Overview
Our oceans need protecting. Gain a deep understanding of the concerns surrounding marine environments and the specialist skills to tackle them on this Cambridge-based course. You’ll go on field trips in the UK and Europe and have opportunities for viewing wildlife and ecology in Africa and marine biology/diving overseas. With Cambridge becoming a world centre for wildlife conservation, you’ll be equipped to work in marine biology, ecology or conservation with governments, environment agencies and research establishments.
Individuals, organisations and governments around the world are increasingly concerned about the welfare of our planet and everything on it. This includes our marine environments where many factors, including human behaviour, have left a large number of species at risk.
Our course allows you to develop a deep understanding of concerns relating to marine environments, and to look at ways of resolving those concerns.
You’ll learn about marine biodiversity locally and around the world, and explore conservation ecology, which aims to support, recover and maintain populations and their habitats.
If you choose our work placement year option, you could have the opportunity to put your knowledge into practice at the Sea Life London Aquarium.
On our field trips you might experience marine biology in Scotland; zoos in the Netherlands; wildlife and ecology in Africa; and diving and marine biology oversea. In your second year you’ll take a week-long field trip to north Devon to experience both marine and terrestrial zoology, the costs of which are included in your course fees. There’s also a final-year residential at a UK marine biology station, which is included in your course fees. You’ll need to pay for any optional trips.
Cambridge is becoming a world centre for wildlife conservation, with Fauna and Flora International, Birdlife International and the World Conservation Monitoring Centre based here. Throughout the course, you’ll have opportunities to attend lectures in the city and visit specialist museums and libraries.
You have the option to take a placement year as part of your degree.
Careers
We work with employers to make sure you graduate with the knowledge, skills and abilities they need. They help us review what we teach and how we teach it – and they offer hands-on, practical opportunities to learn through work-based projects, internships or placements.
Helping to protect our planet’s habitats and wildlife is fascinating and rewarding work. When you graduate, you’ll have built a deep understanding of issues relating to marine biology, backed up by your own practical experiences on a variety of field trips.
You’ll have the specialist skills you need to work in your chosen area of marine biology, ecology or conservation. You could apply for work in the UK or internationally, for employers such as governments, environment agencies, education institutions and research establishments.
Graduation doesn’t need to be the end of your time with us. If you’d like to continue your studies we offer a wide range of full-time and part-time postgraduate courses including MSc Animal Behaviour: Applications for Conservation and MSc Applied Wildlife Conservation.
Modules & Assessment
Year one, core modules
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Introduction to Wildlife and Conservation
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Introduction to Marine Biology
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Biomeasurement
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Animal Form and Function
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Introduction to Animal Behaviour
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Origins of Life
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Ecology
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Evolution and Biodiversity
Year two, core modules
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Biological Research Skills
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Field Skills in Biology
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Marine and Terrestrial Communities
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Biological Oceanography
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Invertebrate Biology
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Vertebrate Biology
Year two, optional modules
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Evolution of Behaviour
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Principles of Genetics and Evolution
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Biological Bases of Behaviour
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Animal Health and Nutrition
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Parasitology
Year three, core modules
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Biogeography
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Coastal Marine Biology
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Wildlife Conservation
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Practical Marine Biology
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Undergraduate Project
Year three, optional modules
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Mammalogy
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Behavioural Ecology
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Tropical Ecology and Management
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Population Ecology and Wildlife Management
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Countryside Management
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Cognition, Evolution and Behaviour
Assessment
We’ll assess you regularly so that you can check your progress. We’ll use a range of methods, including exams, essays, practical reports, computer-based assessments, presentations, reviews of scientific papers and laboratory skills tests.
Where you’ll study
Your faculty
The Faculty of Science & Engineering is one of the largest of the four faculties at Anglia Ruskin University. Whether you choose to study with us full-time or part-time, on campus or at a distance, there’s an option whatever your level – from a foundation degree, BSc, MSc, PhD or professional doctorate.
Whichever course you pick, you’ll gain the theory and practical skills needed to progress with confidence. Join us and you could find yourself learning in the very latest laboratories or on field trips or work placements with well-known and respected companies. You may even have the opportunity to study abroad.
Everything we do in the faculty has a singular purpose: to provide a world-class environment to create, share and advance knowledge in science, technology and engineering fields. This is key to all of our futures.
