Programme details | |
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Degree: | Bachelor of Science (Honours) (BSc (Hons)) |
Discipline: |
Zoology
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Duration: | 48 months |
Study modes: | full-time, part-time |
University website: | Wildlife Conservation with a Year in Professional Practice |
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The world is experiencing a conservation crisis - animals and plants face extinction through habitat loss, over-exploitation, pollution, disease, invasive species and global climate change. Yet we know that wildlife and biodiversity are vital for human survival. On this degree you analyse the facts and gain an understanding of where we are now, putting you in a great position to offer innovative ways forward.
The BSc in Wildlife Conservation provides comprehensive training in natural science aspects of conservation (including genetics, ecology, wildlife management and species reintroductions) together with training in the human dimensions of conservation (for example environmental economics, international biodiversity regulation, the politics of climate change and work with rural communities).
The programme includes a significant lab-based and field-based component. Additionally, there is an opportunity to conduct a research project in the UK or abroad at the end of the second year. Recent locations include South Africa, Borneo and the Peruvian Amazon.
Follow the experiences of some of our students:
The University of Kent was awarded a highly prestigious Queen’s Anniversary Prize for Higher and Further Education for the work of the Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology (DICE).
DICE leads projects in over 50 countries, including research on human wellbeing and nature, human-elephant conflict, oil palm deforestation, online illegal trade in protected species, national park planning and ecotourism projects and the mapping of biodiversity through eDNA.
In your first year, you are introduced to biological, social and environmental sciences and the foundational skills required for wildlife conservation and management. Optional modules allow you to expand on areas of particular interest, which may include: Animals, People and Plants; Foundations of Biological Anthropology; Contested Environments; or Sustainable Land-Use Systems. You also benefit from practical learning through lab-based sessions and a number of visits away from the lecture room.
In your second and final years, you take compulsory modules that further your skills and understanding, such as: Spatial Analysis in Wildlife Conservation; Data Analysis for Conservation Biologists; Methods and Research Design in Contemporary Conservation Science.
You also enjoy a wide and varied choice of modules enabling you to expand your perspectives or focus more on the natural or social science aspects of conservation. Optional modules may include: Human Wildlife Conflict and Resource Competition; Tropical Ecology and Conservation; Primate Behaviour and Ecology; Evolutionary Genetics and Conservation; Creative Conservation; Conservation and Communities; Human Ecology; Global Biodiversity and Species Conservation.
In your final year, you undertake a research project, choosing your topic with your project supervisor. Students often undertake their field research abroad with many joining our annual expedition to our research vessel on the Peruvian Amazon.
The year in professional practice is a wonderful opportunity to spend up to a year, between the second and final years, undertaking work placements with organisations relevant to your degree programme. You spend a minimum of 24 weeks on placement at one or more organisations. Placements can be at home or abroad and give you the opportunity to apply your academic skills in a practical context, offering you rare and unique experiences which will set you apart. Previous placements have included: environmental consultancy for Afzelia Limited, Zambia; forest impact surveying a the Danau Girang Field Centre, Borneo; project co-ordination for the Uganda Conservation Foundation; project work for the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification in Germany; wildlife crime mapping for the Freeland India Consultants Private Limited; and small animal and bear monitoring for the Administration of Rodna Mountains National Park, Romania.
Alternatively, you can take our three-year Wildlife Conservation degree, without a work placement. For details, see Wildlife Conservation BSc (Hons).
Due to the practical nature of this degree, there is a strong emphasis on fieldwork. We aim to undertake two UK field trips per term. Potential excursions (linked to specific modules) may include:
Students on the Tropical Ecology and Conservation module spend two weeks at the Danau Girang Field Centre in Borneo. You'll explore the beautiful, picturesque rainforest before venturing deeper into the jungle to the field studies site. The Centre is located in an area where huge swathes of jungle have been removed and replaced by plantations. You work on the front line between managing the needs of the community and the impact on biodiversity.
These opportunities may change from year to year and may incur additional costs. See the funding tab for more information.
The School of Anthropology and Conservation has excellent teaching resources including dedicated computing facilities. Other resources include:
The Conservation Society is run by Kent students and is a good way to meet other students on your course in an informal way. The Conservation Society also works with local organisations and charities providing lots of opportunities for volunteering, community work and outings.
The School of Anthropology and Conservation puts on many events that you are welcome to attend. We host two public lectures a year, the Stirling Lecture and the DICE Lecture, which bring current ideas in anthropology and conservation to a wider audience. We are delighted that these events attract leading conservation figures from around the world.
Each term, there are also seminars and workshops discussing current research in anthropology, conservation and human ecology.
This programme is taught by members of the Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology (DICE) research centre. DICE, in the School of Anthropology and Conservation at Kent, is a leading international research and training centre dedicated to the conservation of biodiversity and ecosystems around the world.
DICE was founded in 1989 with a clear mission: to conserve biodiversity and the ecological processes that support ecosystems and people. It does so by developing capacity and improving conservation management and policy through high-impact research. That is why DICE is in a School that does research and teaching in anthropology alongside conservation.
One component of DICE’s work is to train a new, interdisciplinary generation of conservationists who think innovatively about the challenges that lie ahead. As undergraduates, you are part of a dynamic and growing community of conservationists whose work spans all major regions of the world.
Find more information on the website of the University of Kent: