Postgraduate Course: Environmental Survey and Monitoring (PGGE11263)
Course Outline
| School | School of Geosciences |
College | College of Science and Engineering |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Availability | Not available to visiting students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | A practical course that exposes students to a range of industry-standard survey and monitoring techniques, and allows them to link theory and practice in applied settings. |
| Course description |
This course will provide an opportunity for development of robust and pragmatic practical skills in environmental surveying, to be obtained through a series of case studies covering key environmental disciplines.
The course will allow students to critically study and evaluate a suite of environmental areas, from water and air monitoring to soil systems and biotic communities, using industry approved and novel approaches to environmental assessment. Students will develop skills in the planning, collection and interpretation of environmental data with the aim to inform environmental issues or problems, policy or other developments. The course is structured around a series of context-specific environmental situations where students will consider sampling design and surveying approaches, the collection and if necessary preservation of environmental samples, and their interpretation via instrumentation, modelling or similar data analysis. In particular, the course aims to provide skills to allow conclusive investigations to be independently achieved by the students.
The course is suitable for students in interested in environmental consultancy work where surveys across a range of fields may be encountered.
The course starts with theory lectures, and then introduces/revises various approaches to sampling and the necessary data handling and statistical analysis techniques. Subsequent weeks then alternate between fieldwork and laboratory analysis sessions.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
|
Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2022/23, Not available to visiting students (SS1)
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Quota: 40 |
| Course Start |
Semester 1 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
196 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
|
| Additional Information (Assessment) |
50 % critical essay on a selected technique (may be covered in the course, or if not subject to course organiser approval)«br /»
AND«br /»
25% for each of 2 short (max 5 pages each) write-ups for 2 selected techniques covered in the course«br /»
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| Feedback |
The field and lab components have continuous opportunities for feedback, both during the fieldtrips, as well as in the lab carrying out data analysis. |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Understand the pros and cons of a variety of survey and monitoring techniques.
- Be able to apply such techniques in the field, including conducting risk and site assessments, planning sampling regimes, using equipment appropriately, and data handling.
- Apply appropriate data visualisation, analysis and modelling techniques to the data collected
- Interpret the outputs, within defined case-study contexts and utilising appropriate academic literature.
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Additional Information
| Course URL |
http://www.drps.ed.ac.uk/21-22/dpt/cxpgge11263.htm |
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
1. Harvesting information from the scientific literature
2. Data collection and analysis
3. Proposal formulation and writing
4. Report writing
5. Field skills including record keeping and data management |
| Keywords | Environmental,surveying,monitoring,data analysis |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Andrew Innes
Tel:
Email: |
Course secretary | Ms Jennifer Gumbrell
Tel:
Email: |
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