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The major river systems that drain the Himalayas provide water that sustains the lives and livelihoods of a significant proportion of the global population, but a variety of pressures, including population growth, the motivation to stimulate economic development to alleviate poverty, and multinational corporate ‘land grabs’, have done, and will continue in the future, to place these resources strongly under threat. Furthermore, through processes of flooding, erosion and sedimentation, the Asian ‘mega-rivers’ also present a hazard to which riparian peoples must adapt. Water, People and Environment is a module designed for students who are interested in understanding firstly the relationships between processes of environmental change and their impacts on key resources (water, food, energy), but secondly the impacts of these complex changes on both the river environment and the people it sustains. The module is delivered as a residential field course and as such has a specific focus on an exemplar mega-river system - the Lower Mekong in Cambodia. Draining parts of China, Burma, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam and fed by the Asian Monsoon, the Mekong’s annual monsoonal flood pulse transports large volumes of water, sediment and nutrients that sustain (i) the Mekong Delta, SE Asia’s rice basket, and (ii) the most important freshwater fishery on the planet (the Tonle Sap Lake). These water and sediment flows therefore underpin the lives and livelihoods of well over 50 million people, many of whom are living in poverty. Yet the Mekong, like other rivers in the SE Asia region is undergoing unprecedented environmental change. Global climate change is affecting the river’s hydrology through an intensification of the monsoon and shifts in the tracks of tropical cyclones that pass over the basin. Population growth and urbanization, rapid economic growth, as well as controversial ‘land grabs’ that convert natural forest cover to rubber and palm oil plantations, are influencing catchment land cover (the vegetation cover of the Mekong’s drainage basin, which affects water resources and soil erosion). Meanwhile, the growing populations and economies of Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand are providing an impetus for the large scale development of hydropower. This is in turn regarded as a profitable opportunity by powerful (Chinese) hydropower construction companies which have already built large hydropower dams in other poorer countries. In tandem, scholars argue that the Chinese government is seizing a valuable opportunity to address the rising energy needs of China in order to continue the exponential industrial and technological growth. The construction of numerous large dams is already underway, and these structures threaten the Mekong’s biodiversity and ability to transmit sediment and nutrients to its delta. Projections of the impacts of these environmental changes are enormously troubling – the development of hydropower has the potential to reduce, by as soon as the 2050s, the freshwater fishery (the main source of protein for 3 million people) by half, while disconnecting the flows of sediment from the river basin upstream to the Mekong delta downstream may result in the delta sinking into the South China Sea as a result of rising relative sea-levels, affecting the lives of the 17 million people who live there. The implications for regional, and indeed global, food security as a result of these changes are uncertain, but significant.

Understanding the complexity of these processes would be partial without the inclusion of the human factor. The module, therefore, places equal emphasis on exploring the ways in which the riparian population interacts with their environment and in turn responds to environmental change. While these populations have shown remarkable resilience and adapted to regular seasonal variations, the processes discussed earlier magnify these challenges, risking stretching their adaptive capacity to the limit. For many, the key pre-occupation is survival. Migration is one way to adapt to the changing environmental challenges posed in this region, and migration can, therefore, be viewed as part of a livelihood diversification strategy and a means to enhance individual and family resources. However, it is widely acknowledged that migratory options and outcomes differ for poorer and more affluent people. For example, international migration is often out of reach for many poor people, who typically migrate internally instead. Such internal migration is closely linked to urbanisation and Cambodia is no exception. Rapid urbanisation in the global South with associated poverty and exclusion, along with environmentally induced migration and sustainable livelihoods feature as key concerns in the current – and, most likely, future – development agenda of policy makers at a global level. This module places such concerns at the heart of its content and practice, seeking to equip students with the knowledge, as well as the practical tools that will enable them to engage with, and influence, such debates as part of their potential future careers.

This module will, through a combination of tutor-led discussion and group project work in the field, cover topics that are central to understanding these complex issues; issues that are faced by other river environments in rapidly developing regions. Starting in Phnom Penh, at the apex of the Mekong delta, and travelling upstream overland to the city of Siem Reap, close to the UNESCO-protected Angkor temples, we will:

• Explore the relationship between environmental change and the physical response of the Mekong River (i.e., undertake impacts analysis to establish historical changes in water flows and patterns of erosion)
• Consider how the shifting course of the river affects the lives and livelihoods of riparian populations through processes of river bank erosion
• Seek to understand how individuals and communities may adapt to changing environmental hazards, including processes of migration
• Observe the ways in which local populations shape their environment
• Explore the political, socio-economic and cultural dynamics of local and regional development (e.g. through observation, key interviews)
• Employ models to investigate the impacts of future environmental change on water and sediment flows to the Mekong Delta, and the implications for the lives and livelihoods of the Mekong’s riparian peoples.

