Engaging with Industry – Environmental Consultancy MSc

Sophie Metcalf, a postgraduate student studying an MSc in Environmental Consultancy, writes about her experiences so far with industry and what she has gained from guest lectures and site visits offered by Newcastle University.

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Experience and knowledge of industry is important when studying Geoscience. For many of us, the end goal is to get a job. Therefore, it is important to hear from the horse’s mouth about what techniques are currently being used, how academic research is being applied to those techniques and what the geosciences job sector is currently looking like. What better way to hear this and apply it to our studies than guest lectures and site visits?

Not only is it important to get an insight into industry, guest lectures and site visits also enrich the learning experience and mean that as MSc students, we get a perspective different to the usual academic one. Here at Newcastle University we have excellent industry links and balance the content of the courses between academia and industry well.

Guest Lectures:

During my first semester here, I have sat through many guest lectures from industry experts. These have given our classes an alternative view to some of the theories and content we have covered in class. For example, as part of the Solid Waste Management module Forbes McDougall (Head of Circular Economy at Veolia UK) lectured on the Circular Economy and his experiences in the Solid Waste Management sector. This provided valuable insight that you couldn’t get from standard lectures alone.

Site Visits:

So far during my first semester here, I have had the opportunity to participate in quite a few site visits/field trips. From identifying geological features along the Northumberland coastline, visiting geotechnical soil testing labs and to sampling waters at acid mine water remediation sites. These have been opportunities to apply knowledge and concepts covered in lectures to industry and real world examples. In particular, the visit to Acomb mine water remediation site, not only gave the class the opportunity to sample and analyse treated waters. The trip was also an opportunity to see the application of leading research undertaken within the department.

 

Research aspects of my degree – Environmental Consultancy MSc

Sophie Metcalf, a postgraduate student studying an MSc in Environmental Consultancy, writes about the research aspects of her degree and how she has benefited because of it.

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Research plays an important part of the Geosciences MSc courses here at Newcastle. Not only are students required to undertake their own research project, our studies are complimented and enhanced by the research active staff teaching the taught components of the course.

Newcastle University is renowned for the high quality research undertaken both university wide and within the School. This ultimately means that as MSc students here, we are being taught by some of the country’s top academics. Being part of a department has so many research active staff means that there are a multitude of exciting opportunities made available to students for their research dissertations. This is one of the most exciting aspects of being an MSc student here and is what drew me to applying. It is an exciting challenge to develop a research project alongside my academic supervisors that is at the cutting edge of the field. Having the opportunity to work so closely with research staff here has been an amazing opportunity for gaining knowledge and experience.

Not only does research play an integral role as part of the MSc research dissertations but it also plays a role in enhancing the lecture content. Not only do the lectures cover standard course content and skills, our lectures often incorporate the cutting edge research of the teaching staff. This is often in the form of case studies and field visits. As students it is so important to see how the theory we are learning is applied not only to research but also to industry and real world applications.

Site Visits and Field Trips – Environmental Consultancy MSc

Sophie Metcalf, a postgraduate student studying an MSc in Environmental Consultancy, writes about her field trips and site visits involved in her course.

sophie

As part of the MSc programme here, students are required to undertake a personal research dissertation. Due to the nature of the subject, projects often includes site visits to the area of interest for observation and sampling. Recently I undertook my preliminary site visit as part of my research dissertation, which gave me the opportunity to get out of the city and into the beautiful countryside of North East England. The North Pennines are classed as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and the mid-march sunshine most definitely brought out the best of this beautiful landscape!

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The North Pennines

My project is focused on geochemical investigations of abandoned metal mine sites in the North Pennines, so my first field visit involved undertaking a reconnaissance of the sites I will be looking at. All the sites have heavy metal contamination from the historic land use as metal mines. The project is funded by a Heritage Lottery Fund and is part of the larger OREsome project being undertaken across the North Pennines Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. It is an amazing opportunity to work in such a beautiful area of the country and on some sites that have been un-researched and untouched until now. This project will build on work already undertaken by staff within the Geoscience department to quantify the metal contamination entering water courses in the North Pennines, which eventually reaches the River Tyne and Newcastle.

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Site investigation

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Dr Neil Gray, Degree Programme Director of Geoscience Programmes

It is sometimes easy to forget that such a vibrant city such as Newcastle, is located to closely to some of the most stunning countryside in the country. I am greatly looking forward to undertaking more site visits to this beautiful part of the world, to undertake sample collection.