The world can appear infinitely complex, but when details are represented digitally it becomes easier to draw back, take new perspectives, simplify patterns and learn more about their underlying causes. Organisations of all kinds are interested in how spatial information can drive decisions, operations and policy; and the volume and variety of information captured about people, their surroundings and the planet is increasing rapidly. Geographical Information Systems (GIS) provide us with the environment and tools to explore and interact with socioeconomic, environmental, topographic and remotely sensed data in order to generate understanding. At the end of this module, you will be able to query and interpret spatial data from multiple sources, create and critically interpret new outputs and appreciate how to visualise data for different audiences.

Explore the dynamic relationships between natural and human processes in landscapes from uplands through lowlands to coastal zones. You will examine how water, sediment and nutrients flow across landscapes, how changes in land use and climate can impact these flows and how disruptions to them can have cascading effects across space and time. You will consider how these interactions shape ecosystems and influence their health, resilience and services to humanity. The module will emphasise the importance of this understanding for developing sustainable land-use practices and natural resource management. Integrated approaches to landscape management will be explored through case studies addressing issues such as climate change adaptation, pollution control and flood risk mitigation.

You’ll explore and gain experience in a connected set of methods for addressing environmental questions. Starting with simple observation, you’ll move on to making field measurements, carrying out field experiments, analysing field samples in the lab, simulating the environment with laboratory or computer models and working with ‘big data’ gathered by global instrument networks. The data sets generated by each approach will allow you to practise data handling and inferential statistics. Reporting your work will also help develop your scientific report writing and communication skills. Throughout, you’ll reflect on the types of questions and challenges each method is best suited to, equipping you with the ability to design research projects and prepare for your dissertation.

Deepen your understanding of the atmospheric physics and chemistry that govern weather systems, atmospheric composition and air pollution. You will explore the physical and dynamic properties of the atmosphere and how they influence air movement - from small-scale flows to global circulation patterns such as monsoons and El Niño.

You will examine the factors affecting important atmospheric trace gases and study the key chemical processes behind urban air pollution, acid rain and stratospheric ozone depletion.

Practical sessions and a field trip to our Hazelrigg meteorological station will introduce you to observing and reporting atmospheric conditions. You will also learn how these observations support meteorological analyses and forecasts. Lab-based activities will reinforce your understanding of chemical reaction rates and provide hands-on experience with standard air quality monitoring techniques.

Explore the scientific foundations of conservation biology and ecosystem ecology by examining how species, communities and environments interact. You'll develop an understanding of the significant threats to global biodiversity, such as habitat loss, climate change, invasive species and overexploitation and learn the ecological reasons why conservation is vital.

Through a mix of theory, real-world case studies and practical work, you'll learn how to quantify biodiversity, assess population sizes and threats and apply conservation strategies at the genetic, species and ecosystem levels. Key topics include ecosystem resilience, habitat connectivity, conservation prioritisation and designing protected areas to optimise biodiversity conservation. You'll also build essential skills in ecological assessment and conservation planning, which will give you a solid foundation for a career in ecology, environmental management, or conservation science.

Employers in the UK and internationally are increasingly looking for graduates with professional skills in hydrology and water quality. These include environmental consultancies, water companies, government regulators and environmental or humanitarian charities. In this module, you'll learn how water and pollutants move through surface and subsurface environments. You'll also explore the latest theories and technologies professionals use, including monitoring tools and modelling techniques. Real-world examples show how these approaches are applied. Topics include the impact of climate change on water resources, flood mitigation through natural methods and the nitrate time bomb in groundwater. You'll gain hands-on experience with both field measurements and lab-based modelling.

Building on your earlier introduction to glacial systems, this module takes a deeper dive into how glaciers shape landscapes and interact with people and ecosystems. You’ll explore glacial processes in greater detail and begin to see how they connect across space and time. As you progress, you’ll be encouraged to critically engage with current research and understand how physical geographers interpret and contribute to this growing body of knowledge. By the end, you’ll be better equipped to identify how glaciology can inform environmental management and benefit both society and the natural environment.