The major river systems that drain the Himalayas provide water that sustains the lives and livelihoods of a significant proportion of the global population, but a variety of pressures, including population growth, the motivation to stimulate economic development to alleviate poverty, and multinational corporate ‘land grabs’, have done, and will continue in the future, to place these resources strongly under threat. Furthermore, through processes of flooding, erosion and sedimentation, the Asian ‘mega-rivers’ also present a hazard to which riparian peoples must adapt. Water, People and Environment is a module designed for students who are interested in understanding firstly the relationships between processes of environmental change and their impacts on key resources (water, food, energy), but secondly the impacts of these complex changes on both the river environment and the people it sustains. The module is delivered as a residential field course and as such has a specific focus on an exemplar mega-river system - the Lower Mekong in Cambodia. Draining parts of China, Burma, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam and fed by the Asian Monsoon, the Mekong’s annual monsoonal flood pulse transports large volumes of water, sediment and nutrients that sustain (i) the Mekong Delta, SE Asia’s rice basket, and (ii) the most important freshwater fishery on the planet (the Tonle Sap Lake). These water and sediment flows therefore underpin the lives and livelihoods of well over 50 million people, many of whom are living in poverty. Yet the Mekong, like other rivers in the SE Asia region is undergoing unprecedented environmental change. Global climate change is affecting the river’s hydrology through an intensification of the monsoon and shifts in the tracks of tropical cyclones that pass over the basin. Population growth and urbanization, rapid economic growth, as well as controversial ‘land grabs’ that convert natural forest cover to rubber and palm oil plantations, are influencing catchment land cover (the vegetation cover of the Mekong’s drainage basin, which affects water resources and soil erosion). Meanwhile, the growing populations and economies of Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand are providing an impetus for the large scale development of hydropower. This is in turn regarded as a profitable opportunity by powerful (Chinese) hydropower construction companies which have already built large hydropower dams in other poorer countries. In tandem, scholars argue that the Chinese government is seizing a valuable opportunity to address the rising energy needs of China in order to continue the exponential industrial and technological growth. The construction of numerous large dams is already underway, and these structures threaten the Mekong’s biodiversity and ability to transmit sediment and nutrients to its delta. Projections of the impacts of these environmental changes are enormously troubling – the development of hydropower has the potential to reduce, by as soon as the 2050s, the freshwater fishery (the main source of protein for 3 million people) by half, while disconnecting the flows of sediment from the river basin upstream to the Mekong delta downstream may result in the delta sinking into the South China Sea as a result of rising relative sea-levels, affecting the lives of the 17 million people who live there. The implications for regional, and indeed global, food security as a result of these changes are uncertain, but significant.

Understanding the complexity of these processes would be partial without the inclusion of the human factor. The module, therefore, places equal emphasis on exploring the ways in which the riparian population interacts with their environment and in turn responds to environmental change. While these populations have shown remarkable resilience and adapted to regular seasonal variations, the processes discussed earlier magnify these challenges, risking stretching their adaptive capacity to the limit. For many, the key pre-occupation is survival. Migration is one way to adapt to the changing environmental challenges posed in this region, and migration can, therefore, be viewed as part of a livelihood diversification strategy and a means to enhance individual and family resources. However, it is widely acknowledged that migratory options and outcomes differ for poorer and more affluent people. For example, international migration is often out of reach for many poor people, who typically migrate internally instead. Such internal migration is closely linked to urbanisation and Cambodia is no exception. Rapid urbanisation in the global South with associated poverty and exclusion, along with environmentally induced migration and sustainable livelihoods feature as key concerns in the current – and, most likely, future – development agenda of policy makers at a global level. This module places such concerns at the heart of its content and practice, seeking to equip students with the knowledge, as well as the practical tools that will enable them to engage with, and influence, such debates as part of their potential future careers.

