Clearing Places Available!!!

****Update 14:20****

We still have places on all courses but getting very limited. Most places left on Environmental Biology

We have a small number of clearing places available on all of our degree programmes:

BSc Biological Sciences
BSc Environmental Biology
BSc Animal Behaviour and Welfare
BSc Conservation Biology

And visit our new school webpage. If you want to apply, visit our clearing pages.

We'll keep these updated throughout the day.......

My Andean Adventure

by Nick Holmberg

Discovering the beautiful ruins of Machu Picchu in Peru.

When I heard there was a possibility of going on a work placement in Ecuador and Peru, I knew it was something I had to do. The prospect of discovering a new country, a new culture and more importantly, working in natural habitats that I had never seen before was too exciting to pass up. Paul Ramsay, my supervisor and coordinator of the trip, explained that my work would consist of several short placements with various organisations and NGOs, allowing me to gain experience in different fields. So I packed my bags and boarded a plane to the other side of the world!

As soon as I arrived in Quito, the capital of Ecuador, I realised that South America was very different to any other country I had ever been to and that the next 8 months were going to be unlike anything I had ever experienced before!

Spotlight on Environmental Biology

With clearing coming up next week and A-level students starting to think about university applications, we thought it might be useful to give a little insight into a couple of our courses outside the formal setting of the University course pages.

Our Environmental Biology degree is an exciting course to study giving a good background in Biology, Biodiversity and Ecology and relating those to the contemporary issues of climate change and the impact that Man has on the planet. We are really keen on practical skills and the course offers a unique mix of field and lab work which allows our students to go on to good jobs in the environmental sector where skills attained during your degree in areas such as Ecotoxicology, Microbiology and Biochemistry can be combined with field Biology and Ecology. Given the breadth of the degree, there are numerous employment and further study opportunities. Our lab facilities will give you access to cutting edge techniques like genomics and proteomics as well as the classics of lab biology. We also have excellent links with local, national and international organisations that will give you the opportunity to interact with biology professionals and if you want to take the opportunity, you can undertake a placement year at the end of your second year.

My Azorean bullfinch picture

I've been going on the Azores field course for six years now, and although I've seen plenty of the rare Azorean bullfinches, I've never had a recognisable picture (only a silhouette which could have been anything). This year I was determined to get something better, and here it is - hardly BBC wildlife standard, but definitely an Azorean bullfinch.

Pyrrhula murina

Lab/field week trip to the Eden Project



The Tropical biome





Carica papaya (paw paw)



First year Biological Sciences and Environmental Biology students managed to miss the showers during lab/field week at the Eden Project. We spent the morning trying to find particular plants in the two biomes (with limited success!), and then the afternoon having a go at some scientific drawing, and exploring the environmental sustainability exhibits in the Core building. A good day out as usual - every time I go there I spot a plant I've heard of but never seen before.



Chlorophyll sculpture?



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