16133 MSc Food Water Security Candidate's Guide Jan 2012

7/30/2019 16133 MSc Food Water Security Candidate's Guide Jan 2012

1/12

Do you want the skills and knowledge to make a positive

contribution to securing food and water supplies?

This MSc could enable you to ulfl

your ambitions.

www.aber.ac.uk/en/ibers

MSc Food andWater Security

Candidates Guide


2/12

MScFood and Water Security

Candidates Guide to TaughtPostgraduate Studies in Food and Water Security

Contents

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1

Food and Water Security at Aberystwyth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1

Careers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2

Course Content . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2

The CourseContent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2

The Modules

Structure o the Modules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3

The Food and Water Security Course Team . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6


3/12

MScFoodand Water Security

Introduction

This booklet is designed to help you make the best

choice o course and place or your post graduate

study. Its aim is to give you a avour o the MSc

Food and Water Security course we run here at

Aberystwyth University. We hope you like what you

see in this guide; i so please do apply on line via the

University web site (www.aber.ac.uk/en/postgrad/

apply). I you have any queries or need urther

advice, please contact Dr Glyn Jenkins (gmj@aber.

ac.uk), the course coordinator, who would be very

happy to help.

Food and Water Security at AberystwythThe MSc in Food and Water Security is an innovative

interdisciplinary course which ocuses on the scientic,

economic, social and political actors that aect the secure

production and distribution o ood and water throughout the

world. Drawing on three complementary academic disciplines,

this new programme will train you to contribute signicant

advances to the way in which ood and water security is achieved

across the technical, environmental and social spectrum. The

Aberystwyth MSc in Food and Water Security is suitable or you

i you have at least a 2(2) degree, or its equivalent, in a relevant

discipline and wish to pursue a career in this developing eld.

Eective ood and water security is contingent upon all people

in a given area having access to sufcient, sae and nutritious

ood and an adequate supply o clean water. Though in the

developed western world such actors remain relatively stable,

the same cannot be said in relation to the developing world.

This issue, coupled with the ever increasing size o the global

population and predicted climate change, makes meeting

the worlds demand or ood and water one o the mostimportant challenges o the 21st century. The MSc in Food and

Water Security is a response to this issue. It is the result o a

collaborative interdisciplinary eort by Aberystwyth Universitys

world class academic departments: the Institute o Biological,

Environmental and Rural Sciences (IBERS), the Institute o

Geography and Earth Sciences (IGES) and the Department o

International Politics. This multidisciplinary approach means

that you will be able to view the issue o ood and water security

through three unique conceptual lenses and draw on these ideas

to orm a comprehensive understanding o this emerging eld o

research.

Aberystwyth enjoys a sae, coastal campus which provides asuperb location or learning and leisure in a wide range o areas

with a vibrant international post graduate community. It oers

generous Aberystwyth Scholarships and International Excellence

Scholarships to help und your studies, and guarantees

accommodation or international students.

MSc, Postgraduate Diploma and Postgraduate Certicates


4/12


CareersDemand or well-qualied graduates to help solve ood and

water security issues is likely to rise in line with the demand to

double ood production and provide more water over the next

ew decades. This unique degree scheme will provide you with

the knowledge and skills or a uture career in governmental and

non-governmental agencies and charities, private enterprises,

and academic research.

Course ContentThe MSc in Food and Water Security is an advanced course which

capitalises upon the skills and expertise o local sta o the three

participating institutes. The course is made up o a number o

taught modules plus guided independent student-centred

study. This provides you with a ramework which allows you to

develop your subject knowledge, through pursuing specic

areas o interest, and develop your skills o original thought,

analysis, interpretation and reasoning. The Universitys excellent

library and inormation retrieval system, and close proximity

to the National Library o Wales, acilitates your whole learning

experience.

This ull-time course runs or 12 months rom September, and

is delivered through lectures, seminars, demonstrations, visits

and practicals. The course comprises two taught semesters o 14

weeks each, and your academic perormance is graded primarily

through coursework. Dissertations are started ater successul

completion o the taught modules and have to be submitted

within 15 months o your commencement o the course.