This hands-on module introduces the theory behind key geological processes. You’ll also gain practical laboratory and field skills to help you interpret geological data and understand the geological evolution of the Earth. You’ll explore how natural resources form through geological processes. You’ll also consider how these resources are extracted and the impact this has on the environment and sustainability. Teaching takes place through lectures, laboratory practicals and field trips. You’ll develop core practical skills and learn how to apply theoretical knowledge to interpret geological processes. You’ll also collect and analyse field data. This data will be integrated with geological maps and existing knowledge to help you interpret the geological history of a region.

Soils are one of the most important, yet often overlooked, resources on the planet. Almost all our food relies on soil - it is the largest active store of carbon. The water we drink is stored and filtered through soils and they support over half of the planet’s biodiversity. In this module you will explore how soils are formed and the underpinning chemical, physical and biological processes that support the major biogeochemical cycles and life itself. We go on to explore some of the threats to soils, including soil erosion and salinisation and what we might do to mitigate them and then consider how soils are linked to the wider environment. You will be taught through a combination of lectures, a walking field lecture, fieldwork looking at soil profiles and laboratory classes to explore this exciting world beneath our feet.

Travel to the Scottish Hebrides to broaden your understanding of sustainability as a social, economic and environmental concern. We will challenge you to think about sustainability as an interdisciplinary issue and consider the future of the planet. You will deepen your understanding of what sustainability means in an island context, learning about the culture, landscape and economy of the Scottish Hebrides. There is the opportunity to travel by ferry between Hebridean islands, considering the ways in which islanders, alongside the local authority and Scottish Government, have sought to promote sustainable practice. You will see examples of progressive and alternative approaches to issues such as energy production, manufacturing, education, healthcare and social support.

You will spend this year working in a graduate-level placement role. This is an ideal opportunity to gain experience in an industry or sector that you might be considering working in once you graduate.

Although it's up to you to find your placement we'll support you all the way. Our Careers Service will provide guidance on CVs, applications, interview techniques and creating a digital profile.

Conduct an independent research project on a specific topic within your field of study and present your findings in an extensive report. Throughout your project, you will receive one-to-one support from a member of academic staff. This is the largest piece of work that you will complete during your degree and, depending on your subject area, it will enable you to develop skills including formulating a research question; contextualising it within research literature; identifying and using appropriate research methods and techniques with which to address your question; collecting and analysing data; and interpreting your findings. Overall, the aim is to demonstrate your ability to conduct rigorous, independent academic work and communicate its outcomes clearly and effectively.

The science and policy landscape around climate change, widely regarded as humanity’s biggest challenge, is rapidly evolving. This module covers climate change causes and effects, equipping you with a rounded understanding of underpinning processes and the knowledge and skills to effectively communicate and debate key contemporary issues. Fundamental carbon and energy balance concepts are introduced to explore how natural and anthropogenic forces (e.g. greenhouse gases) have shaped Earth’s climate since the industrial revolution and throughout geological time. Using real data, you will learn how changes to Earth’s climate are observed and modelled, appreciating uncertainties and how research is synthesised then communicated. Key aspects of current climate debates are explored, including geoengineering options versus conventional mitigation. With case studies, the successes and challenges of international climate policy and climate impacts at a range of scales are discussed.

The cryosphere holds a significant portion of Earth's fresh water, yet it faces growing threats from a warming climate. In this module, you'll explore the cryosphere as part of a wider environmental system, drawing on current research to understand how these frozen regions function and why they matter. Starting with the physical processes that influence the behaviour of ice masses, such as meltwater production and its effect on ice flow, you'll then examine the cryosphere's far-reaching impacts on downstream environments. By viewing glaciers as ecosystems, you'll uncover their role in sea-level changes, ecological interactions and climate feedbacks. You'll also gain insight into how scientists study these environments, using methods including fieldwork (like ice core sampling), remote sensing and modelling to monitor change and predict future outcomes.

