Hello and welcome to this presentation
about the biology and zoology programmes
at the University of Derby. My name is
Dr Andrew Ramsey and I'm the Head of Discipline
for Environmental Sciences. I'm also a
zoologist and a biologist by training.
So I'm going to introduce our courses to you,
we'll have a look at what biology and
zoology are, we'll look at what you'll
study with us, we'll look at our research
and our Environmental Sustainability
Research Centre, we'll talk about our
facilities and our fieldwork, and a little bit
about your career and where our programmes
can take you. Our biology programme
consists of a BSc Honours in Biology and
is also available as a Joint Honours
programme. Our Zoology BSc Honours also has
a Joint Honours programme. In addition to
that we've got various postgraduate
courses including MSc in Environmental
Assessment and Control, MSc in
Conservation Biology and an MRes in
Molecular Medicine.
If you're interested in our biology programmes, well
biology is the study of living organisms.
It's about their structure and their
function, how they grow, their origins,
their evolution, their distribution; it
considers everything from genetics and
their DNA through to the ecology of
those species. Zoology has a slightly
different focus in that it includes a
lot more aspects of animal behaviour,
things like animal physiology,
classification and the ecology and
conservation of animals, and their role
in the planet as well. In terms of the
BSc Honours in Biology and its structure,
if you come to us to undertake a foundation
year, that's the year below first year of
the full BSc, then we have a range of
modules including study skills, cell
biology, chemistry, foundations of Geoscience
organisms and their environment,
research methods, data handling, the kind
of things that will help you underpin your
studies and become a successful
biologist. Moving on into the first year
of the programme, we induct all of our
students and then we also teach you
things like Ecology which looks at the
structure and functioning of the planet, the
interactions of individuals with each other
and the planet, we look at Genetics,
Anatomy and Physiology, Invasion of
the Land which builds on our Evolution
of Life module to give you a
fundamental understanding of life on
Earth, and we also currently teach you
some fundamental chemistry as well to
help underpin your future studies.
Into stage 2, biology has got four compulsory modules. Everybody takes Research Methods,
everybody looks at The Cell,
everybody does a zero credit module in
Independent Research and Professional
Development, and everybody studies
Molecular Biology. You then have two
options from Animal Behaviour, Field
Biology which currently takes place in Majorca,
Physiology and Disease if you're
interested in the disease aspects of
life, Human Reproduction if you're
interested in reproductive biology, Microbiology, and also Rainforests, Deserts
and Oceans which picks up the more
ecological side of the work. An option
between stage 2, for most people that's
second year, and stage 3, for most
people that's third year, there's this
optional placement year where you can go and
spend a year in industry, get some
underpinning experience, build your CV
and then come back to us in order to
study stage 3. At stage 3 there is just one
compulsory module, albeit at 40 credits so a
double module, Independent Studies. There
you undertake your own piece of research,
something you're interested in, something
you're fascinated in. You're supported by
a member of staff.
You essentially plan, undertake, analyse and write up a piece of independent research
but with full support. You then choose
four additional modules depending on
what you're interested in, so if you like
the insect side of things or the
application of insects you could look at
Applied Entomology, everything from
forensics to insects as indicator
species. Or if you were interested in
behaviour, you can look at Behavioural
Ecology. If you're more interested in
bio-business you can look at Bio-innovation
and where biology is going. If you like cell
biology you can study Cell Signalling in
Health and Disease. If you prefer the
more ecological aspects then there's a
module in Ecological Consultancy for you and
you can also build on that with Habitat
Management. Again building on the disease
side of things there's a module in
Oncology and Immunology. If you like
science there's Science Communication. If you're
maybe interested in teaching and those aspects
aspects then you can also look at Science
Communication. The geneticists amongst you
can study The Human Genome. We have a
Tropical Marine Biology module; there's
an additional cost to that but it goes
to the Maldives so you study in
the Indian Ocean, one of the finest
locations in the world for marine biology.
All of our students undertake
aspects of work experience but if you
want more work experience there's a
Vocational Module you can take and
finally for those interested in the
conservation of wildlife there is a
Wildlife Conservation module taught by
yours truly.
The zoology programme is similar in that the foundation
year and stage 1 are identical.
This means that if you started off on biology
and you decide that zoology is the route
you want to go down you can switch. Vice versa,
if you start on zoology and are more
interested in those kind of cellular aspects
then you can switch from zoology into
the biology programme. At stage 2 though,
the programmes diverge. Zoologists still do
Research Methods but now the compulsory
modules are a module in Invertebrates
which is the majority of species on this
planet, and a module in Vertebrates. You
still do the Independent Research and
Professional Development which helps you
plan your career and prepare for your
final year project. Again, there's a
number of optional modules you can take
so we have, for example, the Animal
Behaviour, we have the Field Biology which
currently also goes to Majorca, or you
can study Molecular Biology if you
prefer the genetic side of things or
Human Reproduction or Microbiology, or
Rainforests, Deserts and Oceans which is a
more ecological module. We have the same
placement year opportunity in the
zoology programme and then again a similar
range of optional modules, which again
can help you specialise and really
underpin and work
towards your career. Currently, although
it's going into the biology programme, we
also have in zoology a module called the
Student Initiative Module or
the SIM, and the SIM is where you can
study pretty much anything you want.
If, despite the range of
modules we offer,
there's something that you feel you
haven't studied enough or there's
something of really special interest for
you or there's something which is going
to help to underpin your future career
then we can design a module in
collaboration with you around you so
that you can study the thing that you
want. We agree what you're going to study,
we also agree how you're going to be
assessed so you can really play
to your strengths.