Course StructureThe course has a modular structure which can be seen in the diagram below:

Semester 1 Semester 2 Semester 3

CORE

Food and Water Security: Global PerspectivesCORE

DissertationCORE

Fear, Cooperation and Trust in World

Politics

CORE

The Water Framework Directive, Water

Quality and Hydrological Extremes

CORE

Food Security: Issues and Threats

OPTIONAL

Critical Security Studies: Contemporary

Theories

CORE

Environmental Policy and Sustainability

OPTIONAL

Food Security: Solutions


5/12


The Modules

Food and Water Security: Global Perspectives

(40 credits) - Core

This core module is designed to bring students rom dierent

backgrounds up to a common level o knowledge and

understanding o key topics relating to ood and water security,

and to prepare students in key methods or scientic or social

science research. It also links together into a coherent theme the

research and teaching o the three contributing departments.

The module includes two parallel programmes that are

taught through a weekly schedule o lectures, seminars and

workshops through semesters 1 and 2. The rst programme

introduces key issues raming and concerning ood and water

security rom a political, geographical and scientic perspective

(delivered by International Politics, IGES and IBERS respectively).

Teaching in this programme is through lectures and student-

led seminars, which are designed to introduce and develop

topics with students rom a range o academic backgrounds.

The second programme provides training in scientic and social

science research methods and techniques or quantitative

and qualitative data handling and analysis, in order to prepare

students to undertake dissertation research in any o the three

areas o politics, geography or biological and agricultural

sciences. As part o the assessment or the module, students

prepare a written description o their proposed dissertation

in the wider context o ood and water security issues.

Students present their ideas or projects at an

inormal, non-assessed project air.

Food Security: Issues and Threats (20 credits) - Core

This core module introduces the major themes and complexities

involved in maintaining ood and water security both in a

local and global context. Consideration is given to increasing

demands or ood, ood derived products and water in light o an

ever growing human population. While advances in technology

and transport have eased production and distribution

constraints they have also increased consumer expectations at

a global level. Ultimately, rom a production context ood andwater availability are dictated by processes and activities reliant

on energy derived rom ossil uels. Security is also dictated by

economics, political stability and cooperation.

Through 12 problem-centred seminars, the module will explore

a broad range o relevant research topics. This will include sh

stocks and aquaculture, land degradation and availability o

land capable o generating sustainable crop production, ood

energy conicts or land use, biological invasions, declining

water supply/quality, declining/expensive ood production

resources, broader environmental impacts o agriculture and

climate change impacts on plants/soil including ooding, soil

erosion, and nutrient run-o, ood supply chains, and ood

wastage.

Food Security - Solutions (20 credits) - Optional

This optional module shows how threats and

challenges to ood security are being addressed

through the application o our knowledge o biological systems.

It is designed or students with a degree in biological sciences

or equivalent. It is divided into several interrelated sections:

Improvementincropproduction:currentbreedingstrategies,

improvements in breeding technologies and strategies,

conserving and exploiting natural genetic variation,

introgression rom wild relatives, client participation in plant

breeding, breeding tolerance to abiotic stress, exploiting GM

technology, gene ow and risk assessment, mineral nutrition

o crop plants, crop protection rom pests and diseases,

reclamation o soils and improvement o agricultural land.

Improvementinanimalproduction:animalbreeding,animal

nutrition, disease and pest management, aquaculture and sh

stock management, mitigating environmental eects o ood

animals.

Changingpatternsoffoodproduction/consumption:low

input and organic arming systems, climate change and agri-


6/12


economics, biological invasions, resolving conicts between

bioenergy and ood, ood wastage, ood miles, ood saety and

microbiology, lie style changes and diets.

Impactofnewtechnologies:GPS,GIS,agrochemicals,next

generation sequencing.

