Master of Science in Marine Conservation

at University of Plymouth United Kingdom

Want to stay ahead of the curve? Our unique top-up degree puts you on top of the game in three rapidly growing industries. Linking three related fields encourages you to develop your skills so you can keep pace in this fast-changing environment. Whether you want to be leader of the pack in your existing field or open the door to new opportunities, you will graduate primed to meet the ever changing demands of business and consumers head on.

You will build on your existing skills to be leader of the pack in your field, or open up new career directions. You’ll work with your personal and course tutors to get the most out of your studies and boost your employability. You will stand out from the crowd – feed your ambition, boost your skills and best equip yourself to meet the rapidly changing demands of consumers and businesses.

Key Features

Around 70 per cent of our planet is ocean with an average depth of 3000m. To understand the biology of this vast area, we must also understand the oceans themselves. Marine biology and oceanography studies the biology and ecology of the marine realm, with a focus on offshore and deep-sea ecosystems, and the physical and chemical processes that shape them. Teaching uses both small and large research vessels, providing you with an unrivalled experience of open ocean marine biology.

You will develop a host of practical skills that will prepare you for your chosen career and make you attractive to employers. You will have the opportunity to gain the HSE PRO SCUBA qualification, for those with a suitable background in diving. You’ll also gain invaluable experience on a six or 12-month international placement during your third year, or working in a local host organisation alongside your studies.

Key Features

Acquire a deep insight into modern theories of nature using powerful mathematical techniques. This degree will provide you with the necessary mathematical language to be able to describe, analyse and predict natural phenomena. Final year modules include classical and quantum mechanics, electrodynamics and relativity, fluid dynamics and partial differential equations. A particular highlight of the degree is the choice of project modules to explore aspects of modern physics in depth.

Key Features

• Study the foundation of modern theoretical physics in modules such as Classical and Quantum Mechanics, and Electrodynamics and Relativity.
• Learn from world-leading researchers in theoretical physics, who will show you how the mathematics you study underpins and connects directly to modern research topics at the frontiers of physics; your first year course in linear algebra, for example, is taught by a collaborator of a 2018 Nobel Prize winner.
• Carry out an in-depth final year project in theoretical physics on topics such as quantum computers, black holes, teleportation or the quark model, supervised by a leading academic: our theoretical physicists have research connections across the globe, including at CERN and the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory.    
• Learn high-level programming skills and master industry software including Python, R and parallel programming on a supercomputer.
• Increase your employability with an optional, paid, industry placement between the second and final years.
• Progress, like our previous graduates, into careers in research, work in the Met Office, GCHQ, finance, industry and medicine or postgraduate degrees in applied mathematics and theoretical physics.

Are you ready to make your mark in the legal world? Our academically challenging law degree will prepare you for a successful career. With a strong focus on developing skills in the workplace, we’ll ground you in the fundamentals of law so you can set your sights high.

Key Features

• Get ahead with a programme designed to help you stand out with employers, whatever your career goals.
• Have flexibility and choice in what you study: the first two years include traditional subjects, such as Criminal Law and Tort, alongside learning dispute resolution skills and a range of optional modules. In your final year you have lots of choice so can tailor your degree to your interests and career ambitions. Our optional modules include legal subjects such as Family, Employment, Environmental, Intellectual Property, Business, Immigration, Human Rights, and Cybercrime.
• Study modules with emphasis on developing your legal and employability skills as well as professional practice.
• Gain valuable, professional experience by participating in our award-winning, pro-bono Law Clinic. Here you work under the guidance of legal practitioners, with real clients making a real difference in the community, without taking time out of your studies. You can do this for credit towards your degree or as a volunteer.
• Join our outstanding Student Law Society, which offers networking opportunities and organises competitions. Our students have excelled in winning national client interviewing and mooting competitions.
• Benefit from excellent research-informed and practice-led teaching by highly qualified staff, including legal practitioners. We have internationally renowned researchers in areas such as the environment, marine protection, immigration and intellectual property. We give policy advice, regionally and nationally, and work for change. We publish an on-line journal, the Plymouth Law Review, with contributions from both staff and students.
• Be part of a supportive community and learning environment, with a dedicated personal tutor system and strong alumni links.

Are you fascinated by the designs of large coastal structures such as seawalls and breakwaters and how these withstand attack by the sea? Do you want to help protect our coastal communities from the threat of flooding and sea level rise? Do you want to understand how to plan and construct a port? Our MEng graduates in civil and coastal engineering are trained as civil engineers with specialist knowledge in the realisation of projects that are essential to the functioning of coastal societies.

