Catchment Hydrology and Management

Why study Catchment Hydrology and Management at Dundee?

We offer an authoritative source of training for national and international students seeking to pursue careers within environmental and regulatory industries. Through a mixture of theory and practice this programme will provide you with training in aspects of applied hydrology, catchment management, environmental modelling (including risks such as flooding and water scarcity) and water law.

Facilities

The School of the Environment has recently completed a major investment in upgrading its hydrometric field equipment for use by SCM students. In addition to our already strong resource base in flow measurement equipment, covering ADCP, ADV, radar and more traditional impeller based instruments, we have now expanded our water level monitoring equipment to 25 instruments.

Fieldwork and problem-solving aspects of the course are being extended in 2012, with students being responsible for selecting, installing and operating their own sites and analysing the data from them. We have three experimental catchment facilites in Scotland, in the Cairngorms and the Scottish Borders, and students will gain valuable insights and experience through becoming directly involved in these projects.

Research-led teaching

Our experienced team of staff all engage in contemporary research and have considerable expertise in the science and regulatory frameworks affecting water management. Many of the academic staff on the programme are involved in the UNESCO Centre for Water Law, Policy & Science - the UK's only UNESCO Centre, based at the University of Dundee. The Centre is an exciting interdisciplinary centre providing many opportunities for water-related research in projects worldwide.

Field trips

We also provide you with many opportunities to put theory into practice with field trips to local catchments.

The video below shows MSc students from our MSc Sustainable Catchment Management and Remote Sensing courses measuring the flow of the mighty River Tay from Kenmore Bridge, Perthshire using an Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP).

This postgraduate degree programme will provide you with understanding and hands-on training in applied hydrology and catchment management. You will develop skills appropriate to a career within the water and environmental sectors, including technical skills in the use of hydrological and environmental modelling software, field skills in acquiring and subsequent analysis of hydrological data. You will also gain an awareness of the linkages between hydrology, ecology, legal and planning practice.

The programme will encourage you to think critically about the ways in which river catchments are managed. You will be trained in legal and regulatory aspects and management approaches balancing multiple stakeholders using case studies from around the world, part of a global network of basins built up by the IHP-UNESCO Centre for Water law, Policy and Science HELP programme. This management knowledge will be underpinned by an understanding of catchment hydrology, monitoring and modelling.