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Geoenvironmental Hazards BSc (Hons)

How can you help communities prepare for natural disasters and environmental hazards? Your lab and field work will equip you for a range of roles in everything from disaster relief to urban planning.

This course is closed to applications for 2023 and 2024 entry.

Overview

Example offers: BBC-BBB (A Level) or DMM (BTEC) View full entry criteria
Subject(s): Geography and Geology
Faculty: Arts and Sciences
Department: History, Geography and Social Sciences
Two students consult a guide to woodland plants and unravel a long tape measure while conducting fieldwork in woodland.

What can we do to prevent flooding? How do volcanic eruptions impact lives? Why is climate change increasing the frequency and magnitude of environmental hazards? Study with us to predict, mitigate and manage today’s most pressing environmental challenges.

Our environmental geoscience course is designed to give you a scientific insight into the causes and effects of different hazards. You’ll learn about a range of hazards, from landslides to volcanoes, hurricanes to heatwaves. Then, we’ll encourage you to discuss how these issues often arise from human impact on the Earth’s surface and resources. You can also tailor your degree to your interests, with the opportunity to select subject-specific and complementary modules.

Employability is built into this programme. We offer invaluable opportunities like completing a placement year, studying abroad and learning a language.

Course features

  • Fieldwork

  • Sandwich year option available

  • Studying abroad option available

What you'll study

We’ll introduce you to fascinating areas of natural and geological hazards, as well as geographical and geological science. You’ll develop invaluable subject-specific skills, key skills and fieldwork techniques, and join us for at least one residential field trip.

Compulsory modules:

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Contemporary Geographical Research
Contemporary Geographical Skills
Dynamic Earth
Geohazards
Earth, Climate and Environment
Geographical Curiosity
Earth Materials
Language 1

You’ll take a closer look at the main characteristics of natural and environmental hazards. We’ll also help you explore vulnerability, disaster management and risk-reduction. We’ll develop your research skills, as you become confident in practical laboratory work, local and overseas fieldwork, and in the use of geographical information systems (GIS) and remote sensing. Plus you’ll have the chance to take on a work placement.

Compulsory modules:

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Digital Geography
Geoscience Techniques
GeoHazard Field Research
Geography of Risk

Two of:

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Landscape Dynamics
Climate and Environmental Change
Political Geography
Structural Geology and Stratigraphy
Igneous and Metamorphic Petrology
Cultural Representations and the Media
Work-based learning and Employability 1
Language 2

Your final year gives you the chance to dig deeper into disaster recovery and boost your technical skills as you continue to experiment with GIS technologies. Now you have a foundation of knowledge, you’ll shape your study with optional modules. Explore everything from conservation to flood management, environmental change and natural hazards to the application of spatial analyses. Completing your own research will also give you the chance to bring together everything you’ve learnt.

Compulsory modules:

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Applied GIS
Disaster Recovery
Dissertation in Geoenvironmental Hazards

Two of:

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Development Economics
Quaternary Environmental Change
Flood Hazard and Management
Critical Modern Slavery Studies
Cultural Heritage and Disasters
Coastal Processes and Management
Rivers: Past, Present and Future
Natural Hazards
Activist Media
Visualising Science
Critical Autism Studies
Language 3

Optional modules provide an element of choice within the course curriculum. The availability of optional modules may vary from year to year and will be subject to minimum student numbers being achieved. This means that the availability of specific optional modules cannot be guaranteed. Optional module selection may also be affected by timetabling requirements. Some restrictions on optional module choice or combinations of optional modules may apply.

How you'll study

Teaching is through fieldwork, laboratory and practical activities, lectures, tutorials, dissertation supervision, and directed independent learning. We place an emphasis on strengthening the employability potential of our graduates through the acquisition of a range of subject-specific, key and career management skills, as well as the development of knowledge and understanding.

Fieldwork, in the UK and abroad, is one of the most beneficial and enjoyable aspects of this degree.

Timetables for your first week are normally available at the end of August prior to enrolment in September. You can expect to receive your timetable for the rest of the academic year during your first week. Please note that while we make every effort to ensure that timetables are as student-friendly as possible, scheduled teaching can take place on any day of the week. Wednesday afternoons are normally reserved for sports and cultural activities.

How you'll be assessed

Methods of assessment display your knowledge and understanding and develop and demonstrate your competence in subject-specific and key skills. All modules are assessed by either coursework only or a mixture of coursework and examination. Coursework typically includes practical portfolios, essays, project reports, field notebooks, individual and group oral presentations and poster presentations.

