If you haven’t been thinking about it already, now is the time (or crunch time) to start brainstorming topics for an environmental science dissertation! Your dissertation will actively follow you for the next year of your life and become a part of your larger research experience once you enter the job force, so it is in your best interest to pick a topic that genuinely excites you!
Picking an environmental discipline:
Within the entire environment, there are many areas of focus that one can choose to focus on.
These may include, but are not limited to:
- Hydrology
- Climatology
- Ecology
- Botany, entomology, zoology
- Marine and aquatic studies
- Geosciences
- Environmental engineering/urban planning
- Environmental health and public health
The environment is ever changing and interacting, so you may want to choose a topic that overlaps one or more of these focuses or even study the interactions between the systems themselves. Think back to your favorite assignments or coursework that you got the high marks on and consider what disciplines they covered because that might be the ideal topic for you.
In addition to looking over past assignments, you should also review:
- Academic papers on any topics you might be choosing between to get an idea of what will be required of you for your chosen topic
- Your own personal values and how your research will contribute to the surrounding topic
- The work of the university staff who can possibly supervise your dissertation
Choosing a methodology:
Your methodology is what is unique to your dissertation research and will be something that no other researcher has done before. This can seem really overwhelming and impossible in the age of information that we live in, but it does not need to be as complicated as you may think it is.
Your methodology can be simplified by being:
- The same as an academic paper, but applied in a different location or discipline
- A specific mix of multiple methodologies that no one has done before
- A topic that has been covered before, but using a different piece of lab equipment or sampling method
- A replication of a previous study but on a smaller spatial or time scale
Your environmental methodology will likely look like some sort of combination of field sampling, lab analysis, statistical analysis, and modeling. It is not necessary to cover all of these methodologies especially just for an undergraduate dissertation, but the more in depth you can be, the higher the potential for a better mark.
Some of these methodologies may include:
- Soil, water, air, pollen, or other biomass field sampling and lab analysis
- Check out my topic on environment lab equipment to get an idea of what lab methodologies exist: Common Equipment in Environmental Science Labs 🌱
- Environmental and climate modelling
- Remote sensing temperature, land use, land types
- Utilize Google Earth Engine, ArcGIS, QGIS, or Python
- Environmental longitudinal monitoring
- Environmental impact assessments and Before/After Control/Impact (BACI) studies
- Lab and field experiments
Since the environment is all encompassing, you can feel free to also include any social science methodologies if it pertains to your research aims and enhance the scope of your research. You will also want to consider your own limitations in regard to the amount of time you have for an experiment, the resources and datasets you have access to, if you need access to a lab, permission to conduct field sampling and experiments, and your own monetary expenses or funding you will need for your methodology.
If you’re still struggling to come up with a topic, most universities will have example dissertations that have been completed by previous students.
Some of these example research topics may include:
- Biodiversity assessments of macroinvertebrates in different types of agricultural land
- Health implications for the presence of microplastics in fish species residing in the Thames
- The loss of ecosystem services of wetlands in the face of climate change
- Changes in groundwater recharge under seasonality in the Alps
- The impact of climate change on underprivileged socio-economic groups
You can check also out my own post about my dissertation work as a geography and environmental science student: My Dissertation Work as a Physical Geography Student! 🌱