Planetary Science and Life in the Universe MPhil

The course encompasses several different educational and societal objectives:<br/><br/>Societal demand for multi-domain expertise to tackle the challenges posed by observing and modelling complex systems;<br/>The need to train postgraduate students with high levels of multidisciplinary fluency and team working skills; and,<br/>A demand for highly trained research scientists able to drive data analysis on feature-rich sets of data from diverse sources.<br/>The course has four primary objectives for the training it will provide students:<br/><br/>To develop students’ expertise in the techniques used to study planets, from the Earth’s deepest past to the solar system planets and on to exoplanets;<br/>To give students a working knowledge of the structure of life, its essential physical-chemical requirements, and its impacts on planetary environments;<br/>To ensure students get essential practical experience in running a research project in a team; and,<br/>To build students’ capacity in modern data handling techniques and convey an awareness of the wide range of academic and industrial applications of these skills.