Protecting life below water depends on developing the knowledge and skills needed to understand, manage and restore aquatic ecosystems.
At ARU, students encounter these challenges through specialist teaching in marine ecology, aquatic conservation, water systems and environmental science, alongside interdisciplinary opportunities that connect healthy waters with pollution, biodiversity, climate change and responsible resource use.
Research-led teaching is particularly important: students learn from academics whose work is contributing to understanding and addressing the pressures facing freshwater and marine ecosystems.
Problem-based learning on protecting land, water and air
Our problem-based module, How can we protect water, land and air? builds students capacities to respond to contemporary environmental challenges. The module explores how science, law, government policy, and economic decision-making shape environmental protection at national, European, and international levels. Topics it touches on include biodiversity loss, water security, climate change, and food production. Students examine environmental law, compare different ways of understanding environmental problems, and practise balancing evidence, values, and conflicting interests.
Current Topics in Marine Ecology
This module is targeted at budding marine biologists and ecologists. With increasing human population, the marine environment is increasingly under threat from a range of anthropogenic and natural disturbances and, at the same time, provides vital ecosystem services that sustain human life. Through the module, students explore some of the most cutting edge contemporary environmental challenges and technological developments in marine science such as resource exploitation, energy generation and climate change. They have the opportunity to hone practical skills, recording and analysing data from marine environments using a variety of different techniques. The module is also designed to help to prepare students for employment in the marine sector by focusing on the latest developments in the field of marine ecology and by learning essential key skills.
Aquatic Biology and Conservation
We are living on a blue planet, with around two thirds of the earth is occupied by aquatic habitats. This wondrous environment helps to fill our lungs with the air we breathe, provides food to sustain us and regulates our climate. In the module Aquatic Biology and Conservation, students explore the diversity of organisms living in marine and freshwater habitats, from the tropics to temperate and arctic ecosystems. How do they survive and thrive in harsh conditions? What adaptations do they need to make in order to cope with changes to salinity and temperature? Through a mixture of interactive lectures, hands-on practical classes and collaborative discussions, students explore the behaviour, cognition, life cycles and ecological interactions of the wealth of organisms living in aquatic habitats; from microscopic bacteria, to worms, crabs, fish and whales.
Last updated: October 2026
To request additions, corrections or changes to the information in these pages, please contact: Dr Zareen Bharucha: [email protected]. Please use the subject line ‘ARU SDG’.