Course Catalogue

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This intensive two week field course will introduce students to environmental fieldwork and management. Working with on-going projects, students will learn about the techniques and theoretical considerations involved in estate and countryside management including activities such as managing invasive species, maintaining rural tourism resources and ecological monitoring.

Course will run over two weeks. The first week will be a residential element and the second week will be based on campus.

Mandatory Entry Requirements

Students should satisfy normal honours entry requirements for the programme.

This course is only for BSc Environmental Stewardship Honours students.

Recommended Entry Requirements

None

Assessment

Work-based skills diary (60%) 3000 words

Environmental fieldwork report (40%) 2500 words.

Reassessments are normally available for all courses, except those which contribute to the Honours classification. For non-Honours courses, students are offered reassessment in all or any of the components of assessment if the satisfactory (threshold) grade for the overall course is not achieved at the first attempt. This is normally grade D3 for undergraduate students and grade C3 for postgraduate students. Exceptionally it may not be possible to offer reassessment of some coursework items, in which case the mark achieved at the first attempt will be counted towards the final course grade. Any such exceptions for this course are described below. 

The aims of this course are to:

■ Develop appreciation for challenges in collecting and providing evidence to support countryside/estate management.

■ Provide students with an opportunity to gain practical experience in a variety of environmental fieldwork techniques including, for example, sampling of intertidal bivalve populations.

■ Evaluate the theoretical and practical constraints of environmental fieldwork.

■ Demonstrate the opportunities for a career in practical environmental-based employment.

■ Provide a forum for debate on the aims, objectives and practice of different types of environmental fieldwork.

■ Develop students' fieldwork, analytical and written skills.

By the end of this course students will be able to:

■ Utilise a variety of practical field skills to achieve environmental/land management goals.

■ Identify a range of practical constraints related to working in challenging locations.

■ Document a range of practical and managerial skills required for a career in environmental field-based employment.

■ Evaluate current provisions for environmental management and provide plans for future improvements.

■ Design, conduct and analyse data related to environmental fieldwork, and write a structured scientific report.

■ Work as part of a team in delivering a joint project.

Students must submit at least 75% by weight of the components (including examinations) of the course's summative assessment.

Students must participate in the whole field course unless excused due to notification of good cause.