Who will be teaching you

We have experienced and knowledgeable staff who take pride in the quality of their teaching. All staff are research active which means that they keep up-to-date with the latest developments in their areas of interest and pass this knowledge on. We are not a large department so you won’t get lost in the crowd.

Entry criteria

Entry requirements

Typical offer 112-120 UCAS Tariff points, including Geography, Geology, Environmental Science or a related subject. GCSE Mathematics at Grade C or Grade 4 or above, or Adult Numeracy at Level 2 or above, or equivalent, is also required.

Example offers

Qualification Requirement
A Level BBC-BBB.
BTEC Extended Diploma (or combination of BTEC QCF qualifications) Distinction, Merit, Merit (DMM).
T Level Overall grade of Merit.
International Baccalaureate (IB) We are happy to accept IB qualifications which achieve the required number of UCAS Tariff points. Subject-specific requirements at Higher Level (HL) Grade 5 may apply.
Access to Higher Education Diploma 45 credits at Level 3, for example 15 credits at Distinction and 30 credits at Merit or 24 credits at Distinction and 21 credits at Merit. The required total can be attained from various credit combinations.

Please note, the above examples may differ from actual offers made. A combination of A Level and BTEC awards may also be accepted.

If you have a minimum of two A Levels (or equivalent), there is no maximum number of qualifications that we will accept UCAS points from. This includes additional qualifications such as Extended Project Qualification (EPQ), AS Levels that haven't been continued to A Level, and General Studies AS or A Level awards.

English language requirements

International students require IELTS 6.0, with a score no lower than 5.5 in each individual component, or an equivalent English language qualification.

If your current level of English is half a band, one band, or one-and-a-half bands lower, either overall or in one or two elements, you may want to consider our Pre-Sessional English course.

Did you know?

If you join a full time undergraduate degree at Edge Hill University, we will guarantee you the offer of a room in our halls of residence for the first year of your course.

Discover our accommodation

Facilities

GeoSciences building

The Department of History, Geography and Social Sciences is based in the Geosciences building. The contemporary facilities combine with a friendly and supportive learning environment to ensure that your studies are a rich and rewarding experience.

The Geosciences building features a large lecture theatre, small group teaching rooms, IT facilities and smaller tutorial spaces. There is also a large social area which encourages a more informal and interactive style of learning.

Where you'll study

GeoSciences

Finance

Tuition fees

UK Full-Time

£9,250

a year

UK Part-Time

£77 per credit

for 360 credits

International

£15,500

a year

The UK tuition fee rate is subject to final Government approval for academic year 2023/24 entry. The University may administer a small inflationary rise in tuition fees, in line with Government policy, in subsequent academic years as you progress through the course.

EU/EEA and Swiss students who have settled or pre-settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme, as well as Irish nationals, may be eligible for the UK tuition fee rate.

Financial support

Subject to eligibility, UK students joining this course can apply for a Tuition Fee Loan from the Government to cover the full cost of tuition fees. UK students enrolling on the course may also be eligible to apply for additional funding to help with living costs.

Please view the relevant Money Matters guide for comprehensive information about the financial support available to eligible UK students.

EU/EEA and Swiss students who have settled or pre-settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme may be eligible to apply for financial support. Irish nationals can ordinarily apply to Student Universal Support Ireland (SUSI). If you are an EU student who does not have settled or pre-settled status, or are an international student from a non-EU country, please see our international student finance pages.

Your future career

By the time you graduate, you’ll have an extensive range of skills that organisations need, from problem-solving and group work to project management and report writing.

Our graduates apply their knowledge from their geoscience degree to exciting careers in:

  • environmental consulting
  • flood and coastal management
  • disaster relief and prevention
  • urban planning

Wondering where you could work? Organisations like United Utilities, the Environment Agency, DEFRA and OXFAM look for graduates with an environmental geoscience degree such as our BSc Geoenvironmental Hazards. Wherever you decide to work, you’ll have what it takes to shape the way society responds to environmental hazards and disasters.

Applying for a graduate role isn’t your only option, though. You could stay at Edge Hill to complete postgraduate study or train as a teacher with our geography PGCE course. There are also plenty of opportunities to make your mark, carrying out vital research in the lab or out in the field.

Course changes

Every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of this information, however our courses are subject to ongoing review and development. Changing circumstances may necessitate alteration to, or the cancellation of, courses.

Changes may be necessary to comply with the requirements of professional bodies, revisions to subject benchmarks statements, to keep courses updated and contemporary, or as a result of student feedback. We reserve the right to make variations if we consider such action to be necessary or in the best interests of students.

Track changes to this course

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