Fieldwork can be one of the most stimulating and enjoyable experiences of your time at the University of Leicester.

We are proud to offer one of the highest quality undergraduate fieldwork programmes in the UK. It is also one of the best-funded (and if you want to know why we don't claim its free, click here).

Second Year Fieldwork, Spain

• The University of Leicester normally funds all fieldwork so the costs to you
  are minimal.
• Our staff are involved in field-based research worldwide, ensuring that our teaching draws on active field experience.
• Our carefully designed field programme ensures that you will progress from undertaking basic field observations to synthesising complex geological histories using both your own observations, and a broad-based geological knowledge gained through university-based learning.

Note. Different combinations of field modules listed below are available for students on each degree course – you should check the listing on each degree page in the pdf version of the brochure. Current field locations are listed, but changes occasionally occur in which case trips will be replaced by another of similar quality.

First Year

An introductory module forms the foundation of your future field experience. This is based on Arran, a Scottish island with more geological variety per square kilometre than virtually anywhere else in the world (if you have already visited on a field trip, there is plenty more to see!). You will learn in small groups, of approximately twelve students with two leaders, and rapidly acquire the necessary observational and recording skills through active participation in scientific discovery.

Between the first and second year your Introductory Field-based Project carried out in small groups provides a taster of independent fieldwork. You choose the field area, allowing you to develop your geological interests.

Second Year 

Our training focuses on the development of appropriate skills and knowledge to prepare you for independent project work. You will learn how to make your own advanced observations and interpretations in the field using the skills and information introduced during university-based lectures and practicals.

In Spain you carry out advanced field mapping and sedimentary logging exercises in an arid terrain and examine a range of sedimentary environments, whilst expertise in examining and interpreting structurally complex rocks will be developed in Anglesey. The Welsh Basin module examines the geology, plate tectonic setting and evolution of this Palaeozoic depositional basin. The Physical Geography module examines Europe’s only desert in Almeria, SE Spain.

The Independent Field-based Project carried out between the second and third years enables you to demonstrate your fieldwork abilities. This is an exercise in practical, deductive geology and forms an important part of the degree as well as developing your particular interests in geoscience. This project demonstrates determination, motivation, and an ability to solve problems based on your own observations, as well as developing your self-confidence and organisation.

Third and Fourth Years

Our advanced field training will develop your ability to evaluate interpretations. The format is similar to professional field courses with active debate between students and leaders to deduce the nature and significance of your observations. Many of our graduates use this fieldwork experience in advanced study or careers.

Third Year Fieldwork, Cornwall

In Tenerife you can study pyroclastic rocks on the third biggest volcano in the world. In the NW Highlands you can examine classic areas of British geology such as the Moine Thrust zone and the Tertiary volcanic centre of Skye. In Cornwall you can examine a classic area of economic mineralization and the environmental consequences of mining activity. The Environmental Site Investigation Field Methods module provides the opportunity to carry out geochemical and near-surface geophysical measurements on a disused mine site in Cornwall. Geography-Geology students can opt for trips to examine desert landforms in California or a neotropical rainforest environment in the Amazon.

Fourth year students can examine large-scale tectonism and the formation of the Alps in Switzerland, Italy and France, or carry out locally-based investigative filedwork.