The Water Framework Directive, Water Quality and

Hydrological Extremes (20 credits) - CoreThis core module is split into two sections. The rst examines

legislative developments within the eld o water quality, with

particular reerence to the Water Framework Directive. The

second addresses the development o approaches to identiying,

assessing and managing hydrological extremes; including the

use o the FEH-WINFAP sotware (conventional ood risk analysis

sotware). The topics covered are as ollows:

Thehistoryanddevelopmentofwatermanagementinthe

context o water quality and public health

TheWaterFrameworkDirective(WFD)

Theprovisionofcleanwater

Waterqualityandpublichealth:legislationandmonitoring

EcologicalaspectsoftheWFD

Wastewatermanagement:oldandnew-Waterquality

assessment and monitoring

Watermanagementintheurbanenvironment.SuDS:thenew

approach to drainage

Floodsanddrought(inc.oodconsequencesassessment)

Howdoweassessoodfrequency?-FEH-WINFAP

workshop

Futurepressuresonwaterasamanageableresource

Environmental Policy and Sustainability (20 credits) - Core

This optional module is taught in ten two-hour sessions,

which are organised within our thematic sections. It has been

designed to provide an advanced ramework or students to

analyze the connections between environmental thought and

related aspects o environmental policy throughout the world.The module commences by grounding students in the varied

environmental philosophies, which have shaped contemporary

environmental policy regimes. In the introductory session,

students are introduced to the key events, mechanisms, and

agreements that have shaped the environmental institutions

and policy rameworks that operate at various scales o

political organization. In addition to introducing these broad

contexts, the module provides more detailed exploration o

issues concerning environmental risk management, the nature

o environmental behaviour, and issues o environmental

sustainability and resilience. In exploring these key policy

themes, the module has been designed to careully integrateenvironmental theory, awareness o associated policy

mechanism, and an exploration o key environmental case study

scenarios.


7/12


Fear, Cooperation and Trust in World Politics (20 credits) -

Core

This module provides the core subject-specic training or

students taking the Department o International Politics

contribution to the new Masters in Food and Water Security.

It is designed to provide both an advanced level o training or

students who have already studied international relations at

undergraduate level as well as providing a conversion course or

those who have not studied international relations beore.

The module introduces students to the theory and practice o

ear, cooperation, and trust in world politics by exploring these

ideas in the context o historical change and transormation

in world politics as well as competing theories o international

relations. It covers the ollowing topics:

Theexistentialconditionofuncertaintyasastartingpointfor

theorising international politics

Therelationshipbetweenfearandpolitics

Fear,uncertainty,andinsecurityintheColdWar

Fear,foodandwatersecurity

Cooperationinananarchicinternationalsystem Environmentalchangeandresourcecompetitionasaproblem

o cooperation in an anarchic system

Thenuclearnon-proliferationregimeandthecontrolofthe

military uses o atomic energy

Trustattheinternationallevel

Trust-buildingbetweenadversaries

Trust,securitycommunities,andananarchicinternational

system

Critical Security Studies: Contemporary Theories (20 credits)

- Optional

This optional module provides a critical overview o the study

o security in world politics rom the perspective(s) o those

employing alternative conceptualizations o security to the

military-ocused and state-centric approaches at the heart o

traditional Security/Strategic Studies. Following discussions

o understandings o the orthodox approach to the study o

security, the module discusses, in turn, various constructivist,Critical Theory, Marxist, discoursive, poststructuralist, eminist

and sociological attempts to conceptualize the meanings and

implications o security in world politics. The dierences and

common ground between these approaches are highlighted

through a consideration o key debates, empirical cases, and

theoretical studies.

Dissertation

Progression to the dissertation or the award o MSc Food and

Water Security is dependent upon satisactory perormance in

the modules in the taught part o the course. The dissertation

is a great opportunity or you to study in signicant detail an

area that really interests you. Dissertations normally involve

the generation and analysis o original research data, and its

presentation in a thesis o up to 20,000 words. Ongoing research

within each o the three participating institutes provides plenty

o opportunities or dissertation work. Alternatively you may

choose to take advantage o our many wider contacts to carry

out your research elsewhere.


