MSc in Sustainable Water Environments

The Masters in Sustainable Water Environments will provide you with multidisciplinary knowledge and expertise in the river catchment, lake and coastal environments, with a focus on the impact of and adaptation to changing environments. The programme is designed to enable you to develop an in-depth and critical understanding of contemporary global issues in surface water environments including climate and land-use change, flood risk, restoration, ecosystem health, and associated management perspectives. The programme is ideal for you if you are keen to pursue a professional career or research in the water environment.

Why this Programme

• The University of Glasgow is ranked in the top 10 in the UK for Geography (Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2022) and Earth Sciences (Gaurdian University Guide 2022).
• Research in the Earth Systems Research Group and SUERC was ranked 1st in Scotland for world-leading publications and research environment in REF2014.
• This programme equips students with an interdisciplinary perspective on different surface water environments.
• Seminars are given by industry features throughout the programme.
• MSc project options are either in collaboration with industry, or academic researchers in the School’s Earth Systems Research Group or the Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre (SUERC).
• The School owns specialist laboratory and field equipment. Students with interests in surveying water environments will benefit from access to the latest surveying equipment and software including RTK GNSS. Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) and terrestrial laser scanners.
• You will attend a residential semester 1 field class integrated into the 'monitoring water systems' course.
• The School of Geographical & Earth Sciences has an Athena Swan Silver Award, demonstrating the school’s commitment to supporting women in scientific studies and careers, and to improving the working environment for all.

Modes of delivery of the MSc in Sustainable Water Environments include lectures, seminars, tutorials, laboratory practical classes, computing workshops and fieldwork.

You will take part in a residential field class in Scotland during Semester 1 to develop skills in the operation and analysis of water environment monitoring methods and technologies.

In the final part of the programme, you will undertake a research project which will be supervised by a member of staff who teaches in the MSc programme.

Each course is assessed separately. Example assessment methods are analytical reports, examinations, oral presentations, blog posts, podcasts and policy briefing documents.

Core Courses

• Ecology And Restoration Of Water Environments
• Introduction To Statistics For Environmental Analysis
• Environmental Statistics (Level M)
• Modelling Water Environments
• Monitoring Water Environments
• Managing Sustainable Water Environments: Policy And Practice
• Principles Of Gis
• Remote Sensing Of The Environment
• Academic And Professional Skills For Ges Pgt
• Topographic Modelling And Landscape Monitoring
• Sustainable Water Environments MSc Project

You will be well equipped for a variety of industrial career paths in the environmental sector, including roles that specifically focus on the surface water environment. In the UK, these roles may be with government agencies (e.g. Scottish Environmental Protection Agency, Environment Agency) or industry (e.g. environmental consultancies such as JBA, AECOM, ARUP, RoyalHaskoningDHV, Jacobs, cbec). Equivalent opportunities are available internationally. You will also be well qualified to pursue a doctoral degree.

Example employment positions for graduates from this programme include coastal-, fluvial- or hydrogeomorphologist, coastal, marine, lake, fluvial or freshwater scientist, Geographic Information

Systems (GIS) officer/geospatial analyst, marine or coastal systems modeller, environmental analyst/ officer/ consultant, flood risk modeller/policy advisor, reinsurance/insurance flood hazard analyst, Hydrologist and Coastal- or fluvial-geomorphology restoration specialist.