GVMENVC: Environmental Consultancy

Module code: GVMENVC

Module provider: Geography and Environmental Science; School of Archaeology, Geography and Environmental Science

Credits: 20

Level: 7

When you’ll be taught: Semester 2

Module convenor: Dr Sarah Duddigan , email: s.duddigan@reading.ac.uk

Pre-requisite module(s):

Co-requisite module(s):

Pre-requisite or Co-requisite module(s):

Module(s) excluded:

Placement information: NA

Academic year: 2025/6

Available to visiting students: Yes

Talis reading list: Yes

Last updated: 3 April 2025

Overview

Module aims and purpose

An environmental consultant provides expert assessment for their clients (e.g. developers, industry, government etc.) on a variety of matters pertaining to the management of environmental issues and environmental compliance.

As part of a team, you will work to deliver a practical environmental consultancy project with the subsequent presentation of the findings to a panel consisting of regulators and practitioners from the environmental industry.

You will benefit from a genuine environmental consultancy experience that can be used as a convincing case study to demonstrate competencies to future employers.

Module learning outcomes

By the end of the module, it is expected that students will be able to:

1. Design a sampling strategy and undertake a complex environmental project demonstrating competency in working in a multidisciplinary, multicultural and equitable team
2. Present spatial data
3. Interpret and evaluate environmental data in the context of legislation
4. Present the findings of an environmental investigation to a client

Module content

• Meeting and presenting to a client (stakeholder engagement)
• Desktop study (site history, conceptual models, mapping, sampling strategies)
• Relevant policy related to new developments, and how they might be implemented
• Laboratory and field work

Structure

Teaching and learning methods

Teaching will be through a combination of lecture and group seminar sessions dedicated to group work, supported with computer practicals, laboratory practicals and field work. The balance between lectures and practicals will vary between weeks depending on the topic. Methods will be introduced and discussed in lectures and practiced during practicals and group seminars, where students will collect and analyse various types of data. Students will have the chance to test their understanding using real environmental data that they have collected from the field themselves.

Study hours

At least 50 hours of scheduled teaching and learning activities will be delivered in person, with the remaining hours for scheduled and self-scheduled teaching and learning activities delivered either in person or online. You will receive further details about how these hours will be delivered before the start of the module.