MPhil Physical Geography: The University of Manchester

Course description

The Geography subject area of the School of Environment and Development (SED) is highly research focused. Their full time staff are all research active and have published almost 300 articles, papers, book chapters and books since 1999. They currently supervise almost 40 research students, who are funded by the EPSRC and ESRC, among others.

They offer a broad based and flexible research training for their doctoral students. All research students in Geography can therefore take advantage of an in-house research training programme over the course of their degree. This ensures that students emerge from the doctoral programme with not only a PhD in a specialised area but also with a broader awareness of research skills, theory and current debates in geography.

The University of Manchester has a long tradition of research in the areas of geomorphology, environmental change and human-environment interactions. Currently, we specialise in Quaternary environmental change, geoarchaeology and the geomorphology of catchment systems, with particular interests in upland environments in the UK, the Mediterranean and North America. Quaternary research embraces the study of glacial systems, fluvial systems, lacustrine systems, marine environments, paleoecology and geoarchaeology.

Research in these areas is funded by by various bodies, including NERC, the Royal Society and EPSRC.

Specialisations in these subject areas include:

• Geomorphology
• Environmental Reconstruction (Pleistocene and Holocene)
• Hydrology, Paleoecology
• Remote sensing
• Geoarchaeology
• Geographical Information Systems (GIS) and Science

Career opportunities

PhD graduates enter a wide variety of careers, including in local and national government institutions, international agencies, private sector consultancy and management, as well as academic and other educational institutions.

Entry requirements

Academic entry qualification overview: A First or good Second Class Honours degree, followed by an appropriate Postgraduate qualification, for direct entry to PhD. It is expected that you will already possess a Masters degree.

English language: If your first language is not English, you need a minimum of IELTS 7.0 or TOEFL 600 paper-based or 250 computer based.

Unit grade information: The University of Manchester welcomes the provision of unit grade information which, like all other available information, will inform the consideration of applications.  Unit grades will not normally form part of offer conditions, except for Mathematics programmes.

Key Skills qualification: The University warmly welcomes applications from students studying the Key Skills qualification. However, as the opportunities to take these modules are not open to all applicants, currently this is not an essential requirement of the University.