Subject overview

Programme outline

This programme is intended both for those who wish to progress to careers in the professional earth, engineering and sciences communities and those already working within these communities. It provides a training (or refresher experience) in applied geomorphological skills directly relevant to work in the earth sciences, environmental management and consultancy sectors. 

This MSc covers state-of-the-art imaging, monitoring and modelling of landforms and earth-surface processes, as well as the protocols professional geomorphologists use for carrying out site investigations and terrain evaluation. It integrates key methods of analysing the earth’s surface with the increasingly important issue of responsibly managing this environment. 

A key component of the programme is user-related training, particularly via opportunities for work placements in consultancy companies (eg in the Geomorphology Services Group at Halcrow, a global company specialising in the provision of planning, design and management services for infrastructure development) or environmental organisations. 

You have the opportunity to develop a specialist thematic or regional enquiry in your dissertation during the summer term. 

Assessment

Courses are assessed by a variety of modes including field and laboratory reports, short term papers, oral presentations and the project.

This programme is under development. 

Programme structure

We continue to develop and update our courses for 2012 entry to ensure you have the best student experience.

This programme has an innovative course structure and can be studied full time over one year or part time over two years. Each course comprises full-time field or laboratory teaching over one week followed by a week of independent project work that can be completed at Sussex or, if you study part time, at your work place. 

The project may involve either a placement with a consultancy company or environmental organisation, or a piece of independent academic research. 

Entry requirements

UK entrance requirements

A first- or upper second-class undergraduate honours degree in geography, geology, engineering or natural sciences. Applicants with relevant professional experience will also be considered.

Overseas entrance requirements

Please refer to column A on the Overseas qualifications table.

If you have any questions about your qualifications after consulting our overseas qualifications table, contact the University.
E pg.enquiries@sussex.ac.uk

Related programmes

• Climate Change and Development MSc
• Climate Change and Policy MSc

Fees and funding

Fees

'Home' UK/EU students: £14,750
Channel Island and Isle of Man students: £14,750
Overseas students: £14,750

For more information, visit Fees, Fees by programme, Living expenses, and Other costs.

Funding

Refer to Funding, and find out more about our extensive range of scholarships and bursaries in our online funding guide.

Halcrow Group Ltd, a global civil engineering consultancy, will provide a cash award to the best performing student on completion of the MSc in Applied Geomorphology.

Faculty interests

Geography faculty enjoy reputations for world-leading academic research as well as policy-relevant studies on global socioeconomic and cultural transformations, and on climate change and geomorphology. Our research includes a number of projects funded by UK Research Councils such as the ESRC, AHRC and NERC, as well as major contributions to policy debates within the UK Government, EU, other international organisations and industry. 

The research clusters in Geography are described below. For more information, visit the Department of Geography research website. 

Climate 

In recent years, the spectre of anthropogenic climate change has thrust climate science into the centre of current political and public debates. Climate science is now directly informing policies on how we fuel our economy, which will affect all our lives. The Department contributes to this agenda through research to improve our understanding of fundamental climate processes within the earth system and climate impacts on our life-support systems. 

We focus on climate change and the global water cycle, the role of mineral dust aerosols in the climate system, the role of terrestrial ecosystems in the climate system, and human dimensions of climate change. 

Associated Geography faculty include: 

Mick Frogley Quaternary palaeoecology; and climatic history of lake basins. 

Dominic Kniveton Climate systems; and hydrological cycle in Southern Africa. 

Julian Murton Permafrost; physical modelling; and Quaternary environments in Arctic Canada and UK.

David Ockwell Transitions to a low-carbon economy; economics, politics and ecology of fire management in Cape York, Australia.

Professor Martin Todd The role of mineral dust in the climate system; the impact of climate change on hydrological and ecological systems. 

Yi Wang Climate change and earth systems science. 

Economic geographies of globalisation and development

This research cluster focuses on global value chains, developing country industrialisation, industrial change and regional economic performance, the nature and impact of the emergence of China, and spatial price formation. 