This module takes a critical and yet hands-on approach to exploring the role of eco-innovation as a pathway towards sustainable development. Through action-learning, you will identify and address real-world sustainability challenges by developing your own eco-innovation proposals – viable ideas with the potential to reduce human impact on the environment whilst simultaneously delivering to the economic and social ambitions of global sustainable development. You will work in small teams, while being introduced to key sustainability concepts and business planning approaches that can be combined to develop effective eco-innovations. Gain valuable transferable skills including team working, problem analysis and framing, and effective oral and written communication to professional and non-academic audiences. By the end of the module, you will have developed a deep understanding of the intersection between sustainability and innovation, along with practical skills and increased confidence to help them drive change in the real world.

Geophysical techniques help you explore the subsurface environment in a minimally invasive way just like doctors use X-rays or MRIs to investigate the human body. You'll get to know a broad range of methods, including ground penetrating radar, electrical, seismic, gravity and magnetic techniques. Some of these can even be deployed using airborne or waterborne sensors.

You’ll learn the basic principles behind each method and how to interpret the data they generate, with hands-on practical training throughout. In addition, you’ll explore the strengths and limitations of each technique and see how they’re used in real-world contexts, from groundwater studies and pollutant mapping to glaciology, agriculture, geohazards, archaeology and forensic investigations. You’ll also be introduced to some of the latest innovations in environmental geophysics, such as the use of uncrewed vehicles and distributed fibre optic sensing.

Environmental pollution from metals, nutrients, radionuclides and emerging organic contaminants such as pharmaceuticals and microplastics has received a lot of attention across the media. Their effects on humans, wildlife and the environment are the subject of exciting and novel research. However, the sources of pollution and their pathways through the environment are still poorly understood. In this module, you’ll take a case study approach to explore where different pollutants come from, how they move through and impact the environment, and what this means for the world around you. But understanding the impacts is only half the story, you’ll also investigate how to monitor, manage and remediate pollution. You’ll engage with the latest approaches to reducing risk and exposure, helping you to think critically about how we can build a cleaner, healthier and more sustainable future.

Geological hazards, especially earthquakes, landslides and volcanic eruptions, endanger lives and livelihoods – disproportionately in vulnerable areas – and cause economic losses and infrastructure damage. Effective hazard management requires detailed understanding of the underlying physical processes, use of appropriate monitoring techniques to assess hazards and rigorous policymaking. In this module you’ll learn, via numerous case studies, how the boundaries of our knowledge of geological hazards are advanced by ongoing research. You’ll gain understanding of why landslides occur and the geomechanical models underpinning slope failure analysis and why faults slip. You will look at the probabilistic models used in seismic hazard assessment and how volcanic unrest and eruption relates to physical processes in magmatic systems. You will gain employability-relevant experience of geological hazards, which integrates field, remote sensing and modelling approaches and includes a site survey of a local landslide. You will thus develop systematic and creative approaches to identifying and solving problems.

This field module focuses on the governance of dynamic and rapidly changing socio-ecological systems in tropical South East Asia – places often conceived as utopias. You will explore the concept of ‘utopia’ and how it relates to environment and development challenges, considering why they succeed or fail. Visit a range of sites that reflect a continuum of different management trajectories. Through these cases, you will explore related trade-offs and approaches to natural resource management. Engage with different stakeholders (e.g., policy makers, tourists, local farmers) to explore their differing views of utopia and preferred development and conservation trajectories and their implications for society and the biophysical landscape. This multidisciplinary trip is designed for you, whether you're a natural or social science student, and will challenge you to engage with literature, concepts, methods, and assignments from areas outside your immediate degree focus.

Conservation is as much about human behaviours and values as it is about species and biological diversity. As a field, conservation science has come to recognise the complex nature of environmental challenges, requiring a blend of knowledge from various disciplines. While the foundations of conservation are still in traditional biology, the incorporation of social sciences, economics and law are increasing. This module introduces you to the increasingly holistic approach to conservation, emphasising the interplay between ecological and social systems, that recognises human behaviours, economic pressures and cultural values alongside biological factors. The need for collaboration across diverse stakeholders will be explored. Through case studies, you will learn to apply interdisciplinary frameworks to real-world scenarios, to recognise and engage with the often conflicting values and priorities. The module will prepare you for careers in conservation organisations, government agencies and research institutions, empowering you to become effective agents of environmental change.

