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Biological sciences, ecology, wildlife conservation and zoology are very diverse fields, and our teaching structure is equally diverse.
You’ll learn through lectures, small group tutorials, and practical work in the lab, on campus and on field trips.
Image: Borneo field course
You'll learn about theory in lectures and put it into practice in our new laboratories or on our award-winning campus.
Undertake biodiversity surveys in our new research woodland at EcoValley and make use of the collections in the Cole Museum of Zoology.
Claire Smith, Cole Museum of Zoology volunteer,
on teaching Zoology students to look after preserved specimens
Learning within the field provides essential knowledge and experience for anyone entering a career in ecology, conservation or zoology.
At Reading, we offer an excellent breadth of field work as part of the BSc Ecology and Wildlife Conservation and BSc Zoology courses. As the BSc Biological Sciences degree covers a broad range of subjects, students on this course can join their ecologist and zoologist peers on these trips.
We offer modules that are partially or completely taught out in the field. This is possible because the School of Biological Sciences is located on the beautiful Whiteknights Campus.
A winner of multiple Green Flag awards, the campus encompasses multiple species and environments in one place, including woodland, meadows, a lake and botanical gardens. This means you can learn in the field with no travel.
You will have the opportunity to complete your third-year dissertation with a field project. In recent years some students have arranged overseas projects, for example on sea turtle conservation in Greece.
We also offer dissertation projects closer to home, which might be based on campus, or at our EcoValley site just to the south of Reading. Other students have worked in Devon or with UK wildlife charities or trusts.
In your second year, you can take an eight-day residential course at the National Nature Reserve in Slapton Ley, Devon. Visiting rivers, lakes, meadows, woodlands and coastline, you will observe, trap, sample and record animals including mammals, birds and marine life.
Taking a placement will allow you to gain valuable professional experience in the workplace, learn new skills and increase your visibility to employers.
Our School has a dedicated member of staff in charge of placements, who can provide you with advice and support.
With all our degrees, you can choose to undertake a year-long placement between your second and final year. Academic research placements are also available. Alternatively you can choose to carry out a placement as part of the Reading Internship Scheme (RIS). RIS offers a wide variety of internships across a multitude of sectors, including research internships on campus or with external organisations. Internships run flexibly throughout the year – both part-time during the semester and full-time during the summer vacation.
The School of Biological Sciences has excellent relationships with employers in the field. Students in previous years have worked on industrial and summer placements at:
The University is keen that everyone's placement should be as useful as possible. Learn more about institution-wide support for placements.
Zoology student, Polly Bennett, spent her placement year at Woburn Safari Park working with both the research and animal-keeping teams.
"My placement gave me invaluable experience and helped me meet many new people in that world of work... The experience was great as I got to apply what I'd learnt beyond the university walls."
Polly Bennett, BSc Zoology with Professional Experience
You'll have the chance to carry out voluntary work abroad, allowing you to make a real, positive impact, pick up essential working skills and see a different part of the world.
Previous field trips, open to ecologists, zoologists and biological scientists, have been offered in Tanzania, Spain, Borneo, Java, Madagascar, Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands. We also offer a Marine Biology and Conservation field course to South Africa.
Zoologists have the opportunity to undertake a unique research-focused field course. Hosted between the University of Reading and the Royal Tyrrell Museum, Canada, the trip includes field surveys and fossil extraction in Dinosaur Provincial Park.
Note that places on field courses are limited and cannot be guaranteed, and that they incur an additional cost.
If you are interested in the possibility of spending a semester abroad, view the grants and bursaries information on our Study Abroad website.
