Students will be able to:-
- Appreciate the wide diversity of ecological research and its role in maintaining biodiversity from local to global scales, and ecosystem function.
- Have in-depth knowledge of some specific examples of environmental or ecological science, such as ecosystem processes, population dynamics, hydrological processes, conservation biology, and others, depending upon the choice of modules.
- Appreciate the principles of quantitative ecological methods and their application.
- MSc students will gain practical experience of cutting edge techniques. The research project provides the opportunity for closer staff-student interactions where experience of first-hand application and assessment of techniques and results will be gained within a research-active environment.
The student is expected to gain insight and experience of scientific methodology. On completion of the programme it is expected that the student will have developed the following intellectual skills:
- Ability to develop a robust scientific argument, formulate and test hypotheses, and to assess contrasting scientific theories.
- Problem solving and decision making, identifying, abstracting, critically evaluating and synthesizing relevant scientific information.
- Self-direction and originality in tackling and solving problems, acting autonomously in planning and implementing tasks at a professional or equivalent level.
- The use of experimentation within a scientific problem solving exercise and handling complexity and uncertainty.
General: Knowledge, Understanding and Skills
The range of transferable skills that students are expected to gain includes:
- Literacy in mainstream word-processing, data management and analysis, and presentation software.
- Presenting information in verbal, electronic and hardcopy media
- Numeracy, including statistical analysis.
- The ability to critically analyse and interpret data.
- Knowledge of how to apply for research funding.
