The main reason many students choose to study with us at Anglia Ruskin is that the Cambridge campus has a long established track record for offering innovative and rewarding 'environmental' degree courses.

Our established courses include Animal Behaviour, Zoology and Marine Biology with Conservation & Biodiversity. A high percentage of our life sciences graduates go on to attain a job in science or continue onto other education or professional development courses. If you choose to study with us you can expect:



Flexible and up-to-date courses

We operate a flexible, modular system that allows you to tailor your course to match your career ambitions. Our compulsory core modules will give you a strong foundation in your chosen area, together with a range of invaluable transferable skills such as data analysis, biological statistics and practical laboratory and fieldwork skills. Our optional modules will enable you to develop specialist areas of interest.

In your final year, you may have the chance to assist a full-time member of staff with their research, culminating in your dissertation or major project. You may also be able to develop your own research project or collaborate with other organisations.

First-class, research-active staff

Staff are engaged in a wide range of research activities and have links with many external organisations. These include the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, the National Trust, the Institute of Zoology and the British Antarctic Survey. As well as a range of zoos, we have close links with Mikumi National Park in Tanzania and closer to home are involved with Wicken Fen National Nature Reserve and its wetland restoration project. We are also members of the Cambridge Conservation Forum, which brings together a range of conservation organisations working within and around Cambridge. The Department of Life Sciences has a programme of research talks and, in addition, there are many other opportunities for students to attend talks held by a wide range of other organisations in Cambridge.

Exciting field courses and field trips

One of the real strengths of our courses are the opportunities they provide for field trips and fieldwork. We have a large number of day trips in East Anglia, which take you to a range of habitat types (e.g. heathland, salt marsh, chalk grassland), to zoos, or to visit various 'environmental' organisations. These trips provide you with the opportunity to develop your identification skills, have a better understanding of habitat conservation, and to understand how the 'world of work' operates in the fields of animal behaviour and conservation. In addition to these local day trips, we currently organise seven different residential field trips in the UK and abroad. This enables you to see some of the great wildlife spectacles in the UK, such as the red deer rut on the island of Rum, or the superb bird colonies on the cliffs of the Farne islands.

Abroad you have a chance to learn to dive in the Red Sea, 'stalk' European bison in the primeval forests of eastern Poland or follow in the footsteps of the BBC's 'Big Cat Diary' in the Masai Mara in Africa. Please visit our Field Trips webpage for more information

What our students say...