Conservation and Biodiversity MSc at Lancaster University

Our Conservation and Biodiversity Masters offers great flexibility, with a wide choice of topics from across disciplines, enabling you to construct a programme that suits your individual interests and career ambitions in this increasingly important field.

You will have the opportunity to gain a solid foundation in the key theoretical issues, such as wildlife population dynamics and conservation biology, and learn how these are applied to real-world problems, such as managing habitats or dealing with wildlife-human conflicts. Additionally, you will gain and develop the key skills that are valued by employers, such as field skills on species identification, sampling and monitoring, and more generic skills in problem solving, report writing, data analysis and presentation.

You will complete six taught modules delivered by world-leading researchers from our three internationally-renowned partner organisations: Lancaster Environment Centre, Rothamsted Research and the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology. This gives you the opportunity to interact with a wide range of expert specialists, including conservation biologists, terrestrial, marine and lake ecologists, food security biologists, and earth observation geographers. 

Several modules include field trips to the beautiful and topographically varied countryside around Lancaster, and beyond.  If you want to travel further afield, we have research projects and partners across the globe that provide exiting opportunities when it comes to selecting your dissertation project.

This project forms a substantial part of your Masters degree. It will enhance your practical and analytical skills and give you the opportunity to apply your learning to a real-world challenge. This may involve doing a project with a government agency or conservation organisation through our award winning Centre for Global Eco-innovation, which uses our excellent links with the environmental and conservation sectors. Examples of previous dissertation projects are:

• Effectiveness of habitat management for fritillary butterflies (with Butterfly Conservation)
• Impact of tourist disturbance on breeding seabirds on the Isle of May (with CEH)
• Predation impacts on breeding success of black-tailed godwits (with RSPB)
• Deer and forestry interactions in the Czech Republic (placement with Czech university)
• Habitat selection by sand lizards in coastal dunes
• Impact of urbanization on blue tit song behaviour
• Habitat loss and biodiversity in the Amazon rainforest (with Lavras University, Brazil)
• Biodiversity in reed fringes on Lake Windermere (with Freshwater Biological Association)

Graduates have gone on to successful careers in the environmental and conservation sectors, as well as further study for a PhD.