The Department of Geography currently offers the following postgraduate modules for the MSc
in Environmental Dynamics & Climate Change. The timetable provided is indicative of course
content as the modules available may change from year to year.
Part One
For Part One of the MSc in Environmental Dynamics and Climate Change students are required
to follow and be assessed in taught modules, totalling 120 credits. Part Two of the scheme
involves the preparation and submission of a dissertation, valued at 60 credits. Students
registered for the Diploma follow and are assessed only in the taught modules of Part One.
The taught modules are delivered through a mixture of lectures, seminars and workshops. In
addition, students are expected to attend tutorial meetings with a personal tutor who provides
ongoing learning and pastoral support. During Part One the personal tutor is the degree scheme
coordinator (Dr Iain Robertson, Room 234 Wallace, email: i.robertson@swansea.ac.uk).
In Semester 1 students will take the following compulsory modules:
BIOM25B - Core Science Skills (20 credits). This intensive lecture and practical based module
covers science skills for students wishing to pursue postgraduate studies, including MSc and
PhD degrees. It will teach students how to make good use of library and internet resources
(including Web of Science, Voyager and Blackboard), to design and analyse their experiments,
and to make presentations of their data during conferences and symposia.
GEGM07 - Principles of Environmental Dynamics (20 credits). This module aims to explain
and understand past and present and environment. It provides a broad approach to
environmental processes and dynamics operating on land, in the oceans and in the atmosphere
on a global and regional scale. Emphasis is placed on the evidence available for reconstructing
past environmental dynamics, the implications for present-day processes and likely impacts.
GEGM21 - Climate Change (20 credits). This module will examine the Earth’s climate system,
and the principal natural and anthropogenic forcing mechanisms controlling it. The detection and
nature of recent environmental changes will be discussed within the context of the Earth’s
climate history during the Quaternary period. Using case studies the socio-economic and
ecological consequences of climate change will be discussed in relation to the available
scientific evidence and associated response of the international community (eg IPCC, Kyoto
Protocol, mitigation strategies) and the wider Climate Change debate. The tool and methods
used to measure, predict and study climate changes will be introduced. This will include the
fundamental structure of General Circulation Models and how these techniques may be
employed in conjunction with instrumental and proxy data to study the climate of the past and to
reduce uncertainty in future climate change projections.
In Semester 2 students will also take the following compulsory module:
GEGM10 - Satellite Remote Sensing (20 credits). This module explains the use of remote
sensing as a tool for gathering and analyzing information about human resources and the
natural environment. It is appropriate for students who would find it valuable to understand how
information about human activity and environmental change is retrieved from images of the
Earth acquired by satellite. Emphasis is placed on the role of ongoing missions in providing
operational information for science and society. Elements of Geographic Information Systems
(GIS) appropriate for dealing with spatially-explicit image data are examined. Lecture material is
supported by hands-on experience exploring satellite images in a computer environment.
Plus any optional modules totalling 40 credits:
BIOM22 - Environmental Assessment & Management (20 credits; Semester 2). Students
enrolled in this module will learn to choose suitable environmental management systems to
solve environmental problems in the real world, to apply a variety of techniques to environmental
evaluation, and to make environmental impact assessments and reports.
BIOM32 - Ecosystems (20 credits; Semester 2). This module introduces students to terrestrial
and aquatic ecosystems, food webs, and the mechanisms by which biota interact and interrelate
with the environment. Students in this module will acquire an understanding of how to conduct
research into free-living behaviour of marine and terrestrial organisms and understand the
debate on anthropogenically driven environmental change, including climate change.
CS-M41 - Programming in Java Credit Points (20 credits; Semester 1). This module
provides a solid introduction to the Java programming language and development process.
Topics covered include an introduction to Java, the object-oriented paradigm - objects, classes
and methods, basic graphical interfaces, exception handling in Java, I/O and files in Java.
GEGM04 - Modelling Earth Systems (20 credits; Semester 1). An understanding of the
environment is increasingly important in many areas, e.g., industry, agriculture, conservation,
health, science, and planning. This module introduces computational modelling in a
geographical context. It aims to develop thinking about environmental issues within a modelling
framework, and to develop practical skills in developing and using computational models, and in
computer data analysis and visualisation. Examples are focussed on solving practical scientific
problems in environmental dynamics and climate change, focussing on modelling the terrestrial
carbon and hydrological cycles.
GEGM22 Geographical Information Systems (20 credits; Semester 1). This module will
provide students from a range of disciplines including Geography, Epidemiology and Bioscience,
with a comprehensive understanding of Geographic Information Systems, and key practical skills
in the market-leading GIS software tool, ESRI ArcGIS. At the end of the module students will
know how and where to acquire geospatial data, how to combine and analyse these data for
specific objectives, and how to visualise primary and derived data in the form of maps.
GEGM26 - Climate Science and Policy (20 credits; Semester 2)
This module will develop critical thinking about the role of science, especially climate science, in
society. This role will be discussed in terms of what is desirable, what is practical and what is the
present reality. We will focus on a few specific areas; how science provides advice to policymakers (especially through the activities of bodies such as the Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change), and the symbiotic/antagonistic relationship between science and the media.
During the module you will consider the communication of climate science topics to scientists,
the general public and to policy makers. You will choose four or five topics to research in
discussion with the course convener, each to be communicated to one of these constituent
groups.
Part Two
GEGM06 - Research Project (Environmental Dynamics & Climate Change (60 credits).
This module provides the opportunity to undertake a substantial individual research project in
environmental dynamics and climate change. Support will be provided by a staff supervisor and
through student-led discussions. There will also be the opportunity to provide constructive
criticism to fellow students undertaking related research projects, learning from their research
problems and subsequent solutions. The final results of the research dissertation will be
presented in the form of a scientific paper in the format of a leading international journal in the
research area and a one-page summary at a suitable level for an intelligent lay person.