Earth Sciences

Around 6 undergraduates are admitted to study Earth Sciences each year Join a friendly community with Univ’s own Earth Sciences society

Earth Sciences is a fascinating subject that covers diverse topics such as climate change, the origins of life, and the composition of our planet, including its glaciers and volcanoes. Studying Earth Sciences allows you to explore fundamental questions about the origin, development, and future of planet Earth. At Oxford, the course combines knowledge from physics, chemistry and biology with geology, geography and palaeontology. There is an emphasis on Geology in first year, and afterwards you can pursue your specific interests from a wide range of options such as Plate Tectonics, Paleobiology and Climate Science. The course is taught through lectures, classes and tutorials, and also involves fieldwork. You will be assessed through a mix of exams and practical, take-home coursework.

Earth Scientists at Univ form a very supportive and tight-knit community. Univ tutors value the importance of fieldwork very highly, and several academic fieldtrips are typically scheduled throughout the course of a student’s time at the College – the College has a generous array of study grants to ensure that all students are able to take part in these activities. We have thought carefully about how to accommodate those with accessibility needs on fieldwork trips to ensure everyone can take part. There is also a specific Earth Science society in the College, Sollas, which arranges social events throughout the year for all Univ Earth Scientists.

What our Tutors Say"Teaching Earth Sciences at Univ is an incredibly rewarding experience. I particularly enjoy seeing our students arrive with little or no prior Earth Science knowledge and leave after 3 or 4 years as budding, highly accomplished Earth Scientists. That progression over a just few years is amazing to witness. It is also fantastic to engage with the students as they undertake their various projects throughout their degrees, including their mapping/geochemistry/geophysics project in the summer between 2nd and 3rd year, and the research project in the 4th year. These are the main ways in which the students are involved in research and have an opportunity to showcase all the new material they have learnt. Finally, seeing the diverse and rich set of jobs the students go on to achieve is also great." James Bryson, Tutorial Fellow in Mineralogy

Resources

If you are considering applying for Earth Sciences, a number of resources you might find useful to explore beyond the school curriculum can be found on Univ’s Staircase12 pages, including the Reading Bank and Resource Hub.

Also listen to Univ’s Tamsin Mather on BBC Radio 4’s The Life Scientific and on the BBC World Service’s The Forum The Unpredictable Planet: Understanding Volcanoes and Earthquakes

Academics

Contact Univ

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