Hello, my name is Vivian Evans and I completed
the Marine Environmental Management Masters
programme earlier this year. The course is
a really great opportunity for anyone wishing
to enter the field of marine science. My favourite
thing about the course was the diversity of
materials that were taught, which really catered
to a wide range of interests.
- I chose MEM because it catered to people
from different backgrounds and the fact that
I didn't have a bachelor of marine biology
- I had a bachelor of science in nursing,
so the fact that it accepted that was helpful
for me.
- At York university you do two dissertations
within the Environment Department, you do
an internal one based in York where you work
with some of the academics in the department.
Currently I'm working with Dr Dean Waters
on marine acoustics, looking at how noise
pollution affects the different trophic levels
within marine ecosystems and ultimately how
it affects cetaceans. One of the trademarks of the
Marine Environmental Management course at
York is you do an external placement, so this
is mostly self-generated, you practice your
communication skills and you practice your
ability to engage with an outsource information
and how to research placements. Julie Hawkins
helps you substantially with this through
either seeking opportunities or giving you
contacts or ideas and seeing what you're interested
in, helping promote placement opportunities.
- I think what's great about the summer placement
is that if you have identified something in
your dissertation or just in general, if you're
mad about sharks, or mad about whales, then
you can really specialise down that route,
you can do your dissertation and your summer
placement on two very similar things because
you already know you want to specialise, whereas
if you're like me and you have no idea, and
find lots and lots of different avenues interesting
then having these two research projects - the
dissertation and the summer placement - it
allows you to get a really broad experience
and a broad exposure to the different areas
of marine research.
- My research project is on the biotechnological
potential of phytoplankton and I'm working
with Claire Hughes which is really great,
she's really nice and helpful and a great
supervisor, and the project is all about extracting
phycoxanthin, which is an antioxidant from
different types of marine algae and seeing
which environments that it best thrives in
and how that could possibly be used in the
future.
- I did MEM (Marine Environmental Management) in 2011 to 12 in the Environment Department
at York. As a course it was really broad and
varied, it gave you aspects of pure ecology,
so you had some real biological modules and
then you got the environmental law framework
background and fisheries management. I'm currently
an inshore fisheries and conservation officer
at Kent and Essex IFCA, this is a job that
requires a good background in fisheries science,
which is something taught on the course, fisheries
management and marine ecology, but also being
aware of those broader themes of management
concepts, legality, legislative frameworks,
and also having practical fieldwork skills
that I gained on the course that I was then
able to take to this job and set to work.
- My most memorable experience was the field trip
to the Maldives but I also really enjoyed
the York dissertation. The course is actually
the reason I'm now working in the Maldives
on a grouper fishery and conservation project for Blue Marine Foundation.
The course has
really prepared me for my career in the field and I would highly recommend it to anyone
