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River systems are under ever increasing pressure through the growing demands of water abstraction and hydroelectric power generation, and suffer recurrent disturbance through diffuse and point source pollutants, drought, flooding and channel modification.

The environmental management of rivers is required to mitigate the effects of these pressures. This requires a holistic understanding of how river systems are structured and function, and of how these systems have been altered by anthropogenic activities. To this end, the course will examine the interactions between climate, hydrology, geomorphology, ecology, biogeochemical cycling, water and habitat quality and biodiversity.

An important aspect of the training will be an understanding of how these interactions act at different spatial and temporal scales to influence the structure and function of ecosystems in running waters. This scientific and technical corpus will allow you to understand and quantify the consequences of natural and anthropogenic disturbance on river systems.

Using a combination of lectures, fieldwork, tutorials, laboratory classes, group projects and an individual research-based thesis, you will be provided with the necessary training and skills for a career in the successful environmental management of rivers, including techniques on assessing their status and approaches to rehabilitate and restore the condition of these globally threatened environments.

You will also gain training in legislation that is driving the environmental management of rivers worldwide. In particular, the EU Water Framework Directive provides an exceptionally strong driver, requiring all European member states to draw up river basin management plans to achieve 'good ecological status' by 2015. This is certain to create many career opportunities in the future.

This degree will provide direct postgraduate training for students interested in this career direction, as well as providing advanced-level training suitable for further PhD studies in water science.

We are fortunate at Birmingham in having a wide variety of staff within the Water Sciences Research Group with interests in rivers, particularly in the arena of hydroecology, and it is this expertise that will inform the teaching of the modules in River Environments and their Management. 

Course Activities

The River Environments and their Management programme involves a core of lectures, tutorials and laboratory classes. This core material is backed up by supplementary material designed to deepen the comprehension of the basic processes, to understand their application in environmental management and industry and to develop an appreciation of both the industrial and environmental management environment.

Examples of activities include:

• Seminars by external lecturers to broaden knowledge of the water industry and river environmental management
• Seminars by course participants to improve communication skills and knowledge of current trends in river environmental management
• Fieldwork and visits to river monitoring sites, river restoration sites, the River Laboratory of the Freshwater Biological Association and research organizations.
• Computing and practical projects to develop information technology, modeling and field skills
• Group management projects and industrially related projects to develop research, problem solving and management skills

Using a combination of lectures, fieldwork, tutorials, laboratory classes, group projects and an individual research-based thesis, you will be provided with the necessary training and skills for a career in the successful environmental management of rivers, including techniques on assessing their status and approaches to rehabilitate and restore the condition of these globally threatened environments. You will also gain training in legislation that is driving the environmental management of rivers worldwide. In particular the EU Water Framework Directive provides an exceptionally strong driver in that all European member states must draw up river basin management plans to achieve 'good ecological status' by 2015. This is certain to create many career opportunities in the future.

Fieldwork

There are also a number of day-long field trips connected with a variety of modules, in particular River Ecology and River Restoration.

The course is of considerable value if you wish to pursue a career in the river environmental management field or the water industry. It also provides advanced level training if you wish progress on to a PhD.

Currently, due to the large national demand for Water Managers, we have a 100% employment success rate for all our home/EU students, with graduates obtaining employment in the consultancy sector, typically with jobs secured before graduation. Additionally, Environmental Scientists who have spent some time in a branch of the water industry often feel the need for a postgraduate course to give them an overall understanding of their profession. The River Environments and their Management programme is so structured as to satisfy the requirements of both of these groups of potential students, the latter includes many International students who choose to retrain here in Birmingham.

The programme is of an intensive nature and is intended to develop your ability for original thought and to produce innovative solutions to practical problems. The integrated approach to the water cycle with a river environmental management emphasis is of particular importance in achieving the aim of giving you the ability to attain senior management positions in water authorities and companies, environmental consultants and regulators, government departments, consultants and contractors.

Find out how this programme has proved beneficial to other students by reading some graduate profiles:

Jenny Mercer
"I feel more confident in my knowledge and also in how I express it; and in recent interviews employers have commented on the wide range of skills and knowledge the course has left me with." Read Jenny's profile...

Katie Muchan
"I [...] had the chance to attend a UK conference and undertake a consultancy-style group project, which provided ideal opportunities to network with people in well-known Environmental companies." Read Katie's profile...

On graduating from this course you could typically expect to find employment with organisations such as those listed below:

Birmingham City Council, The Environment Agency, W. S. Atkins Consultant Engineers, OFWAT, North West Water Ltd, Severn Trent Water Ltd, Northumbrian Lyonnaise Technology and Research Centre, CES, The Institute of Hydrology, HR Wallingford, Haswell Consulting Engineers, Halcrow (UK), Bechtel Water, South Staffordshire Water Company, Hyder Consulting, Anglian Water Services, Water Management Consultants, Posford Duvivier, Jeremy Benn Associates, Southern Water, Thames Water, Peter Brett Associates, Montgomery Watson, Mott Macdonald, Royal Haskoning, Scottish Environment Protection Agency, Sir Alexander Gibb and Ptnrs Ltd, and Yorkshire Water.

We have established agreements and relationships with organizations like The Environment Agency and The Centre of Ecology and Hydrology and this has worked well in terms of student placements for dissertations. Some of these placements have led to subsequent positions with the organization.