Ecology (Applied) and Conservation
People are having a serious detrimental effect on global biodiversity by changing climate, over-fishing the seas, destroying rainforests, introducing pollutants, increasing urbanisation and many other activities. To ensure that these effects are minimised, we need to understand how organisms interact with each other and their environment. Lessons learned from ecological studies can be applied to environmental problems, such as how we can use insect predators to control crop pests, and how we can design reserves to conserve endangered species.
• Excellent student satisfaction rates (91%) in the latest National Student Survey 2011. We have a reputation for friendly, helpful and welcoming staff enabling you to settle in well and make the most of your time at Reading.
• On-site outdoor laboratory. The University's Whiteknights campus is incredibly beautiful and bio-diverse and offers a range of habitats in which to conduct some of your fieldwork on our doorstep.
• Wide range of fieldwork opportunities. Most recently these have included a Biodiversity Field
Course to Andalucia, Spain and a Tropical Biodiversity Field Course to Java and Borneo, where we focus on primates, reptiles and insects.
• Opportunity for all finalists to do a practical-based research project. This is regarded by our students as an invaluable exercise and something which is increasingly disappearing in other institutions.
• Extensive contacts with ecological bodies throughout the sector such as the Wildlife Trust and Environment Agency. You will also be affiliated with the Centre for Wildlife Assessment and Conservation.
Student experience and employment
The programme gives you the opportunity to acquire the skills required of applied ecologists and
conservation biologists through both classroom learning and hands-on experience. The latter
includes fieldwork and field courses, an integral part of the course. The Whiteknights campus, where we are based, is a perfect location offering multiple habitats for study - a lake and woodland as well
as extensive parkland. You will use these for practical classes and can step straight from the laboratory to the field. The University also owns a number of large working farms in the vicinity which are often used as field sites for final year projects. Field courses currently include a Biodiversity Field Course to Andalucia in Spain, for study of chameleons, scorpions, vultures and
a huge variety of wild plants. There is also a Tropical Biology Field Course to Java and Borneo where we focus on primates (including orang-utans), reptiles and insects.
Career prospects
Reading Ecology graduates demonstrate skills and experience that are in demand from a number of
sub-disciplines. Most recently, some have gone on to work as trainees in conservation or environmental consultancy and others have got on to higher, more specialist studies. Others will work for government and government-funded agencies such as the larger museums and botanical
gardens or in business where they play roles in mitigating pollution and environmental impacts of industry.
In the UK, many conservation biologists work for local nongovernmental organisations such as wildlife trusts doing practical conservation or management or fund-raising. Their expertise also
takes others into careers in the media where they can contribute a specialist perspective. Last, but not least, a large number of ecologists/ conservation biologists follow research careers in academia or research institutes.