Earth and Environmental Science - Placement Year (Hons) Lancaster University

Overview

The Earth and Environmental Science - Placement Year (Hons) course from Lancaster University  begins by building your understanding of geology, the Earth’s interior and the atmosphere, weather and climate systems.

Alongside your classroom and lab-based studies, you will gain hands-on experience conducting research in real-world environments on a local, regional, and global scale. You may take part in overseas field courses to study volcanic processes and impact management, glacial processes, or the management of environmental challenges. On top of that, you will engage in fieldwork closer to home in the Lake District World Heritage Site and Yorkshire Dales.

Throughout your degree, you will gain a variety of transferable skills that are valued by employers, including communication and information technology skills, data handling, environmental sampling, and analysis.

Career opportunities:

Earth and environmental sciences are pivotal in helping today’s society take on the most pressing environmental challenges. This increasingly important area of study means that more and more global jobs are becoming available, and as a graduate of the environmental sciences, you can make a difference using your specialist knowledge of the local, regional, and global impact our actions have on the world, and vice versa. Environmentally focused careers include Environmental Consultant, Weather Forecaster, Conservation Officer, Sustainability Consultant, Toxicologist, Wastewater Manager, Hydrologist and many, many more. You may wish to continue in academia or work in a non-environmental role where your skills in problem-solving, critical thinking, data handling, project management and commercial awareness make you an in-demand graduate. Graduates from our courses are also well-paid, with the median salary of graduates from Lancaster Environment Centre being £26,500 15 months after graduation (HESA Graduate Outcomes Survey 2024).

Here are just some of the roles that our BSc and MSci Earth and Environmental Science students have progressed into upon graduating:

• Field Scientist – Thames Water
• Strategic Planning Manager – United Utilities
• Junior Volcanologist – GeoTenerife
• Environmental Business Analyst – CCm Technologies
• Sustainability and Climate Change Consulting Associate – PwC UK
• Researcher – Lancaster Environment Centre
• Telemetry Technician – Severn Water
• Environment Officer – Environment Agency
• PhD Candidate – University of Cambridge
• Renewable Energy Analyst – Certi-fi
• Geo-Environmental Graduate - Delta Simons Environmental Consultants
• Carbon Footprint Analyst - Freelance

Lancaster University is dedicated to ensuring you not only gain a highly reputable degree, you also graduate with the relevant life and work based skills.