Conservation Ecology – (M.Sc.)

Contents

Course length

Full-time: MSc: 12 months, PGDip: 8 months, PGCert: 8 months
Part-time: MSc: 24 months, PGDip: 20 months, PGCert: 8 months

Conservation Ecology is a master's course designed to provide you with a thorough understanding of theoretical and practical skills required for proficiency in conservation ecology. The course is also offered on a part-time basis and we encourage applications from professionals in conservation organisations and environmental consultancies who wish to upgrade their qualifications.

Teaching focuses on current issues in conservation associated with environmental change, species identification and survey techniques, the key theoretical underpinning of conservation ecology and an introduction to wildlife legislation, GIS, and environmental impact assessment. By completing this course you gain an ability to statistically interpret field data and develop your abilities to organise your work and communicate to a variety of audiences. You will also be taught about research methods and career development, to help you to transfer your skills to the work environment.

Early in Semester 1 you will plan your research project. You will work with your tutor to design a research project that best suits your interests and needs. We encourage project work to be carried out with external research organisations and conservation practitioners, many of whom we have strong links with, or with research groups within Oxford Brookes University.

You will achieve an MSc degree on successful completion of all the course modules including the research project. A Postgraduate Diploma will be awarded for completion of course modules without the research project, and a Postgraduate Certificate will be awarded for completion of 60 M-level credits. To complete an MSc you need to obtain 180 M-level credits and for a PGDip 120 M-level credits. For a PGCert you need to obtain 60 M-level credits. The following core modules are compulsory for all three qualifications:

* Taxonomy and Identification (20 M credits) - develops taxonomic skills by requiring students to focus on the processes of identification of species and recognition of key characteristics of selected taxonomic groups. Skills are learned by practical studies in the field and by the use of collections and appropriate taxonomic tools.
* Ecology for Conservation (20 M credits) - introduces appropriate theory and methods together with examination of areas of controversy and best practice for habitat and species conservation and monitoring.
* Ecosystem Degradation and Management (20 M credits) - considers the nature and extent of ecosystem degradation resulting from human activities and the methods for conserving and restoring degraded ecosystems.

The following core module is compulsory for the MSc and PGDip:

* Career Development and Research Skills (20 M credits) - looks at the practical aspects of scientific work, such as designing and analysing experiments and presenting proposals for research and results to prospective employers.

For the MSc and PGDip you need to obtain 40 M-level credits from any of the following modules:

* Molecular Biology (20 M credits) - introduces core practical skills within molecular biology, to give a firm grounding in the practical aspects of molecular biology that can be applied to problems in conservation biology.
* Genome Science (20 M credits) - develops an understanding of structure content and evolution of genomes and bioinformatics, which is essential for understanding how molecular information can be applied in wildlife forensics and phylogeography.
* Environmental Law and Decision Making (20 M credits) - examines the international, European and UK legal context of environmental decision making.
* GIS and Environmental Modelling (20 M credits) - looks at the practical application of GIS and other computer-based techniques and models as tools to assist in environmental decision making.
* Procedures and Methods of EIA (40 M credits) - examines the procedures and methods of environmental impact assessments.

For the MSc, you also undertake:

* Research Project (60 M credits) - involves an individual research study on a selected topic in Conservation Ecology.