Biology and Zoology - your questions answered! video transcript

The University of Derby's main site, Kedleston Road, viewed from the air.

The front entrance to the building.

Dr David Elliott, Programme Leader in Biology, in his lab.

My name is David Elliott. I'm an Associate Professor at the University of Derby. I also lead the Biology programme and I teach on the Zoology programme as well.

(We see a palm tree, a taxidermy fox, animal skull and a skeleton in glass-fronted cabinets in the Biology department corridor)

We have a BSc (Hons) in Biology and a BSc (Hons) in Zoology. Both of those courses can have an option of placement year as well where the student would work in industry for a year.

Who is this degree for?

(An aquarium within the Aquatic Research Facility at the University)

Students should study Biology and Zoology at Derby if they want to find solutions to the problems in the world and advance their own knowledge. But not only that but especially if they want to advance human knowledge.

(Microscopes in a lab)

Studying a science degree is about discovery. Whether it's discovering things that new for science or discovering things that are new for yourself and your interpretation of the world. We've had the industrial revolution, we've had technical revolution within information technology. We're now going through a bio-based revolution if you like.

(Rocks and precious stones in the Geology department, potted cacti)

There's this emergent thing called the bio economy whereby the solutions that used to be solved with oil and gas and chemicals, they are now being solved with biology.
So if you wanna be a part of that then that's a great reason to study these subjects.

If your love is chemistry, or your love is physics, you can take that and bring that in a unique way to biology. And you can be a biologist who's a physicist as well.
And so to me biology is the one science and zoology, the biological sciences they encompass all the other sciences. They're more complex and they require a knowledge and an understanding and an appreciation of all the sciences.

What skills will students develop and how will they learn?

Students learn through a variety of different ways at Derby. This includes your formal lectures, tutorials, discussions, etc. But a really important part of the learning that we do is in practice, you know practice-based learning. We do require all of our students to undergo 30 hours of work-based learning as part of that course. We help students in that way. We also expect them to have some independence in gaining those experiences.

What opportunities are there for students?

There's opportunities to get involved in the research of the staff, there's opportunities to get involved in the student societies. There's opportunities to get paid internship work with us here at Derby, there's opportunities to go volunteering and there's opportunity to do external things as well.

What facilities are available to students?

Students have access to a wide range of specialist equipments at the University of Derby. Whether that's the Aquatic Research Facility, the molecular biology labs, the field equipment, the microbiology lab, the insectary, the greenhouse. We have a lot of different facilities.

Who will students be taught by?

Students of Biology and Zoology at Derby will be taught by staff with a wide range of expertise. We also bring in experts from outside the university to make sure that what we're offering is relevant to the real world and the jobs that the student wants to do.

Biology and Zoology - your questions answered! video

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