Do you have a passion for animals and the natural world? Well, you can combine it with film and photography to learn how to tell wildlife stories through media.
This undergraduate course is the only one of its type in the UK. Here, you’ll learn to create polished, professional wildlife documentaries charting the relationship between humans and the natural world.
Our foundation year will help you reach the right level for taking the rest of the degree, building a solid foundation of skills from which to expand upon.
Want to see what happens on our course? See it firsthand by following our Wildlife Media social channels:
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Your Career with a Wildlife Media Degree
The knowledge you gain from this degree will help advance you to the next stage of your media career. Whether you work as a freelance wildlife photographer or as a film-maker for a TV production company, you'll have the skills necessary to stand apart from the crowd, placing you in a highly valuable position for future employers.
As part of the course, you will have the opportunity to produce wildlife media for a client. Our students' work is regularly screen at a number of different local venues, giving you the chance to expand your portfolio and achievements to help open up new opportunities after graduation.
In 2019, two of our students - Paul Bacon and Nathan Buckley, had the opportunity to work with wildlife filmmaker Terry Abraham and on his last instalment for BBC4's trilogy "Life of a Mountain".
Why Choose University of Cumbria
There’s no better place to study wildlife than here in beautiful Cumbria. You’ll be surrounded by breath-taking coastlines, vast moorlands and the 912 square-miles of the iconic Lake District National Park with its mountains, rivers and lakes – and a vast array of unique habitats and diverse wildlife.
Image credit: Terry Abraham filming 'Life of a Mountain: Helvellyn'
And, from your Carlisle base, you’ll be away from the hustle and bustle of city life, studying on a campus that sits next door to a beautiful park and river.
- You don’t need to have your own kit; we have all the technology you need in our audio-visual media resource centre to create compelling projects
- Taught by tutors who work in the wildlife media industry
- Get an insight into current industry practices from visiting practitioners from diverse production areas
- You’ll use the same technology of that in the professional world to produce top-quality content and play a part in the wider understanding and conservation of the world's wildlife
- Cumbria has it all – natural woodlands, beaches, fells, parks and gardens. These provide habitat for a vast array of wildlife – all waiting for your to explore
- We encourage you to unleash your creativity and inject it into your work
- Learn expedition planning and safe practice to give you a breadth of vision and develop logistical skills to boost your CV
- Produce a portfolio of high-quality and captivating documentaries to show future employers
- Develop employability skills - including business and marketing – to boost your career
- Small class sizes - you don’t have to book when you need access to equipment
Former Wildlife Media students have stepped into jobs with organisations such as the National Trust. Many have won national acclaim from the television industry, scooping Royal Television Society awards. But don't take our word for it, here is what Paul Bacon and Nathan Buckley had to say about studying Wildlife Media at Cumbria, graduating and looking forward to their career plans:
If you want to play a part in making content-rich media that plays a crucial role in the understanding and conserving of the world’s wildlife, our course is for you.
Image credit: students during the Farnes Field Trip
Course Study Options
We also offer this course without an integrated foundation year.
