Learning on location

We take full advantage of our natural surroundings to create amazing fieldwork experiences, in addition to the opportunities to travel the world with residential and overseas field trips.

Fieldwork is a fascinating way to develop your practical skills. You’ll gain hands-on experience of a wide range of environmental, ecological and geological situations that will place your studies in the context of real-world issues.

  • Switzerland

    You will select from one of six interconnected study themes to explore: alpine climate and hydrology; glacial processes; alpine rivers; streams; soils; and ecosystems. Through the collection of significant amounts of field data on your chosen theme, you will gain understanding of a particular thematic focus of alpine environments.

  • Carrock Fell

    Spend a week in the nearby Lake District World Heritage Site, learning key field and laboratory skills needed to succeed in the environmental and Earth sciences. You will collect primary data from a disused tungsten mine, and analyse and interpret these data to assess the present and future impacts the mine will have on stream water quality.

  • Italy

    Visit Mount Etna, Europe's largest active volcano, and study the complex processes that take place both on the surface and beneath volcanoes. You will explore many physical volcanic processes, including lava flow emplacement, explosive events and the evolution of a basaltic volcano. You will also evaluate methods of managing volcanic hazards on densely populated active volcanoes.

  • Isle of Mull

    Study geologic and geomorphological processes, and develop your Earth science field skills, during our field trip to the Isle of Mull in Scotland. During this trip, you will learn how to collect field data to make a geologic map. You will also visit some of the oldest rock formations in the UK and will learn about a wide range of geologic terrains.

  • Croatia

    The Istrian Peninsula is an idyllic landscape of olive groves, forests, wineries and beaches. This environment is strongly governed by its geology, biodiversity and position between differing climates. During this trip, you will focus on the challenges of environmental management, particularly of water resources, in this unique landscape.

  • Local field excursions

    Nestled between the Lake District World Heritage Site, Yorkshire Dales National Park, Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty and close to major cities such as Manchester, Lancaster is ideally placed to study environmental and geological processes.

  • Slapton Ley

    Our week-long trip to Slapton Ley in Devon offers a unique opportunity to study an important environmental issue, eutrophication, through fieldwork and laboratory analysis. Based at the Slapton Ley Field Studies Centre, you will study the hydrological processes which govern nitrate eutrophication of a coastal freshwater lake of ecological significance.