined by the project leads. At the discretion of the project leads, this can include practical work where necessary.

Weeks 1-3

- Unit introduction and plagiarism training

- Discussion on what makes good research and what makes a good proposal

- Discussion on background reading in support of a proposal, including identification of a research gap

- Subject-specific background motivation and technologies to be used

Weeks 4-5

- Setting aims and objectives

- Developing aims of the research

- Discussion on setting objectives, including the concept of SMART objectives

Weeks 6-7

- Setting of individual aims and objectives according to identified research need

- Identifying data and methods to be used for meeting project aims and objectives

- Forming a project proposal

Weeks 8-9

- Presentation of the proposal for summative assessment

- Electronic submission of proposal for formative feedback

Weeks 10-11:

- Project planning, including Gantt charts

- Feasibility assessment

- Risk management, including project contingency planning and health and safety risk assessment

Feasibility report submission after end of tutorials. 1000 words (not including references), designed to demonstrate the feasibility of proposed methods to meet the project objectives. Marked according to the following:

- Appropriate application of research tools to aims and objectives

- Project planning

- Time/resource needs and quantification

- Risk management (project and physical)

Learning in this course unit will be based upon (i) small group tutorials and (ii) independent study, supported by reading lists, lectures and further e-learning materials made available on Blackboard.

General principles will be outlined, with (paper/computer based) exercises and discussions.

Application to individual research project preparation will be done through independent work with guidance and feedback, including from peers, through small group tutorials – these small group tutorials are a much more effective way to progress this at an individual level than whole group teaching methods and is a key element of the learning and teaching processes in this course unit. Students will be expected to carry out directed and independent reading, including of the University of Manchester MyLearningEssentials resources; as well as directed and independent exercises.

Students will be assigned to tutorial groups according to the subject areas of their research projects in EART60372. This will allow them to share subject-specific experiences with the  

background reading, the formulation of research proposals and development of feasibility reports.

Formative assessments for a draft research proposal will provide the foundations for summative assessment of a research proposal presentation (including question & answer session). A feasibility report will then be prepared based on the project plan for summative assessment.

The feedback strategy is designed to help develop a student’s ability to self-assess their own progress. Feedback will be delivered throughout the duration of each tutorial via both group and one-to-one staff-student interactions in which students will be guided through the various exercises and offered comments on their technique.

A key element of this course unit will be how to go about selecting a research problem and then applying that to actually selecting an individual research problem.  With the students assigned to projects within the subsequent EART60372 module, tutors will guide the students through the process in groups within each project. Research problem selection will be done in a strongly interactive manner between the tutor and student and having this process expounded in small group tutorials provides the opportunity for all students to better see and understand the nature and importance of that process. Every allocated tutor will normally be expected to reinforce the key elements of the material taught in other modules. The tutor will work closely with the EART60372 project supervisors to utilise material appropriate to the project areas. 

(University of Manchester) Research governance, integrity and ethics https://www.manchester.ac.uk/research/environment/governance/

(University of Manchester) Code of Good Research Practice

https://www.manchester.ac.uk/research/environment/governance/conduct/

(UK Medical Research Council) Good Research Practice

https://mrc.ukri.org/research/policies-and-guidance-for-researchers/good-research-practice/

(ESRC) What Makes Good Research ?

https://esrc.ukri.org/public-engagement/social-science.../what-makes-good-research/

Goldacre, B. (2009 ) Bad Science. Harper-Collins.

Medewar, P.B. (1981) Advice to a Young Scientist. Sloan Foundation Science Series.

(European Union) Logical framework

https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/europeaid/online-services/index.cfm?

http://eeas.europa.eu/archives/delegations/fiji/press_corner/all_news/news/2015/20150420_01_en.pdf

(DFID) Logframe for Research Projects https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/209569/Logframe_guidance_for_research_programmes_Final_PDF_version.pdf

(UQ) Annotated example of a UQ Research Proposal

https://uq.edu.au/student-services/pdf/learning/research-proposal-sample-v2.pdf

IUPAC (2007) Quantities, Units and Symbols in Physical Chemistry; Edition 3.Available from: https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/ebook/978-0-85404-433-7

Subject-specific further reading to be provided in individual project streams.