Course summary

This four-year course includes an integrated foundation year, after which the syllabus follows that of the standard three-year course, BSc Biology and Climate Change (FC71). During the foundation year, you'll learn the academic skills required to follow an undergraduate degree and will go on to study the same subjects as students on the three-year BSc Biology and Climate Change (FC71) degree course from your second year onwards. On this degree, you'll study the impacts of Climate Change on the living world, from organisms to entire ecosystems, and their implications for the conservation of biodiversity. During your course, you'll acquire a range of practical laboratory and field-based skills alongside the theoretical knowledge that underpins the subject. In some modules, you'll also work alongside students from other Departments (International Politics, Business, and English and Creative Writing) and will be encouraged to look at the subject from different perspectives. You'll learn about the science underpinning climate processes, and how human activity has effected changes to these processes in recent times. You'll explore the impacts of climate change on biodiversity at the level of species, habitats, and ecosystems, and the scope of organisms and populations to evolve in the light of this threat. By working across disciplines, you'll learn the need for both scientific research and governance in tackling these important issues. Aberystwyth and the surrounding area has a great variety of local habitats and ecosystems, both marine and terrestrial – an ideal location to study the impacts of climate change on biodiversity, and the scope for mitigation. You'll have the opportunity to carry out field research, both locally and abroad, and to work with established academic researchers who work on various aspects of the past, present and future effects of global climate change on natural ecosystems.