This module will, through a combination of tutor-led discussion and group project work in the field, cover topics that are central to understanding these complex issues; issues that are faced by other river environments in rapidly developing regions. Starting in Phnom Penh, at the apex of the Mekong delta, and travelling upstream overland to the city of Siem Reap, close to the UNESCO-protected Angkor temples, we will:

• Explore the relationship between environmental change and the physical response of the Mekong River (i.e., undertake impacts analysis to establish historical changes in water flows and patterns of erosion)
• Consider how the shifting course of the river affects the lives and livelihoods of riparian populations through processes of river bank erosion
• Seek to understand how individuals and communities may adapt to changing environmental hazards, including processes of migration
• Observe the ways in which local populations shape their environment
• Explore the political, socio-economic and cultural dynamics of local and regional development (e.g. through observation, key interviews)
• Employ models to investigate the impacts of future environmental change on water and sediment flows to the Mekong Delta, and the implications for the lives and livelihoods of the Mekong’s riparian peoples.

The major river systems that drain the Himalayas provide water that sustains the lives and livelihoods of a significant proportion of the global population, but a variety of pressures, including population growth, the motivation to stimulate economic development to alleviate poverty, and multinational corporate ‘land grabs’, have done, and will continue in the future, to place these resources strongly under threat. Furthermore, through processes of flooding, erosion and sedimentation, the Asian ‘mega-rivers’ also present a hazard to which riparian peoples must adapt. Water, People and Environment is a module designed for students who are interested in understanding firstly the relationships between processes of environmental change and their impacts on key resources (water, food, energy), but secondly the impacts of these complex changes on both the river environment and the people it sustains. The module is delivered as a residential field course and as such has a specific focus on an exemplar mega-river system - the Lower Mekong in Cambodia. Draining parts of China, Burma, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam and fed by the Asian Monsoon, the Mekong’s annual monsoonal flood pulse transports large volumes of water, sediment and nutrients that sustain (i) the Mekong Delta, SE Asia’s rice basket, and (ii) the most important freshwater fishery on the planet (the Tonle Sap Lake). These water and sediment flows therefore underpin the lives and livelihoods of well over 50 million people, many of whom are living in poverty. Yet the Mekong, like other rivers in the SE Asia region is undergoing unprecedented environmental change. Global climate change is affecting the river’s hydrology through an intensification of the monsoon and shifts in the tracks of tropical cyclones that pass over the basin. Population growth and urbanization, rapid economic growth, as well as controversial ‘land grabs’ that convert natural forest cover to rubber and palm oil plantations, are influencing catchment land cover (the vegetation cover of the Mekong’s drainage basin, which affects water resources and soil erosion). Meanwhile, the growing populations and economies of Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand are providing an impetus for the large scale development of hydropower. This is in turn regarded as a profitable opportunity by powerful (Chinese) hydropower construction companies which have already built large hydropower dams in other poorer countries. In tandem, scholars argue that the Chinese government is seizing a valuable opportunity to address the rising energy needs of China in order to continue the exponential industrial and technological growth. The construction of numerous large dams is already underway, and these structures threaten the Mekong’s biodiversity and ability to transmit sediment and nutrients to its delta. Projections of the impacts of these environmental changes are enormously troubling – the development of hydropower has the potential to reduce, by as soon as the 2050s, the freshwater fishery (the main source of protein for 3 million people) by half, while disconnecting the flows of sediment from the river basin upstream to the Mekong delta downstream may result in the delta sinking into the South China Sea as a result of rising relative sea-levels, affecting the lives of the 17 million people who live there. The implications for regional, and indeed global, food security as a result of these changes are uncertain, but significant.

Understanding the complexity of these processes would be partial without the inclusion of the human factor. The module, therefore, places equal emphasis on exploring the ways in which the riparian population interacts with their environment and in turn responds to environmental change. While these populations have shown remarkable resilience and adapted to regular seasonal variations, the processes discussed earlier magnify these challenges, risking stretching their adaptive capacity to the limit. For many, the key pre-occupation is survival. Migration is one way to adapt to the changing environmental challenges posed in this region, and migration can, therefore, be viewed as part of a livelihood diversification strategy and a means to enhance individual and family resources. However, it is widely acknowledged that migratory options and outcomes differ for poorer and more affluent people. For example, international migration is often out of reach for many poor people, who typically migrate internally instead. Such internal migration is closely linked to urbanisation and Cambodia is no exception. Rapid urbanisation in the global South with associated poverty and exclusion, along with environmentally induced migration and sustainable livelihoods feature as key concerns in the current – and, most likely, future – development agenda of policy makers at a global level. This module places such concerns at the heart of its content and practice, seeking to equip students with the knowledge, as well as the practical tools that will enable them to engage with, and influence, such debates as part of their potential future careers.

