Life, Environmental & Forensic Sciences

Outstanding facilities and an excellent reputation, all located in one of the UK’s richest biodiversity hotspots and close to incredible natural environments.

Why choose us?

We have a multidisciplinary team with expertise in biology, ecology, geography, environmental and forensic sciences, with wide-ranging specialist interests. These include human evolution and biology, genetics, microbiology, pharmacology, sustainability, palaeoecology, remote sensing, coastal and terrestrial geomorphology, and the ecology of plants and animals within terrestrial, freshwater and marine environments. Our facilities include genetics, analytical, bioanalytical and tissue culture labs, as well as dedicated crime labs for our forensics courses. Based in a biodiversity hotspot, close to iconic environments such as the New Forest National Park, Dorset Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site, we’re ideally situated to study and research life and environmental sciences.

Many of our courses include a short placement as part of your degree, but there is also the option to extend your degree by a year and undertake a minimum 30-week placement, ensuring you graduate with a wealth of experience that will help you get ahead in the competitive jobs market.

While we have outstanding opportunities for research and fieldwork on our doorstep, we also have excellent links with research projects spanning our subjects all around the world. Our students have undertaken projects in many countries, including Costa Rica, USA, Canada, Australia, Madagascar, Ecuador, Colombia, Peru, Indonesia, Vietnam, Greece, Spain and Iceland.

Degrees of difference

www.bournemouth.ac.uk/ug-les

Zach Boakes, BSc (Hons) Environmental Science graduate

I was working as a volunteer in Bali, teaching children how to play the drums. While I was there, I made friends with a local guy called Kesut, and we started snorkelling together.

We started discussing our shared interests in marine conservation, and I realised that the north of Bali, where Ketut lives, was in serious need of a reef conservation programme. When I returned to BU, I co-founded Bali Reef Conservation as part of my summer placement, and it’s something I am still heavily involved with now after graduating.

The aim of Bali Reef Conservation is to restore and conserve coral reef in a small Indonesian fishing village called Tianyar. It has been destroyed due to unsustainable fishing

My degree of difference

Saving coral reefs off the coast of Bali

To find out more about how our Fusion approach can benefit your BU education, visit www.bournemouth.ac.uk/fusion practices and excessive boat traffic, so we are building artificial reefs in the area with the aim of connecting two existing healthy coral reefs. We’ve built and deployed over 2,000 artificial reef units already but we also carry out other work, such as plastic recycling programmes, turtle conservation, weekly marine conservation classes with local schools, and beach cleans. My main role is managing volunteers, fishermen and teachers, ensuring that we have a lot of community engagement with the programme. We work with people, educating them about how to live more sustainably and protect their marine environment.

My lecturers were a great support, and I wouldn’t have been able to do this without their help. It’s been an incredible experience, and one that means I have no hesitation in recommending BU!