MPhil in Environmental Science

The Department will not be running this MPhil in academic year 2012-13 and will therefore not be offering admission for October 2012. We expect to run the course again for admission for October 2013 for the academic year 2013-14.

Master of Philosophy Degree Course Full-time, one year

Course aims

The course seeks to bridge the gap between first degree and PhD or further research, and is intended to give students a research training that provides the core skills required to undertake a wide range of environmental research. All students will gain some remote sensing, modelling, and environmental reconstruction skills. After an introductory four weeks examining these areas, students will begin to specialise, following a course that focuses increasingly, until they undertake a research project in their chosen field. There is a formal course structure from the middle of the Michaelmas Term in the three areas of GIS and Remote Sensing, Atmospheric Sciences, and Quaternary Science, and in these areas, the choice of specialist training will determine the final title of the MPhil for each student. However, students with other interests may take the MPhil, and a course can be tailored to allow them to progress to a research project and dissertation that will then prepare them for subsequent PhD research in that area.

The course aims to provide:

training in some of the core skills required in the conduct of environmental research
in-depth knowledge of cutting-edge issues in specific fields of environmental research
the opportunity to develop large scale research management skills by completing a research thesis under academic supervision and guidance.

The MPhil thesis element can either be a free-standing project, or can be used as a vehicle for developing plans and research design for subsequent doctoral research.

The outcomes of the course are achieved both through focused study of selected specialised aspects of environmental research and through development of more general research skills and methods. The main outcomes of student learning sought are that students:

that students are familiar with an appropriate range of intellectual and methodological traditions within environmental science research through exposure of the students to different substantive areas of research.
that students become critical and skilled readers and interpreters of environmental science and other related research publications.
that students develop in-depth knowledge of selected substantive area(s) of environmental science research
that students develop their capacity to frame research questions, to derive appropriate research designs, and develop awareness of alternative approaches.
that students develop a competence and confidence in using a range of both methods for gathering, analysing and interpreting evidence.
that students develop their skills in presentation of research-based evidence and argument.
that students develop a capability to manage research, including data management, conducting and disseminating research, working in a team, and understanding codes of research practice and research ethics.
that students gain practical experience of environmental science research through conducting small-scale or pilot research project(s), chiefly through their MPhil thesis.

It is assumed that students will be drawn from a wide range of science backgrounds, including Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Earth and Biological Sciences, Engineering, Physical Geography, Archaeology and Anthropology who want to apply their skills to environmentally relevant topics. A primary aim of the course is to train high ability research students who will continue to undertake a 3 year PhD. Hence students will only be offered places if their interests map onto the research interests of the research group to which they are assigned and have a willing and appropriate supervisor.

This is a eleven month course with the thesis submitted in late August.