Geology

The MPhil/PhD programme provides an excellent forum for students to develop and enhance their specialist, as well as more general transferable, research skills. The programme allows you to gain insight into different research methods and to acquire valuable experience both in carrying out large-scale research projects and in teaching.

An MPhil/PhD is an advanced postgraduate research degree that requires original research and the submission of a substantial dissertation of 60,000 to 100,000 words. At Birkbeck, you are initially registered on an MPhil and you upgrade to a PhD after satisfactory progress in the first year or two. You need to find a suitable academic supervisor at Birkbeck, who can offer the requisite expertise to guide and support you through your research. Find out more about undertaking a research degree at Birkbeck.

Birkbeck’s Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences shares resources, facilities and expertise with UCL’s Department of Earth Sciences, thus offering you access to a unique, world-class research environment.

Our key research interests include: igneous petrology and geochemistry; sedimentology; environmental geochemistry and mineralogy; stratigraphy and palaeontology; structural geology; geophysics; palaeoclimatology; planetary geology; and earthquake studies.

Our key research interests include:

• clastic sedimentology
• earthquake geology
• environmental geochemistry
• geochemistry
• geochronology
• geomorphology
• geophysics
• paleoenvironmental analysis
• planetary geology
• seismic hazards
• tectonics
• volcanic hazards