Now, as you'd expect our programmes are
recognised and are accredited by
accrediting bodies. We, like most
biology and zoology programmes, are
accredited by the Royal Society of
Biology. This is a real acknowledgement of
the quality of our programmes, but unlike
most we also have an accredited degree
pathway with the Chartered Institute of
Ecology and Environmental Management.
This is a route into exciting,
interesting, very lucrative careers in
terms of environmental management and
ecological consultancy, and CIEEM are the
kind of main accrediting body that
supports that area. As I mentioned, we
also have Joint Honours programmes.
So our Biology Joint Honours can draw
from all of the stage 1 modules. It
does depend on what you're Joint Honours
with and around the timetable too. In stage 2 you can draw from a
range of the stage 2 modules. The number
of options and the combination that you
study, particularly in stage 2 and
stage 3, depends very much on what fits in with
your Joint Honours and also whether you
decide you're going to be a full Joint
Honours which will be three modules in
biology and three modules from your
other programme, or whether you want to
take biology as a minor route in which
case you choose two, or biology as a major
route in which case you choose four.
Similarly with the Zoology Joint Honours we
do insist here that you study the
Evolution of Life and Genetics. We also
induct you but that is zero credits.
There are modules that you have to study like Molecular
Biology and Research Methods and then
there is a range of optional modules that you can choose from. In stage 3
you might choose the Independent Study but it
depends on the route that you take and
whether you are going to be a major in
zoology or a minor in zoology, but
essentially there's a huge amount of
flexibility just to do zoology with
what you want to study.
Biology is clearly a growing subject.
It's really the future of the
world. From the biology side of things
and from the zoology side of things
there is a huge range of up-and-coming
and growing industries that you can go into.
Clearly you can go down the
traditional routes, so for zoology you
might decide you want to go into the
more ecological things; an ecological consultant,
or work for a zoo, or work for a
conservation organisation; and that's
absolutely fine, but there is a huge and
growing application of the biological
sciences and the future of this world.
Speaking about the future of this world,
our programmes equate to the United Nations
Sustainable Development Goals. You can see here a
number of those sustainable development
goals that we recognise our programmes are
linked to. That includes things like good
health and well-being, clean water
and sanitation, clean energy, as well as
the things that you would really expect
biologically-based programmes to do, which
are things like climate action, life below
water, and life on land. In terms of our research,
we have a research centre called the
Environmental Sustainability Research
Centre. This is where students and
academics and external people get
together and try to do research that
helps towards the future of this planet.
We have two main aspects of this. One is
about global resilience, working towards
relieving issues of environmental
hazards and climate change, and the other
is about sustainable resources, that
could be energy resources, that could be
material resources, but also
about resources of the planet (natural
capital) - trees, fish, wildlife - and making
sure that those are looked after in a
sustainable way for the future.
Samples of the kind of research
that we are doing - we have amazing research on
things like corals, other freshwater
research on species like freshwater
mussels, we have a long history of
research in terms of crickets,
we've got leading research in terms of
microbiology and biocrusts for example,
as well as a huge amount of work that
looks at habitats, global resilience
and ecological resilience. So a wide range of
research going from cell biology to
animal ecology.
We have, as you expect from any university,
a wide range of facilities that include student
laboratories where we don't teach which
are yours to study in, we have our own
glasshouse, we have our own insectary, we
have specialist laboratories and an
Aquatic Research Facility which includes
coral reef systems. We have an active
Bioscience Society where you and other
students can get involved in
everything from social events to
organising key and important speakers to
come and talk to you from outside of the University.
We put our taught element into
practice with a wide range
of fieldwork opportunities.
That can be single day
visits to places like Kew Gardens, out
into the Peak District locally, but also
to places like Majorca and the
Maldives.
So our aim is to develop you as an
individual from when you come in to when
you leave us. We'll start off
by teaching you a range
of skills and how to be a good biologist
or zoologist. We'll build on your
technical skills, we'll take you to a level
where you become an expert, we'll build
your professionalism and finally we'll
make you stand out from the crowd so
that you get the job you want to get. In
terms of careers then, our biology
careers have led our students to go and
be things like molecular consultants,
bio-information officers, pharmacy
technicians, agriculture entrepreneurs, so
a whole range of different things that
you can go on to. A large number of our
students also go on to postgraduate
study and PhD. In terms of zoology, our
students have gone on to be zoo
education officers, worked for scientific
civil services, worked for the Wildlife
Trusts and a very high proportion have
gone off into ecological consultancy.
So why choose Derby?
Well we've got a range
of different modules which you can
access and really tailor your degree to
what you want to do. Fieldwork with
compulsory modules - the cost of that is
included in your course fee. We've got
personal development planning and career
planning throughout the programme. We've
got graduate level placement opportunities and
every student has an optional
placement year. We've got Joint Honours
that you can explore. We have a highly
research active teaching team
and great partnerships with
industry. We are, for international
student learning experience, in the Top
10 in the world according to the ISB
Benchmark Group. We are a Top 30
University ranked 26th in the Guardian
league table. Our Biosciences are ranked
number one in the UK for student
satisfaction with teaching and feedback
based on the Guardian University Guide
2020, and we are ranked TEF Gold which is
a badge of honour for any institution.
I hope you've enjoyed this short
presentation. If you want more details
please contact us, you can see the
information just here. We're available by
phone, we're available by email and you
can check out our website.
Thank you very much. Bye.
