Physical Geography MPhil/PhD

First year

You will have submitted a draft research outline with your application. In your first year, you will be working towards submitting a more complete research proposal. You will be aided in your research by meeting with your supervisory team to discuss your progress. You will also be supported through your first year by engaging with a series of three modules as part of our Researcher Development Programme:

• RSDP4001: Developing as a Researcher
• RSDP4005: Approaches to Research
• RSDP4004: Planning Your Research Project

At the end of each year, beginning with your first year, you will reflect on and formally review your progress with your supervisory team and MPhil/PhD Course Leader. We call this annual meeting an Annual Progress Review (APR).

Second year

In your second year, you will be collecting data and working on your research project under the supervision of your supervisors through regular meetings. You may at this point have research papers ready to publish and you may wish to attend conferences to present your research to other experts in your field. You will be able to apply to our Research Student Support Scheme for some funding for this purpose. Students normally undergo Transfer from MPhil to PhD towards the end of their second year. This will be part of your Annual Progress Review for this year.

Third and fourth year

In your third and fourth year, you will be writing up your thesis and preparing for your viva voce examination. This is an oral exam with two examiners and a chair. You can also request that your supervisor be present at the exam. The exam will take place after you have submitted your final thesis. After the exam, it is not unusual for the examiners to ask that some amendments be made to your thesis before the final award is confirmed and you will have additional time to do this. It is possible to complete the course in three years, but we have found that the majority of students do take four years to complete the course. At the end of each year of your registration, you will go through an Annual Progress Review.

Resources

Access to the University of Worcester’s virtual resources and its state of the art library facilities. The Physical Geography team at Worcester have an excellent range of resources available to support your learning and your research project, including; field equipment including a Teledyne StreamPro Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP), a 2D Flow Tracker, six Valeport Electromagnetic current meters, three portable YSI multi-parameter water quality probes, an ISCO automatic liquid sampler, Solinst water level and water temperature data loggers, Tinytag water temperature data loggers and tipping bucket logging rain gauges. Two hydrological monitoring sites on local streams (Leigh Brook and Bow Brook) continuously monitor water level and various water quality parameters (pH, temperature, specific conductance, dissolved oxygen, turbidity) with data logged every 15 minutes and accessible online via telemetry in real-time. Each site also has an ISCO automatic liquid sampler The field equipment and hydrological monitoring sites are managed and maintained by a specialist Physical Geography technician and field equipment can booked out through him.

Survey equipment includes a Draganflyer X6 Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) with three members of staff licensed with the Civil Aviation Authority to fly it in the UK, mapping and survey grade GPS, a Leica Terrestrial Laser Scanner, total stations, quickset levels and laser distance measurers.

The School of Science and the Environment has a fully-equipped GIS, Mapping and Visualization Suite, which provides access to high-end computers, industry-standard GIS (ArcGIS) and statistical analysis software (e.g. Primer-E, Matlab, SPSS) and other mapping and remote sensing software (e.g. ENVI and Photoscan Pro (Agisoft LLC)). This facility is run by GIS technicians, who provide advice and training to students and the suite also has its own A3 colour laser printer and A3 scanner for staff and student use. The Institute also has digital camcorders, cameras and microphones which students can use for data capture. A further six science and geography technicians offer support with field and laboratory based work.

Recent successful projects have included Dr Caroline Wallis who evaluated the Spatial Configuration and Temporal Dynamics of Hydraulic Patches in Three UK Lowland Rivers (2014), Dr Martin Wilkes who examined The Hydrodynamics of River Ecosystems: Towards an Objective and Ecologically Relevant Classification of Mesohabitat (2014), and Dr Amy Woodget who quantified Physical River Habitat Parameters Using Hyperspatial Resolution UAS Imagery and SfM-photogrammetry (2015). Some of our current research students are exploring The influence of physical habitat heterogeneity on macroinvertebrate community response to fine sediment deposition in river ecosystems (George Bunting).

Programme specification

For comprehensive details on the aims and intended learning outcomes of the course, and the means by which these are achieved through learning, teaching and assessment, please download the latest MPhil programme specification or PhD programme specification documents.

Supervision areas

The School of Science and the Environment has a strong mix of academics with a high degree of professional and personal experience, enabling you to get the most out of your programme. Our staff have expertise in river science, glacial geomorphology, environmental geology, GIS and remote sensing.