Module Information
Course Delivery
Assessment
| Assessment Type | Assessment length / details | Proportion |
|---|---|---|
| Semester Assessment | Group presentation 10 Minutes | 30% |
| Semester Assessment | Consultancy Report 2500 Words | 70% |
| Supplementary Assessment | Script for group presentation 300 Words | 30% |
| Supplementary Assessment | Consultancy Report 2500 Words | 70% |
Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of this module students should be able to:
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.
Develop practical skills in identifying, measuring and monitoring environmental problems in desk-based, laboratory and field settings.
Apply standard approaches to develop appropriate recommendations for environmental management solutions.
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 and coastlines. These include flooding, risks to infrastructure arising from erosion and sedimentation, contamination of land and water, and environmental and social impacts associated with dams and flow diversion schemes. Geoscientists address these issues by employing a wide range of approaches, 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. Case studies will vary from year to year but may be drawn from river, floodplain, wetland, hillslope or coastal contexts. It will give students experience of using industry-standard approaches and techniques including geomorphological survey and GIS analysis.
Content
• The role of geoscience, regulation and governance in the Anthropocene
• River response to long-term environmental change
• Land stability: infrastructure in a dynamic environment
• Land and water quality: mining impacts and contamination of land and water
• Invasive vegetation threats, wetland management challenges, and gully erosion assessment
• Managing floods
• Dams and their impacts
• Managing heritage on dynamic coasts
Practical sessions and assessments will focus on using industry-standard techniques for assessing environmental management problems (e.g. river bed and bank stability), including through geomorphological site assessment using field survey and secondary datasets. These sessions will develop students’ skills which will then be used to address a specific river management problem in the form of a consultancy report. Students will also take part in a simulated public inquiry into a controversial environmental management issue, playing the role of a particular stakeholder/interest group.
Prior knowledge of fluvial geomorphological processes (through GS25520 Glacial and Fluvial Processes or DA25520 Prosesau Rhewlifol ac Afonol) and of Geographical Information Systems (GIS) would be highly beneficial for studying this module.
Module Skills
| Skills Type | Skills details |
|---|---|
| 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 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 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