Module Information
Course Delivery
Assessment
Due to Covid-19 students should refer to the module Blackboard pages for assessment details
| Assessment Type | Assessment length / details | Proportion |
|---|---|---|
| Semester Assessment | Consultancy Report (2,500 words) | 50% |
| Semester Assessment | Group presentation (10 minutes) | 30% |
| Semester Assessment | Individual Infographic A3 poster | 20% |
| Supplementary Assessment | Consultancy Report (2,500 words) | 50% |
| Supplementary Assessment | Equivalent written component of presentation (500 words) | 30% |
| Supplementary Assessment | Individual Infographic A3 poster | 20% |
Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of this module students should be able to:
1. Assess the natural and anthropogenic environmental problems which impact terrestrial environments, and demonstrate an understanding of the spatial and temporal contexts for managing these issues.
2. Develop practical skills in identifying, measuring and monitoring environmental problems in desk-based, laboratory and field settings.
3. Apply standard approaches to develop appropriate recommendations for environmental management solutions.
4. Consolidate data and information from multiple end-user /stakeholder groups related to real-world environmental management problems.
Brief description
Many of the world’s most challenging environmental management problems and hazards are related to river catchments. These include flooding, risks to infrastructure arising from erosion and sedimentation, contamination of land and water, and water provision through building dams and diversion schemes. Geoscientists address these issues by employing a wide range of methods, instruments and datasets, underpinned by a process-based understanding, often in complex regulatory frameworks and challenging political and economic contexts. Using a series of real-life local, national and international case studies from environmental consultancies and research, this module will develop students’ skills in applying their theoretical understanding to solve environmental management problems. It will give students experience of using industry-standard approaches, instruments, and desk, lab and field-based techniques including statistical flood estimation, geomorphological survey and GIS analysis.
Content
•Introduction and context: river response to long-termenvironmental change and the role of water science,regulation and governance in the Anthropocene
•Land stability: Infrastructure in a dynamic environment:planning river crossings
•Land and water quality: Mining impacts and contaminationof land and water
•Managing floods
•Dams and their impacts
Practical sessions and assessments will focus on using industry-standard techniques for assessing flood frequency and magnitude (FEH software), river bank stability, and the rates and magnitude of historical river channel change (ArcGIS). Field work will focus on geomorphological site assessment and surveying using various instruments. These sessions will develop students’ skills which will then be used to address a specific river management problem forming the basis of a consultancy report. Students will also take part in a simulated public inquiry meeting into a controversial environmental management issue, playing the role of a particular stakeholder/interest group.
Module Skills
| Skills Type | Skills details |
|---|---|
| Application of Number | |
| Communication | Students will produce an environmental consultancy report using standard professional formats, which involves distilling and communicating scientific information to non-specialist clients. Students will give an oral presentation in a simulated public inquiry. |
| Improving own Learning and Performance | The environmental consultancy report will require significant independent research and experimenting with various solutions. Students will need to adapt to working in a more applied context, to working in new teams, possibly across different degree schemes, and be resilient to experimenting to find the best solution to a problem. |
| Information Technology | Students will use a number of key pieces of software used in the environmental consultancy sector, including statistical and GIS packages as well as more generic software to produce a written report and oral presentation. |
| Personal Development and Career planning | The module is focused on developing skills to solve real-world environmental management problems, raising awareness of the often challenging contexts that such problems arise in. Students will need to reflect on the degree to which their solutions to an environmental management problem have been successful, and to reflect on their viewpoints having heard arguments from other stakeholders during the simulated public inquiry. |
| Problem solving | The environmental consultancy report is directly focused on solving an environmental problem. Students will need to explore various solutions and decide on the most appropriate for a particular context. |
| Research skills | Students will be required to think critically about the consequences of a range of environmental management solutions, consider their advantages and disadvantages, and logically propose the most appropriate solution. |
| Subject Specific Skills | The module is focused on applying theoretical subject-specific understanding to real-world problems using skills such as statistical analysis, GIS mapping, field and laboratory techniques and instruments. |
| Team work | Students will work in groups to develop their argument for the simulated public inquiry and will need to organize, collaborate and present as a group. |
Notes
This module is at CQFW Level 6