This module will, through a combination of tutor-led discussion and group project work in the field, cover topics that are central to understanding these complex issues; issues that are faced by other river environments in rapidly developing regions. Starting in Phnom Penh, at the apex of the Mekong delta, and travelling upstream overland to the city of Siem Reap, close to the UNESCO-protected Angkor temples, we will:

• Explore the relationship between environmental change and the physical response of the Mekong River (i.e., undertake impacts analysis to establish historical changes in water flows and patterns of erosion)
• Consider how the shifting course of the river affects the lives and livelihoods of riparian populations through processes of river bank erosion
• Seek to understand how individuals and communities may adapt to changing environmental hazards, including processes of migration
• Observe the ways in which local populations shape their environment
• Explore the political, socio-economic and cultural dynamics of local and regional development (e.g. through observation, key interviews)
• Employ models to investigate the impacts of future environmental change on water and sediment flows to the Mekong Delta, and the implications for the lives and livelihoods of the Mekong’s riparian peoples.

The major river systems that drain the Himalayas provide water that sustains the lives and livelihoods of a significant proportion of the global population, but a variety of pressures, including population growth, the motivation to stimulate economic development to alleviate poverty, and multinational corporate ‘land grabs’, have done, and will continue in the future, to place these resources strongly under threat. Furthermore, through processes of flooding, erosion and sedimentation, the Asian ‘mega-rivers’ also present a hazard to which riparian peoples must adapt. Water, People and Environment is a module designed for students who are interested in understanding firstly the relationships between processes of environmental change and their impacts on key resources (water, food, energy), but secondly the impacts of these complex changes on both the river environment and the people it sustains. The module is delivered as a residential field course and as such has a specific focus on an exemplar mega-river system - the Lower Mekong in Cambodia. Draining parts of China, Burma, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam and fed by the Asian Monsoon, the Mekong’s annual monsoonal flood pulse transports large volumes of water, sediment and nutrients that sustain (i) the Mekong Delta, SE Asia’s rice basket, and (ii) the most important freshwater fishery on the planet (the Tonle Sap Lake). These water and sediment flows therefore underpin the lives and livelihoods of well over 50 million people, many of whom are living in poverty. Yet the Mekong, like other rivers in the SE Asia region is undergoing unprecedented environmental change. Global climate change is affecting the river’s hydrology through an intensification of the monsoon and shifts in the tracks of tropical cyclones that pass over the basin. Population growth and urbanization, rapid economic growth, as well as controversial ‘land grabs’ that convert natural forest cover to rubber and palm oil plantations, are influencing catchment land cover (the vegetation cover of the Mekong’s drainage basin, which affects water resources and soil erosion). Meanwhile, the growing populations and economies of Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand are providing an impetus for the large scale development of hydropower. This is in turn regarded as a profitable opportunity by powerful (Chinese) hydropower construction companies which have already built large hydropower dams in other poorer countries. In tandem, scholars argue that the Chinese government is seizing a valuable opportunity to address the rising energy needs of China in order to continue the exponential industrial and technological growth. The construction of numerous large dams is already underway, and these structures threaten the Mekong’s biodiversity and ability to transmit sediment and nutrients to its delta. Projections of the impacts of these environmental changes are enormously troubling – the development of hydropower has the potential to reduce, by as soon as the 2050s, the freshwater fishery (the main source of protein for 3 million people) by half, while disconnecting the flows of sediment from the river basin upstream to the Mekong delta downstream may result in the delta sinking into the South China Sea as a result of rising relative sea-levels, affecting the lives of the 17 million people who live there. The implications for regional, and indeed global, food security as a result of these changes are uncertain, but significant.

Understanding the complexity of these processes would be partial without the inclusion of the human factor. The module, therefore, places equal emphasis on exploring the ways in which the riparian population interacts with their environment and in turn responds to environmental change. While these populations have shown remarkable resilience and adapted to regular seasonal variations, the processes discussed earlier magnify these challenges, risking stretching their adaptive capacity to the limit. For many, the key pre-occupation is survival. Migration is one way to adapt to the changing environmental challenges posed in this region, and migration can, therefore, be viewed as part of a livelihood diversification strategy and a means to enhance individual and family resources. However, it is widely acknowledged that migratory options and outcomes differ for poorer and more affluent people. For example, international migration is often out of reach for many poor people, who typically migrate internally instead. Such internal migration is closely linked to urbanisation and Cambodia is no exception. Rapid urbanisation in the global South with associated poverty and exclusion, along with environmentally induced migration and sustainable livelihoods feature as key concerns in the current – and, most likely, future – development agenda of policy makers at a global level. This module places such concerns at the heart of its content and practice, seeking to equip students with the knowledge, as well as the practical tools that will enable them to engage with, and influence, such debates as part of their potential future careers.