Research on regional inequality and regional economic performance has focused on regional economic performance in Europe, including governance and cohesion in an enlarged Europe. Current plans centre on an extension of this research to a comparative study of the EU and China. We are working on an ESRC-funded project in partnership with the Chinese Academy of Sciences on EU-China links and regional development in China.

Our research on global value chains involves close relationships with the research of the Institute of Development Studies (IDS) Globalisation Group. Scope exists for joint supervision with IDS. Refer to the Development studies subject entry for more information.

Associated Geography faculty include:

Professor Mick Dunford Comparative regional and urban economic performance; inequality and social cohesion in Europe; and theories of regulation.

Geographies of migration

This cluster constitutes the core of the Sussex Centre for Migration Research, co-directed by Richard Black and Russell King since 1997. It is a unique venue for migration research in Britain, centred on creating a close-knit, interdisciplinary environment for faculty and graduate researchers alike, and linking research with its well-established MA in Migration Studies. 

Highlights of this research effort have included a six-year ‘Development Research Centre’, funded by the Department for International Development, on the relationship between migration, globalisation and poverty; research on issues of integration, social cohesion and identity among migrants to the UK; and extensive research on migration issues in Europe. The group also supervises a number of doctoral students working on migration issues around the world.

The Centre is home to the internationally established Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, edited by Russell King. Alongside Richard Black’s co-editorship of the Journal of Refugee Studies, the world’s leading journal in the field of forced migration, this makes Sussex the main agenda-setting centre outside the US for journal-based empirical research on all aspects of migration. 

Associated faculty include: 

Professor Richard Black Migration, globalisation and poverty; social aspects of climate adaptation.

Mike Collyer Migration policy; refugees and asylum; and Europe and North Africa.

Professor Russell King International migration in Europe; rural geography; the Mediterranean; and islands.

Ben Rogaly Labour geographies; class and community; identity, place and belonging; temporary migrant workers; agriculture and food; poverty and social exclusion; UK; India.

Professor Ronald Skeldon Population migration in the developing world, especially Asia.

Katie Walsh The intersection of migration, home and belonging; transnational spaces and identities; British expatriates; and Gulf region.

Geomorphology

This research cluster focuses on modelling and monitoring of sensitive earth-surface and atmospheric systems. The study of sensitive systems such as mountains, coasts, the atmosphere and the arctic is becoming critical to societies, as they adjust to the impacts of environmental change. Our research investigates sensitive systems by field monitoring, physical and numerical modelling, geotechnical analysis of sediments and rocks, and reconstruction of Quaternary environments. Our expertise concerns:

• climate systems
• coastal and estuarine systems
• dryland systems
• permafrost and Arctic systems
• Quaternary palaeoenvironments
• slopes and landslides systems, and
• soil systems.

Key achievements 

Recognition for the high quality of our research has led to several recent achievements:

• papers in Nature, Science, Geology and Geophysical Research Letters 

• grants: more than £3.5 million (for example from the EU, INTERREG, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, NERC, Royal Society, Environment Agency)

• Beaches At Risk project – a showcase Franco-British projectChair of NERC Grant-awarding panel

• Chair of the British Society for Geomorphology

• associate editor of Journal of Geophysical Research – Earth Surface, and

• Dorothy Hodgkins Royal Society Research Fellowship to a former PhD student.

Associated faculty include:

Professor Bob Allison Mass movement; geotechnical properties of sediment; and arid environments.

John Barlow Geospatial mapping and image analysis.

Mick Frogley Quaternary palaeoecology; and climatic history of lake basins.  

Dominic Kniveton Climate systems; and hydrological cycle in Southern Africa. 

Professor Roger Moore Coastal instability and erosion; slopes and landslides; geohazard risk; subsea geomorphology.

Cherith Moses Rock weathering; coastal processes; and karst landforms in the British Isles, the Mediterranean Basin and Australia.