8/12


A selection o sta with a particular involvement in

the course:

The Food and Water Security Course Team

Dr Glyn Jenkins

Degree scheme co-ordinator and IBERS

academic adviser

Co-ordinator of BSM0240 Food and

Water Security: Global Perspectives

IBERS

[email protected]

01970 622234

Glyn is a plant geneticist specialising

in the genetic control o meiosis and

recombination in cereals and grasses.

Dr Malcolm Leitch

Co-ordinator of BSM0320 Food

Security: Issues and Threats

IBERS

[email protected]

01970 622925

Malcolm is a crop scientist with an

interest in the physiological eects o

chemical application to crops.

Dr Rattan Yadav

Co-ordinator of BSM0420 Food

Security: Solutions

IBERS

[email protected]

01970 823174

The ocus o Rattans research is to apply

molecular markers in trait dissection and

breeding leading to development o

improved cultivars providing sustainable

production and benets to environments.

Prof. Matthew Hannah

IGES academic adviser

[email protected]

01970 622782

Matt has an abiding ascination with

articulations between government,

knowledge and the constitution oterritory in the modern world.

Dr Mark Whitehead

Co-ordinator of GGM3320

Environmental Policy and

Sustainability

IGES

[email protected]

01970 622609

Marks research and teaching ocuson the intersections between

environmental and political geography.

He has a particular interest in ecological

governance and urbanization.

Prof. David Kay

Co-ordinator of EAM1820 The Water

Framework Directive, Water Quality

and Hydrological Extremes

[email protected]

01570 423565

Daves interests are primarily in

catchment microbial dynamics and

modelling, and recreational and

drinking water epidemiology.


9/12


Dr Jennifer Mathers

International Politics academic adviser

[email protected]

01970 622709

Jennys teaching and research spans two

broad areas: Russian politics and security

and gender and war.

Dr Jan Ruzicka

Co-ordinator of IPM3320 Fear,

Cooperation and Trust in World Politics

International Politics

[email protected]

01970 628673

Jans research interests can broadly be

divided into three main areas: security

studies; international relations theory;

and area studies with emphasis on Central

Europe.

Dr Kamila Stullerova

Co-ordinator of IPM1120 Critical

Security Studies: Contemporary

Theories

International Politics

[email protected]

01970 628792

Kamilas area o research lies at thecrossroads o three sub-elds o

international politics: international

relations theory, international political

theory and security studies.


10/12



11/12



12/12

Flexiblechoiceforstudents

Exceptionalsupportforstudentlearning

Coastal,campusUniversity

Guaranteedfirstyearaccommodation

BursariesandEntranceScholarshipsvaluedatupto3,900available

Excellentsportsfacilities AccesstoTheNationalLibraryofWales

Vibrantstudentlife

For urther inormation or i you have any queries please contact:

Course queries: Postgraduate admissions queries:

Dr Mina C G Davies Morel Student Welcome Centre

MSc Equine Science Course Director Aberystwyth University

Institute o Biological, Environmental and Rural Sciences Penglais Campus

Aberystwyth University Aberystwyth, Ceredigion, SY23 3FBAberystwyth, Ceredigion, SY24 3DP Tel: 01970 622021

Tel: 01970 624471 Fax: 01970 627410

Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected]

161

33-11.1

1

How can I fnd out more?Please contact:

Dr Glyn Jenkins ([email protected])

MSc Food and Water Security

Course Coordinator

or

Michelle Allen ([email protected] )

IBERS Postgraduate Admissions Ofcer,

IBERS, Aberystwyth University,

Ceredigion, SY23 3AL

Tel +44(0)1970 621800

www.aber.ac.uk/ibers

The University reserves the right to alter

details of the courses if deemed necessary.

Why study Food and Water Security?

Innovative, multi-disciplinary degree scheme taught in world

class departments. Aberystwyth Scholarships and International Excellence

Scholarships (AIES) to help und your studies.

Superb research acilities.

Coastal, campus location.

Guaranteed accommodation or international students.

Excellent career prospects with a range o employers.

Practical course o relevance to the solution o global problems.

16133 MSc Food Water Security Candidate's Guide Jan 2012

Documents

Transcript of 16133 MSc Food Water Security Candidate's Guide Jan 2012