Environmental Monitoring, Modelling and Reconstruction – (M.Sc.)

This masters programme focuses on the analysis of dynamic environments, past. present, and future. Concerns over human impacts 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.

The programme is directed by Dr Phil Hughes, with inputs from other physical geographers working on a wide variety of aspects of environmental change. Current research within the School includes: measurements and predictions of global warming; processes of drought and desertification; reconstruction of past environments; acidification of surface waters; upland geomorphology; remote sensing for environmental management; moorland erosion control; water resource management; tropical rainforest management. Several of the course units build on the interests members of staff have in upland environments. The programme also makes use of the proximity of Manchester to the upland areas of the Peak District, and several past MSc students have completed dissertation work in close collaboration with various organisations responsible for land management in the Peak District so that their work has had direct policy relevance.

Course 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; and
* the intellectual and practical skills required to design and undertake field and/or laboratory experiments in contemporary environmental process-monitoring, or paleoenvironmental reconstruction, and to design and test appropriate environmental models with the data they collect.

By the end of the programme, you will have acquired an advanced level of theoretical knowledge and practical experience in: field/laboratory monitoring techniques for analysis of environmental processes; advanced techniques for chemical and magnetic analysis of environmental materials; field and laboratory techniques for paleoenvironmental reconstruction based on stratigraphic studies of sediment cores, including microfossil and pollen analysis; GIS and remote sensing, and advanced statistical methods, including use of computer packages like SPSS; computer programming in Visual BASIC and its use in environmental modelling experiements; designing, planning, funding and executing research projects in environmental monitoring, or paleoenvironmental reconstruction, and processing/analysing the results logically, using objective statistical methods and/or methematical modelling techniques if required; objective, unbiased, and impartial reporting of analytical results and their interpretation, both oral and written, particularly scientific report writing.