How are we transforming the way we supply and use energy to achieve our climate targets? In this cross-disciplinary module you will look at the major changes underway within our energy system. You will examine decarbonisation pathways in electricity, transport and heat, whilst considering supply and demand dynamics and carbon removal. Investigate real-world challenges including how to govern the energy system, economics, societal engagement and energy security. Through a combination of lecture, workshop and field-based activities, you will gain a ‘whole system view’ cutting across disciplines, enabling you to refine your critical thinking skills and ability to weigh up the opportunities and challenges associated with energy decarbonisation. You will benefit from real-world insight through understanding the university energy system and contributions to the course from energy professionals. The knowledge and skills develop will position you for further study or employment focused on a major societal challenge.

Our planet is shaped by ongoing geological, climatic and ecological processes that are increasingly dominated by mankind. Everywhere you look you will find change, but not all changes are important. To make informed decisions, we need to know how to test ideas and identify reliable trends. This module will teach you how to overlay spatial layers to answer increasingly complex questions about when and where changes are happening, whether they are connected, what is occurring in locations with incomplete data and to predict the magnitude and distribution of impacts? As more and more data is collected and shared by networked devices, corporations and remote sensing technologies, understanding spatial relationships is crucial. The operations of most industries already depend on geospatial analysts and this module will teach you skills needed to take advantage of the digital age.

Despite delivering abundant cheap food, farmers and society have economic, environmental and social concerns about our modern resource-intensive agricultural systems. Explore the strengths and weaknesses of current intensive and proposed extensive agricultural systems by examining their food production, resource use, efficiency and environmental impacts. You’ll be introduced to key sustainability metrics such as carbon and water footprints and delve into the biological mechanisms behind a range of agronomic techniques. The module also looks at how agriculture contributes to ecosystem services. Through hands-on workshop sessions, you’ll compare microbial inoculants (bio-fertilisers) with synthetic fertilisers in a greenhouse-based plant growth trial and take part in a virtual farm management exercise to identify strategies for making UK agriculture more economically and environmentally sustainable.

We inhabit a wafer-thin veneer that floats on a dynamic planetary interior. Explore the structure and evolution of the Earth's interior and how internal processes such as convection of the outer core and mantle have influenced the Earth system, including plate tectonics, climate and life. You will learn about seismology and other techniques that are used to study the Earth's deep interior, how Earth cools, the geomagnetic field and understand how volcanism is produced by partial melting of the upper mantle. Learn how the behaviour of the Earth’s interior determines the stability of Earth’s atmosphere and oceans and consequently the ecosphere we depend upon; however, the Earth’s interior can also produce rapid surface change that alters the trajectory of evolution.

Develop your theoretical and practical knowledge of volcanic processes by studying the evolution of a basaltic volcano. Pre-trip classroom sessions are used to support the main residential field trip component of the module. The module covers the intricate volcanic processes occurring both on the surface and beneath the Earth’s crust, examining geological evidence of both constructional events (like eruptions and intrusions) and destructive events (such as collapses). Through fieldwork, you’ll interpret observations across scales, from millimetres to kilometres, linking them to the volcanic processes that drive them. By taking a problem-based learning approach, you'll tackle large-scale challenges, like understanding magmatic plumbing systems and their role in hazard analysis and mitigation.

Water is a critical natural resource for you and for all ecosystems. Successfully managing water resources is one of the most fundamental challenges facing society today. If you're aiming for a career in the water sector, you'll need to understand the policy and regulatory frameworks, technologies, and monitoring and classification approaches used to develop, conserve and restore water resources. This module gives you that understanding, drawing primarily on core material from the UK water sector and supported by global case studies where relevant. You’ll explore the management of both surface water and groundwater, tackling issues related to water quality and water availability. Your learning will be enriched through field visits and practical sessions with key UK stakeholders such as the Environment Agency and water companies, helping you gain skills and experience directly relevant to your future career.