This accredited MEng provides the further learning component required for Chartered Engineer status. You will be supported and inspired by our enthusiastic academic staff. They will encourage you to enhance your professional experience through attendance at meetings and seminars, and the option of a paid year in industry with a civil engineering employer. You will also be offered a mentor from our network of Plymouth Civil Engineers to help guide you at the start of your professional career.

Have you considered

• BEng (Hons) Civil Engineering
• MEng (Hons) Civil Engineering
• BEng (Hons) Civil and Coastal Engineering
• BEng (Hons) Civil Engineering with Foundation Year

Key Features

We'll provide you with an in-depth knowledge of financial economics and with the ability to apply that knowledge to the analysis of a range of practical situations relevant to both future employment and learning. The core syllabus stresses the integration of theory and evidence in economic analysis and research. The course emphasises the acquisition of key analytical and numerical skills and the progressive development of independent research.

This course lasts for one or two years and is designed as a 'top-up' if you have already successfully completed study equivalent to a Foundation Degree, HND or an equivalent professional qualification. At the end of your study you will be eligible to receive a full honours degree. This course is available with a January or September start.

Key Features

• Choose an Economics course to suit you from the wide range of single, major and minor undergraduate degree courses available. All named awards share a common core syllabus, which stresses the integration of theory and evidence in economic analysis and research.
• All of our named awards share a core syllabus, stressing the integration of theory and evidence in economic analysis and research.
• Engage with current and past students with our Economics Society, and hear talks from visiting academics and professionals. The Economics Society also awards a graduation prize for best academic paper in the final year.
• We are one of a small number of institutions with a modern computer suite containing dedicated Bloomberg terminals giving you access to financial data and information.
• Join the Devon Junior Chamber and receive training and professional mentoring.
• Acquire key analytical and numerical skills, and develop your capacity for independent research.
• Apply your skills in a work environment by taking our optional industrial placement year, working full-time for a public or private sector organisation.
• Think sustainably – in your final year you may choose to take Environmental and Resource Economics and analyse the issue of environmental and resource scarcity and the possible policy responses to market failure. 

Physical geography and geology examines how the Earth’s surface is shaped by natural and human processes. This knowledge is key to addressing many of the complex sustainability challenges facing the planet. Our new modules explore geohazards and risk, clean energy transitions, and long term environmental change. Students gain specialist academic, international fieldwork and laboratory skills providing a springboard to an exciting and diverse range of careers.

Have you Considered

• BSc (Hons) Geography
• BSc (Hons) Geography with Ocean Science
• BSc (Hons) Geology
• BSc (Hons) Geology with Ocean Science

Key Features

• Our new modules address critical sustainability challenges: reducing risk from natural hazards, harnessing cleaner energy sources and how to combat climate and environmental change.
• Our approachable staff share their cutting-edge research and expertise through varied teaching practices in lectures, tutorials, practical classes and field courses.
• Learn to apply the latest techniques in the field and laboratory. Our substantial fieldwork programme provides opportunities in a variety of UK and overseas locations including Death Valley USA, Spain, Sicily and Cyprus.
• Study modules dedicated to addressing the connection between physical geography and geology, such as ‘long-term landscape development’.
• Progress your skills in our open access laboratory, LABplus.
• Develop your confidence with a personal tutor, providing you with weekly guidance throughout your first year.
• Our PALS mentoring scheme provides you with support from students in the year ahead.
• Plymouth's coastal location, close to Dartmoor and two UNESCO World Heritage sites provides the perfect setting for studying geology, with opportunities for fieldwork right on our doorstep.
• Receive essential field safety equipment free as part of your welcome package.
• Work towards becoming a Chartered Geologist, our accreditation by the Geological Society, the world’s oldest and most prestigious national learned society for geology, helps you to gain the required experience.
• Take the opportunity to spend your second year studying abroad in Canada, Australia, USA or elsewhere through our direct exchange, Erasmus or ISEP programmes. Plymouth is currently the only UK institution to offer exchanges through ISEP, giving our students the greatest range of Earth science exchange opportunities available.

Are you ready to make your mark? If you’ve studied a foundation course in law and business at one of our partner colleges and want to obtain a law degree, BSc (Hons) Law with Business will prepare you for a career in the legal or business professions and beyond. Develop a breadth of transferable skills, and benefit from our focus on teaching law in the ‘real’ world.

*Please note: the first two years of the degree are only available through University of Plymouth partner colleges which provide you with a foundation degree in law, enabling you to join the third year of our law and business programmes to obtain the BSc law degree.

