Temario
This course gives you an understanding of how agriculture interacts with the environment. There is an emphasis on sustainability and the ecological consequences of unsound management. It gives you the skills for a career related to sustainability in farming systems, environmental management or rural development.
The course is comprised of compulsory and optional modules, giving you the opportunity to tailor your studies to your personal interests.
Through the compulsory modules you will develop knowledge and skills in core concepts such as:
sustainable development and environmental change
quantitative techniques, experimental design and data analysis
assessment of land use capability, habitat potential, risks of water pollution, and soil quality and ecosystem services
analysis, interpretation and presentation of field data with regard to environment and habitat assessment
science, policy and action underlying climate change and land use
As part of your studies you undertake a major project, similar to one you might experience in the workplace. You will be supported in designing and delivering a project based on a laboratory or field-based investigation. After choosing your topic you will collect, analyse and interpret data to produce a thesis. This research project and thesis may be based overseas.
Our staff
You benefit from being taught by lecturers who are industry experienced and research active. Our research in integrated agricultural production focuses on soil science, plant science and ecology, spanning a range of scales from: pot &ndash, plot &ndash, farm &ndash, landscape. Strategic research embraces work on:
soil quality
rhizosphere function
plant-soil feedback
soil-carbon dynamics
nutrient cycling
Applied research addresses issues of:
climate change mitigation (including biofuels)
ecological (organic) farming systems
low-input crop systems
agriculture-environment interactions
Delivery
This course is taught in a block format with one six week block and then smaller two week teaching blocks.
You are taught through lectures, seminars, practical and field classes, tutorials, case studies and small group discussions. You are expected to undertake independent study outside of these structured sessions. You are assessed through written examinations, coursework, presentations and your final major project.
You can also study through the Credit Accumulation Transfer Scheme which is a framework that enables us to award postgraduate level qualifications using credit-bearing stand-alone modules as ',building blocks', towards a qualification. This means that the credits from modules undertaken within a five-year period can be ',banked', towards the award of a qualification.
