Climate change and human activity are having profound impacts on catchments. Increasing temperatures, more frequent and intense rainstorms, and more prolonged droughts are causing direct and indirect changes to vegetation, soils and rivers that affect water quantity and quality via multiple mechanisms.

This 5-day course equips participants with essential knowledge of how climate change affects water systems. It provides practical skills to understand and address the impacts of climate change on water quantity and quality at the catchment scale in terms of hydrology, geomorphology, and ecology and offers practical, real-world applications for managing water systems.

*Part of WWP MSc Course

At a glance

Course structure

The course will be delivered through a combination of lectures and group activities.

What you will learn

Upon completion, you will be able to (i) understand how water moves through catchments and the hydrological changes caused by human activities and development; (ii) evaluate how soil, geology, and river characteristics influence water flow and chemistry, considering vegetation and human impacts; and (iii) integrate and assess data from multiple sources to characterise factors affecting catchment processes in a case study and evaluate the impacts of climate change.

Core content

• Catchment hydrology
• Precipitation and evapotranspiration
• Climate change impacts on precipitation and evapotranspiration
• Soil structure, diversity and hydrology
• Soils, vegetation and nutrients
• Human impacts on soils
• Groundwater principles
• Groundwater flow through the landscape
• Groundwater flow to pump, water quality issues
• Climate change impacts on groundwater levels and quality
• Runoff generation
• River discharge and hydrograph analysis
• Probably – hydrological data and applications
• Rivers – geomorphology
• Rivers – water chemistry
• River process interactions – hydrological, geomorphic, chemical and ecological
• Climate change impacts on river processes

Who should attend

This course is ideal for professionals and students in water management, environmental science, hydrology, ecology, and land management, those working with or studying catchment systems, water resources, and the impacts of climate change on water quality and quantity.

Accreditation

Upgrade to a Professional Qualification

This short course is a module that comprises part of one of our postgraduate award programmes. Therefore, delegates are advised that they will be joined on this course by students from our MSc cohort.

Applicants have the option to attend this course as a short course delegate, where a certificate of attendance will be presented.  Alternatively, applicants may apply for this course via the short course for credit route.

Registering via the short course for credit route and successfully passing the associated assessment* will gain you Cranfield credits. These could then be used to apply for a transfer towards a PgCert/PgDip or MSc, should you wish to complete one of these courses within 5 years. For further information visit Accredited short courses.

*Please note that this may mean returning to Â鶹´«Ã½AV, in order to sit an examination.

Concessions

10% Cranfield alumni

Multiple booking discounts:

2 days @ £ 700
3 days @ £1000
5 days @ £1600

*Discount only applies to multiple bookings across WWP Course modules.

Accommodation options and prices

This is a non-residential course. If you would like to book accommodation on campus, please contact Mitchell Hall or Cranfield Management Development Centre directly. Further information regarding our accommodation on campus can be .

Alternatively you may wish to make your own arrangements at a nearby hotel.

Location and travel

Â鶹´«Ã½AV is situated in Bedfordshire close to the border with Buckinghamshire. The University is located almost midway between the towns of Bedford and Milton Keynes and is conveniently situated between junctions 13 and 14 of the M1.

London Luton, Stansted and Heathrow airports are 30, 90 and 90 minutes respectively by car, offering superb connections to and from just about anywhere in the world.

Further location and travel details

Location address

Â鶹´«Ã½AV
College Road
Cranfield
Bedford
MK43 0AL

Read our Professional development (CPD) booking conditions.