Key Features

• Choose from a range of relevant third year law and business options from the LLB (Hons) Law programmes and BSc (Hons) Law with Business Studies.
• Top-up your degree with a one year Graduate Diploma in Law (GDL) before applying for the solicitors’ Legal Practice Course or the Barristers’ Bar Professional Training Course (BPTC). 
• Benefit from working with a faculty of highly qualified law and business staff who provide a great mix of research-informed and practice-led teaching.
• Pursue further business study – we offer a range of postgraduate options at the Plymouth Business School.
• Take part in relevant work experience and research in areas such as business, criminal justice, employment and family law via our Law Clinic.
• Benefit from being part of a very successful Business School which was recently shortlisted for the national Business School of the year.

*Please note: the first two years of the degree are only available through Plymouth University’s partner colleges which provide you with a foundation degree in law, enabling you to join the third year of our law and business programmes to obtain the BSc law degree. 

Do you have the ambition to develop the electrical power systems and renewable energies of tomorrow? Whether focused on embedded microcontrollers, power converters, or high frequency communications, you’ll be developing your understanding of the high-level aspects of electronics on the BEng course. Electrical and electronic engineering, accredited by The Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET), will provide you with a solid foundation for engineering a wide range of electrical systems.

You will balance teaching sessions with hands-on practical experiences throughout the course. You’ll draw on our strong industry links and benefit from industry participation in course development, delivery and project sponsorship. You’ll take advantage of our flexible course, allowing you to switch between electronics and robotics until your final year, as your interests develop.

Have you Considered

• MEng (Hons) Electrical and Electronic Engineering
• BEng (Hons) Robotics

Key Features

• 100% of our graduates said they were satisfied with the quality of their degree in the 2019 National Student Survey (first place) and that the course provided opportunities to apply what was learnt. No doubt because from the day you join us until the day you graduate you’ll be testing and applying everything you learn in our fantastic labs.*
• Immerse yourself in a degree accredited by the Institution for Engineering and Technology (IET) to meet the educational requirements for chartered engineer (CEng) status after some additional learning, either workbased or further advanced study.
• Ranked 14th overall in the country for electrical engineering (Guardian league tables 2020).
• Develop highly practical skills and learn through doing. 
• Draw on our strong industry links and benefit from industry participation in course development, delivery and project sponsorship.
• Take advantage of our flexible course, allowing you to switch between electronics and robotics until your final year, as your interests develop.  
• Benefit from free IET membership (while at University) as the University is an IET Academic Partner.
• Take part in our final year student project open day, showcasing the excellence of the engineering skills development and the high levels of achievement of our undergraduates, with many industrially sponsored prizes awarded.
• Balance laboratory sessions with hands-on practical experiences throughout the course. 
• Develop your skills, with opportunities throughout your degree to build and program embedded systems, advanced mobile communications devices, and solar power systems.
• Hone your expertise in your final year project, offering you a chance to design and develop an original system or device on the theme of your choice.
• Demonstrate your abilities to future employers with your final year project. Many of our graduates quote this aspect as having helped them get a good job.
• Access one of the largest undergraduate laboratory spaces in the country, which you can use to further your own understanding of communications, electronics and renewable energy technologies. 
• Receive electronic tools for studying.
• Transfer to MEng is possible after the first or second year following the demonstration of an excellent overall achievement. 
• Study a broad range of topics from electrical and electronics, power, communications and microprocessors before choosing your final year project to gain expertise and experience in a specialist area.
• To complement your formal learning we offer regular PALS sessions that provide the opportunity for you to learn with and from your peers. Share knowledge, discuss ideas, and ask questions in a relaxed and friendly environment.

Our interior design course focuses on how design responds to the surrounding environment. We explore design interventions in existing buildings and neglected spaces with a hands-on approach to crafting their interiors. We study the space between object and architecture and promote an adaptive re-use approach to shaping the world around us with human, social, economic and environmental sustainability embedded in our process.

Key Features

• Teaching is in small groups with the studio culture run like a design practice with innovative delivery including flipped classroom, podcasts and team teaching.
• Work alongside students from our Product and Furniture Design course in our vibrant studio with individual desk space and CAD stations.
• You’ll build up a portfolio with fresh projects starting every few weeks. Assessments are 100% coursework – so no exams.
• Culture trips to Europe and study exchanges in Japan, USA, India or Italy are also possible.
• Engage with real clients with live projects. We’ve recently run projects with Vitra, John Lewis, Red Paddle, UPP, architects Willmore Iles and Herman Millar.
• Gain valuable industry experience through our competitions, studio visits, visiting lecturers and our meet the supplier visits.
• BA (Hons) Interior Design: is professionally accredited by the Chartered Society of Designers.