Julian Murton Permafrost; physical modelling; and Quaternary environments in Arctic Canada and UK.

David Ockwell Transitions to a low-carbon economy; economics, politics and ecology of fire management in Cape York, Australia.

David Robinson Rock weathering; coastal processes; soil erosion and conservation; and landform evolution.

Professor Martin Todd The impact of climate change on hydrological and ecological systems; atmospheric aerosols. 

Yi Wang Climate science: terrestrial ecosystems, global bio-geochemical cycles; climate change; ocean-land-atmosphere interaction; tropical convection. 

Geomorphology at Sussex has close links with industry including collaboration through Halcrow Ltd, Royal Haskoning Ltd, Arup, Mott MacDonald and other consultants.

Industry collaborators

Halcrow Group Ltd

Jon Carey Site investigation and landslides.

Paul Fish Quaternary geology and GIS.

Gayle Hough Marine geology and sedimentology.

Andy Mills Fluvial and upland geomorphology.

Royal Haskoning Ltd

David Brew Coastal geomorphology. 

Nick Cooper Coastal planning and engineering. 

Mike Walkden Coastal modelling.

Arup

Mathew Free Geological hazards and tsunamis. 

Jason Manning Remote sensing. 

BP

Chris Martin Engineering geology and drylands.

Mott MacDonald

Peter Phipps Terrain analysis, coastal and drylands.

Consultants

Mark Lee Landslide risk and geohazards. 

David Norbury Engineering geology.

Histories, cultures, networks

This cluster centres around space and place in colonial and postcolonial worlds. Research is orchestrated around two interdisciplinary research centres: the Centre for Colonial and Postcolonial Studies and the Centre for World Environmental History.

Associated faculty include: 

Grace Carswell Rural livelihoods in eastern Africa; population-environment interactions; and agricultural change under the influence of colonialism. 

Professor Alan Lester The historical geographies of the 19th-century British Empire, and of South Africa, Australia and New Zealand; histories of humanitarianism and ‘race’.

Simon Rycroft Radical urban cultures in the 1960s; the analysis of such cultures from a counter/cultural perspective showing how they engage with ‘nature’; 20th-century cosmologies.

Katie Walsh The intersection of migration, home and belonging; transnational spaces and identities; British expatriates; and Gulf region.

Careers and profiles

This programme provides essential skills training and experience to professionals looking for a career in applied geomorphology and associated disciplines in industry and research. It offers enhanced prospects of employment in a wide range of organisations, including: 

• agencies and utility companies
• applied research organisations
• central and local government
• engineering and environmental consultancy firms
• international funding agencies. 

Paul's career perspective

‘As a professional geomorphologist with Halcrow, I work on a wide variety of projects, ranging from remote sensing studies of terrestrial and marine geohazards to field mapping of landslides and climate change impact assessments. I often work with integrated multidisciplinary teams of engineers or geologists, collaborating with experts from universities, the Met Office and Natural England, among others.

‘The new MSc in Applied Geomorphology at Sussex provides a highly vocational Masters or Continuing Professional Development (CPD) qualification for students looking for a career in industry or developing skills and experience in specific aspects of commercial work. The mix of field-, laboratory- and classroom-based teaching is particularly innovative for such a programme. You have the opportunity to meet practitioners and clients involved in high-profile case work and you get a real insight into commercial applied geomorphology.

‘Successful completion of the MSc will no doubt enhance your employment prospects if you want to join international firms such as Halcrow, operating in the earth and environmental engineering consultancy sectors.’

Dr Paul Fish
Senior Geomorphologist, Halcrow Ltd

School and contacts

Specialist facilties

The University offers extensive computing facilities with a full range of data-processing and communications software. Office space is usually allocated to students taking research degrees. You will have full access to the University’s main Library and its online collection, and to the British Library of Development Studies, at the Institute of Development Studies (IDS), which is located on the Sussex campus. 

Geography at Sussex has its own vehicles for field trips, specialist cartographic facilities and a well-equipped Soils Laboratory.