BSc (Hons)Environmental Practitioner Degree Apprenticeship

Contemporary Issues in Sustainability

Code: R4015HF
Credits: 20

This module is designed to provide students with a wide understanding of the sustainability issues we face today. The main focus for this module will be the United Kingdom; however, there will be appropriate international comparison and contextualisation. This module will introduce students to the fundamentals of environmental, social and economic sustainability and will provide a broad introduction to the way in which the environment is managed by considering organisational interactions, land designations and policy making. This module will introduce students to a broad range of contemporary issues in order to give them a comprehensive understanding of sustainability today. By its nature, this module is designed to be flexible and responsive to ongoing developments in the field and it is intended that other ‘contemporary issues’ would be considered from time to time as new challenges arise. This module is mostly common to all course groups but with some variation between programmes to allow for course-specific interests to be developed. 

Module contact

Dr Jonathan Cooper
Senior Lecturer in Sustainable Technology and Geography

Research Methods and Geographical Information Systems

Code: HF
Credits: 20

This module develops the knowledge and skills necessary to successfully complete the major project in the final year.  Enhanced research confidence will also be an employability skill for the placement period and careers on graduation. A consideration of the ethics related to research will also ensure that appropriate and sustainable methods are selected. The module will cover the key elements of the research process, set in the context of the student’s own course discipline. Students will examine the academic role of research and how it informs professional and managerial practice. They will enhance their ability to locate, select and critically evaluate information associated with a particular problem, using a range of sources and particularly peer-reviewed empirical studies. By carrying out spatial and non-spatial statistical analysis, using appropriate software, the students will develop their IT skills and further their understanding of the role of statistics in the research process. Analysis of spatial data will build upon skills in Geographical Information Systems (GIS) developed at Level 4. This module will enhance students’ specialist IT skills and will focus specifically on the application of statistics for research purposes and the use of GIS for spatial analysis. 

Module contact

Dr Andrew Cherrill
Senior Lecturer in Applied Ecology and Entomology

Environmental Quality and Development

Code: HF
Credits: 20

Environmental management requires a varied but thorough understanding of numerous processes that contribute to environmental quality. As an environmental manager, a graduate must be able to competently assess that quality, articulate their findings and be able to place those findings in wider strategic settings such as planning and development which can ultimately feed into Environmental Impact Assessment. This module serves to provide that grounding with interrogation of the science underpinning limitations and policies surrounding land management and development such as catchment management, sustainable drainage systems, land use and change, landscape alteration and the planning process.

Module contact

Dr Lucy Crockford
Senior Lecturer in Soil and Water Management

Environmental Assessment

Code: HF
Credits: 20

This module is specifically designed to consider environmental assessment as a development to the practices and principles of environmental management covered at levels 4 and 5.  It will focus on assessment methods and analysis, and the impacts of human interaction with its wider environment.  The maintenance of high-quality resources for human need and connection, together with environmental protection and enhancement are essential components of sustainable development and land use. These aspects feature heavily in International, European and UK legislation and policy, a key requirement of which is that potential environmental impacts of human activities are identified and considered in decision-making. 

In seeking to protect the environment and deliver sustainable development it is crucial that we are able to recognise when and how human activity will impact upon the environment and how best to mitigate and manage those impacts. Through this module, students will examine the relevance and relative merits of a range of formal processes for assessing such likely impacts of human-environment interaction. It will build upon earlier Level studies relating to environmental policy, legislation and planning. The module will focus on approaches taken to predicting environmental impacts and identifying their significance together with impact mitigation measures and their management.  

Module contact

Emma Pierce-Jenkins
Senior Lecturer (Environmental and Rural Planning)