MSc Environmental Monitoring, Modelling and Reconstruction / Course details
Year of entry: 2021
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Course description
MSc Environmental Monitoring, Modelling and Reconstruction focuses on analysing past, present, and future dynamic environments, providing you with the skills for a career in environmental management or consultancy, and a firm grounding for research in the environmental sciences.
Concerns over the human impact on the environment have stimulated demand from governments and industry for the monitoring, analysis and modelling of natural processes in environmental systems. This is essential if we are to improve understanding of the interrelation of environmental variables in order to predict and manage their responses to anthropogenic perturbations.
Studying this course, you will gain:
- advanced theoretical knowledge and practical expertise in order to collect, interpret and analyse contemporary and past environmental data;
- modelling skills, in order to investigate the interrelationships between environmental variables, and to predict their responses to changing internal and external conditions;
- intellectual and practical skills, in order to design and undertake field and/or laboratory experiments in contemporary environmental process-monitoring, or palaeoenvironmental reconstruction, and to design and test appropriate environmental models with the data you collect.
We also use the proximity of Manchester to the upland areas of the Peak District; several past MSc students completed dissertation work in close collaboration with various organisations responsible for land management in the Peak District, giving their work direct policy relevance.
Aims
The overall aims of the programme are for students to acquire:
- the appropriate level of advanced theoretical knowledge and practical expertise required to collect, interpret, and analyse contemporary and past environmental data;
- the modelling skills required to investigate the interrelationships between environmental variables, and to predict their responses to changing internal and external conditions;
- the intellectual and practical skills required to design and undertake field and/or laboratory experiments in contemporary environmental process-monitoring, or palaeo-environmental reconstruction, and to design and test appropriate environmental models with the data they collect.
Special features
- Geography has been studied at Manchester for more than 125 years, and we're one of Europe's best-equipped universities for the subject.
- We're home to world-class academics and the new Manchester Urban Institute (MUI).
- Benefit from worldwide fieldwork opportunities and strong industry links.
- 90% of our Geography research is rated as `world-leading' or `internationally excellent' in terms of impact (Research Excellence Framework 2014).
- Join the Manchester University Geographical Society (MUGS) , a society run by Geography students for Geography Students.
Coursework and assessment
Taught units comprise two-thirds of the course and are assessed by a wide range of project work, essays and presentations.
There are no formal examinations.
The remainder of your course consists of the dissertation.
Course unit list
The course unit details given below are subject to change, and are the latest example of the curriculum available on this course of study.
| Title | Code | Credit rating | Mandatory/optional |
|---|---|---|---|
| Environmental Change & Reconstruction 1: Concepts in Stratigraphy and Geochronology | GEOG60111 | 15 | Mandatory |
| Environmental Change and Reconstruction 2: Palaeoecology in Practice | GEOG60122 | 15 | Mandatory |
| Dissertation Support | GEOG60662 | 15 | Mandatory |
| Environmental Monitoring and Modelling Practice | GEOG70552 | 15 | Mandatory |
| Environmental Monitoring and Modelling Concepts | GEOG70581 | 15 | Mandatory |
| Environmental Change and Reconstruction 2: Palaeoecology in Practice | GEOG60122 | 15 | Optional |
| Mediterranean Quaternary Landscapes | GEOG60131 | 15 | Optional |
| Our Frozen Planet | GEOG60222 | 15 | Optional |
| Peatlands Under Pressure | GEOG60231 | 15 | Optional |
| Digital Terrain Analysis | GEOG60411 | 15 | Optional |
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Scholarships and bursaries
We offer a number of postgraduate taught scholarships and merit awards to outstanding applicants and international students.
In addition, the Manchester Alumni Scholarship Scheme offers a £3,000 reduction in tuition fees to University of Manchester alumni who achieved a first-class Bachelors degree and are progressing to a postgraduate taught masters course.
For more information, see Fees and funding or search the University's postgraduate funding database
Facilities
We are one of Europe's best-equipped universities for geography, with numerous laboratories. These include the main teaching laboratory, microscopy laboratory, and sediments and project laboratories.
You can also learn professional skills such as coding and programing specialist, industry-standard software such as image processing, GIS, GPS and cartographic representation.
The University's Main Library is the largest university library system in the UK apart from the copyright libraries and has a number of different working spaces. It is home to the University Map Collection, which comprises about 100,000 map sheets of every part of the world.
We also have our very own Kantorowich Library, which contains many of the teaching and learning materials that you will need, from books and journals to DVDs and past dissertations.
For more information, see Facilities