Freshwater Quality Monitoring and Assessment (Online) MSc

Program Overview

This online MSc program in Freshwater Quality Monitoring & Assessment prepares water professionals with the skills to design monitoring programs, assess water quality, and implement quality assurance measures. Graduates will be proficient in data analysis and presentation, and will be qualified for careers in water management, regulation, agriculture, and industry.

Program Outline

Degree Overview:

This MSc Freshwater Quality Monitoring & Assessment online programme will provide existing or future water professionals with the necessary knowledge to design and implement freshwater quality monitoring programmes and to assess water quality. The programme is offered in a part-time, online format that facilitates study in your own time. It is useful to those already working in the water sector, including government agencies, and to staff in higher-level education institutes who wish to gain a specialised postgraduate qualification in surface and groundwater monitoring, quality assurance and control, and data analysis and presentation. Rivers, lakes and groundwaters are covered in detail and there is an option to study biological and ecological methods, the use of particulate material in monitoring and to take part in a field module during the second year of the programme. The final year of the programme comprises an individual research project and written dissertation. On successful completion of this course, students should be able to:

• outline the steps involved in designing a monitoring programme and the different factors that must be considered in each step of the design;
• identify appropriate monitoring approaches in relation to monitoring objectives;
• select suitable methods for use in the field and laboratory and perform sampling and analytical procedures;
• produce a quality assurance plan for a monitoring programme;
• analyse monitoring data using a range of graphical, statistical and GIS-based approaches and write a water quality assessment report suitable for technical and non-technical audiences.

Outline:

Year 1: Core Modules (30 credits)

• EV6001: Monitoring Programme Design for Freshwater Bodies
• EV6002: Quality Assurance in Water Quality Monitoring Programmes
• EV6003: Data Handling and Presentation for Water Quality Monitoring Programmes

Year 2: Specialised Modules (30 credits)

• EV6005: Monitoring and Assessment of surface waters
• EV6007: Monitoring and Assessment of groundwater
Plus any two of the following:
• EV6004: Water Quality Monitoring in the Field (field course abroad or in Ireland)
• EV6008: Water Quality Monitoring using Biological and Ecological Methods
• EV6009: Water Quality Monitoring with Particulate Material

Year 3: Dissertation (30 credits)

• EV6010: Dissertation in Freshwater Quality Monitoring and Assessment

Teaching:

Teaching is online with each module running for 16 weeks (10 credits) or 8 weeks (5 credits), with the exception of the one-week, full-time optional field module EV6004 in Year 2. This module enables students to gain experience in practical freshwater quality monitoring methods. Students are expected to spend approximately 15-20 hours per week on study effort per module, of which approximately 6 hours would be online engagement. Students are provided with a student email account and access online to the UCC library but will need the use of a computer with an internet connection, modern browser, word processing and spreadsheet software. Programme tutors will be in regular contact with students to provide support and advice throughout the programme.

Assessment:

There is one major written assessment at the end of each module in addition to minor assignments in the form of reports, reviews, exercises associated with data analysis and presentation, discussion boards, and Multiple Choice Question tests.

Careers:

This MSc is designed to give students a strong foundation in all aspects of water quality monitoring and assessment, equipping them to work in the area of water quality management in public or private sectors, including water and environment ministries, regulatory agencies, agriculture and industry. The programme will be of particular benefit for the career advancement of employees already working in the water quality monitoring sector.

Other:

This unique online programme is designed to meet the needs for more sustainable management of freshwater resources in less developed countries. This programme will support countries that aim to meet the targets of SDG 6 by facilitating the advancement of expertise that will contribute to a more sustainable management of water resources. The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) GEMS/Water Capacity Development Centre (CDC) was founded in 2015 to provide global capacity development in water quality monitoring and assessment to UNEP’s global water quality monitoring system (GEMS/Water), through the provision of education, training and expert advice.