BSc(Hons) Animal Conservation Science
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Location Penrith - Newton Rigg
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Duration 3 year/s
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Mode of study Full-time
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Start date September 2012, 2013
March 2012: Our news release explains the phased move of this course from Newton Rigg to Ambleside. This contains information for prospective applicants and current students.
Why study with us?
Growing threats to the global environment have resulted in an increasing loss of biodiversity and elevated rates of extinction. Changes in public perceptions and legislation have led to an increase in the demand for professionals with the knowledge and skills to manage the conservation of species and ecosystems to reduce and, in some cases, reverse the decline in biodiversity.
The course aims to provide a thorough grounding in the core disciplines of conservation biology addressing conservation from the animal towards the landscape scale. You have opportunity to take an optional one-year work placement—we have a strong network of professional contacts. We have very high graduate employment from all of our courses and this programme equips you with the skills required in the conservation sector.
Where will this course take place?
If you enrol with us in September 2012, you will have the opportunity to spend time at both our Penrith and Ambleside campuses. Each campus offers individual and distinctive advantages, providing easy access to the English Lake District with its unique geography. These exceptional locations in effect become your classroom.
From September 2014, all Animal Conservation Science students will be based in Ambleside.
What can this course lead to?
Graduates from this course have gone into a range of relevant careers—conservation officer and senior conservation officer with UK companies, wildlife officers with wildlife trusts, conservation specialists in UK zoos while others work on conservation projects abroad. Some graduates have entered postgraduate education including MSc and PhD studies.
Course Summary
This degree examines the theory and practice of animal conservation by studying ecology, threats to biodiversity, animal behaviour, conservation genetics, wildlife management and behavioural ecology.
The first year builds knowledge of the world’s biodiversity (including animal and plant identification skills), ecology and the principles and practice of conservation lectures and field sessions. In second year you learn professional-standard survey and research techniques which you put into practice during a fieldwork module, currently delivered in either West Africa or India. You are also introduced to studies of behaviour and genetics in a conservation context and a range of optional modules, including aquatic conservation, GIS, and wildlife and recreation management, are available.
Between the 2nd and 3rd taught years there is the option of a year-long academic/vocational placement (students must maintain an Upper Second Class Honours profile to take an academic placement). Students on the 3 year degree may opt for a shorter placement in second year.
In the third taught year you undertake a year-long research project; in addition, you choose from a range of specialist modules linking the theory and practice of animal conservation science. These include behavioural ecology, conservation strategies and genetic applications in conservation.
Resources and facilities
The National School of Forestry at the Penrith campus of the University of Cumbria provides an exceptional range of facilities for both students and researchers. The campus encompasses over a hundred hectares of Cumbrian countryside, and has been recognised as an incredibly diverse and ecologically rich environment.
We are privileged to offer direct access to a wide range of habitats and forest types on-campus, including; mixed broadleaf woodland, coniferous woodland, willow plantations, a young oak orchard, wetland, arable farmland and pastureland, and associated hedgerows, shelterbelts, ways, and brooks.
In addition to this variety, we also have a large (and growing!) arboretum, a tropical plant house, temperate and research glass houses, and gardens, all on site. We also have excellent new laboratory facilities. This outstanding set of resources enables many classes and field visits to be conducted just outside the lecture rooms, providing an enhanced learning environment where learning is combined with cutting-edge research.