Are you interested in the many environmental issues of today eg air pollution, water resources, energy production, global warming? Would you like to acquire the skills necessary to help understand, assess and control their impact? If so, a BSc degree in Environmental Modelling, which addresses those local and global environmental issues with a scientific basis, will be both enjoyable and rewarding to you.
What is Environmental Modelling and why is it so important?
There is increasing concern about environmental issues throughout society. This is driven by a demand for an improved quality of life and a reluctance to tolerate pollution and hazards which damage health either in the workplace or community. To avoid environmental damage, industry must now forecast the impact any process or product will have on the environment in order to make the appropriate allowances at the design stage. Examples include the design and location of wind turbines, fluid flow analysis applied to chemical or oil spills, noise measurement in the vicinity of new motorways or runways and air pollution from vehicles or incinerator stacks. Predictions of the environmental impact of a project or process made in advance of it taking place can be obtained from mathematical models using appropriate statistical and computational techniques. The demand that industry protects its local environment along with concerns about global environmental problems means there is now a rising demand for graduates with an understanding of environmental issues and the skills necessary to model the impact of industrial processes and other environmental hazards.
The course has been designed to give you a unique combination of skills appropriate to the field of environmental and physical modelling. The degree is available both as a 3 year full-time course and as a 4 year sandwich course. The sandwich mode gives you the opportunity to spend one year at an industrial placement which provides invaluable work experience and improves your employment prospects. You will be encouraged to pursue a project related to the industrial placement.
The course features a number of key themes throughout the three stages including a mathematical theme, an environmental and physical modelling theme, a scientific theme and a computational theme. In addition there are opportunities for you to develop your own interests, in environmental remote sensing or instrumentation for example. You will also have numerous opportunities to practice the communication skills considered important by potential employers.
Environmental modelling covers a wide range of subjects and integration of the course is achieved by a variety of strategies which include visits to sites of environmental interest, the inclusion of lectures by guest speakers and case studies featuring several aspects of the curriculum.
Environmental Modelling involves a wide range of transferable and specific skills as follows
Applicants are expected to attain good standards in one of the following entry routes:-
Career prospects are wide and varied within public and private companies. Examples of public sector employers are, the Environment Agency, the Road and Transport Research Establishment, the Building Research Establishment, the Department of the Environment and numerous other government financed organisations. In addition, private industry, through environmental consultants and specialist energy or pollution control companies, also produce environmental models.
Recent market research of prospective employers showed an increasing demand for graduates with mathematical, scientific and computational skills combined with a knowledge of environmental issues. Graduates of Bsc Environmental Modelling will possess this wide range of skills that are attractive to many employers.
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