This module will, through a combination of tutor-led discussion and group project work in the field, cover topics that are central to understanding these complex issues; issues that are faced by other river environments in rapidly developing regions. Starting in Phnom Penh, at the apex of the Mekong delta, and travelling upstream overland to the city of Siem Reap, close to the UNESCO-protected Angkor temples, we will:

• Explore the relationship between environmental change and the physical response of the Mekong River (i.e., undertake impacts analysis to establish historical changes in water flows and patterns of erosion)
• Consider how the shifting course of the river affects the lives and livelihoods of riparian populations through processes of river bank erosion
• Seek to understand how individuals and communities may adapt to changing environmental hazards, including processes of migration
• Observe the ways in which local populations shape their environment
• Explore the political, socio-economic and cultural dynamics of local and regional development (e.g. through observation, key interviews)
• Employ models to investigate the impacts of future environmental change on water and sediment flows to the Mekong Delta, and the implications for the lives and livelihoods of the Mekong’s riparian peoples.

This course introduces the properties and mechanics of waves, from the derivation and solution of wave equations, through the origins of the classical processes of refraction, dispersion and interference, to the quantum mechanical phenomenon of the uncertainty principle. It will arm students with a basic knowledge of wave behaviour and propagation, together with techniques for their quantitative analysis and application to a range of physical systems. It will further provide a fundamental base from which to examine wave aspects of electromagnetism, quantum mechanics and solid state physics in subsequent courses.

This course introduces the properties and mechanics of waves, from the derivation and solution of wave equations, through the origins of the classical processes of refraction, dispersion and interference, to the quantum mechanical phenomenon of the uncertainty principle. It will arm students with a basic knowledge of wave behaviour and propagation, together with techniques for their quantitative analysis and application to a range of physical systems. It will further provide a fundamental base from which to examine wave aspects of electromagnetism, quantum mechanics and solid state physics in subsequent courses.

It will arm students with a basic knowledge of optics, including ray propagation, polarization and diffraction, and introduce the dual wave and particle characteristics of light and matter. It provides a base for further study of optics, wave physics and quantum physics in subsequent courses.

It will arm students with a basic knowledge of optics, including ray propagation, polarization and diffraction, and introduce the dual wave and particle characteristics of light and matter. It provides a base for further study of optics, wave physics and quantum physics in subsequent courses.

The aims of the module are:
- To provide students with the opportunity to improve their understanding of web application development, and cloud computing systems.
- To cover important techniques and issues in designing and building a modern web application.
- To acquaint with development methods and patterns which enhance maintainability and scalability of modern web applications.
- To familiarise students with relevant web development frameworks, and tools that assist developers in delivering effective solutions.
- To gain knowledge and understanding of cloud computing systems and their different applications and advantages.
- To familiarise students with the foundation of designing and implementing a cloud-based application.

Pre-requisite knowledge:
Knowledge and understanding of standards such as HTML5 and CSS3 would be useful. Familiarity with Internet networking and security, for example, familiarity with HTTPS also would be helpful.

Web development also involves the use of modern object-oriented languages such as C#, Java and JavaScript. It is expected you will be comfortable with using modern object-oriented languages and their relevant features such as inheritance, interfaces and asynchronous programming styles.
Students who have some minor gaps in their background knowledge will be given directed reading to help them catch up.
As a part of this module, you are expected to work in a group to develop a modern web application.

The aims of the module are:
- To provide students with the opportunity to improve their understanding of web application development, and cloud computing systems.
- To cover important techniques and issues in designing and building a modern web application.
- To acquaint with development methods and patterns which enhance maintainability and scalability of modern web applications.
- To familiarise students with relevant web development frameworks, and tools that assist developers in delivering effective solutions.
- To gain knowledge and understanding of cloud computing systems and their different applications and advantages.
- To familiarise students with the foundation of designing and implementing a cloud-based application.

Pre-requisite knowledge:
Knowledge and understanding of standards such as HTML5 and CSS3 would be useful. Familiarity with Internet networking and security, for example, familiarity with HTTPS also would be helpful.

Web development also involves the use of modern object-oriented languages such as C#, Java and JavaScript. It is expected you will be comfortable with using modern object-oriented languages and their relevant features such as inheritance, interfaces and asynchronous programming styles.
Students who have some minor gaps in their background knowledge will be given directed reading to help them catch up.
As a part of this module, you are expected to work in a group to develop a modern web application.