Ecological Consultancy - MSc

Our Ecological Consultancy MSc gives you knowledge, specialised technical skills and professional awareness. It will prepare you for a career as an ecological consultant or in other environmental roles. The course has a professional focus, preparing you for the workplace.

We equip you with key skills which will enable you to pursue careers in ecology, including:
-Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and remote sensing
-Experimental and survey design
-Wildlife surveying
-Wildlife legislation and natural history
-Environmental Impact Assessment

Graduates of this course have an excellent track record of gaining employment in the environmental sector. Within one year of graduation 18 of the 19 students from the 2011-12 cohort were employed, most in the environmental sector and the majority with ecological consultancy companies.

Examples of recent graduate destinations include students now working in ecological jobs for:
-Wardell-Armstrong
-Mott MacDonald
-BSG Ecology
-E3 Ecology

We provide a link to cutting-edge research that feeds into ecological consultancy, e.g.:
-Research projects on black grouse and wind farms. Paper in review with the Journal of Applied Ecology
-Noise and bird behaviour. Paper in revision in PLOS ONE
-Contracts for the Scottish Bird Wind Farm Steering Group. The class of 2013-14 helped collect data for one of these contracts. They were authors on the paper which is being written up on the data they collected.

Placements

Each Ecological Consultancy project runs in conjunction with an industrial client. These tend to be consultancies or NGOs, e.g.:
-E3 Ecology
-BSG Ecology
-Baker Consultants
-Denny Ecology
-Mott MacDonald
-RSPB
-Natural England
-IUCN
-Northumberland Natural History Society
-Durham Wildlife Trust

Ecological consultants contribute to the course via informal talks. For example, E3 Ecology run a workshop in induction week where company directors discuss how to get into the industry.

Practitioners with extensive UK wildlife legislation and wildlife management experience teach on some modules.

Accreditation

We are in the process of applying for accreditation from the Chartered Institute of Ecology and Environmental Management (CIEEM).

Visit the Ecological Consultancy - MSc page on the Newcastle University website for more details!