BSc Ecology and Environmental Biology (Including Foundation Year)

Our BSc Ecology and Environmental Biology (including foundation year) course will be suitable for you if your academic qualifications do not yet meet our entry requirements for the three-year version of this course and you want a programme that improves your academic skills to support your academic performance.

This four-year course includes a foundation year (known as Year Zero) which is delivered by our Essex Pathways Department, followed by a further three years of study in our School of Life Sciences. During Year Zero, you study three academic subjects relevant to your chosen course as well as a compulsory academic skills module, with additional English language for non-English speakers. After successful completion of Year Zero, you progress to complete your course with our School of Life Sciences.

Our course explores the diversity of the living world, across levels of biological organisation from genes to individuals, their populations and the communities they form, up to entire ecosystems.

Building on research produced in our School of Life Sciences, you will examine these concepts across terrestrial, marine and freshwater systems, examining taxa from smallest microbes to the largest organisms on Earth.

You will investigate the crucial role of biodiversity in supporting ecosystem functions and securing the flow of ecosystem services on which humanity depends. The strong theoretical, practical and data-handling skills you develop will help you to understand how biodiversity and ecosystem functioning are changing in response to multiple interacting stressors in the Anthropocene (eg climate change, chemical pollution and habitat loss). You will be equipped to design management solutions to tackle current and future challenges to ecosystems and have the option to train in tropical marine biology in Indonesia, as well as environmental biology and ecology on our new Arctic field course.

Sustainability at Essex

To learn about the initiatives and actions the University of Essex is taking to tackle the climate and biodiversity crises, visit our sustainability page.