The aims of this module are for students to develop research project and proposal ideas and to relate their research experience to environmental management practice through interaction with professionals in a range of careers, with a view to enhancing their own professional development.

Environmental management has traditionally made use of anecdotal evidence and prior experience to inform management interventions. The shortcomings of this approach, due to the inherent unreliability of this evidence,can result in poor quality decision-making.
In this module students will study the research approaches used to evaluate the effectiveness of management interventions. The use of this research-base by environmental management practitioners will be considered in the context of 'evidence-based conservation'. The practicalities of designing and running conservation management experiments will be studied through a field visit to a long-term ecological experiment.

The aims of this module are to introduce students to mathematical and numerical modelling in (i) the simulation of natural hazards and (ii) the application of this in geospatial models of risk. It will provide an opportunity for the student to obtain an understanding of the benefits and limitations of modelling methodologies.

The aim of this module is to:

• equip students with an understanding of wind-related processes and their importance for landscapes and their management where wind is significant in shaping the environment, and
• provide students with the theoretical understanding and practical training necessary to quantitatively characterise the work of the wind in different environmental systems.

The principal aim of this module is to produce an original piece of research specific to the programme on which a student is registered, using appropriate theoretical material, research methodologies and skills in data collection, analysis, interpretation and writing-up.