Current course offerings

Please Note: Course profiles marked as not available may still be in development.

Course description

The coast is the most dynamic zone on earth and encompasses a wide range of beautiful and complex systems such as coral reefs, beaches, estuaries and lagoons. Over 80% of the population of Australia lives near the coast and is reliant on these coastal systems for employment, food, recreation, and protection. Being able to understand, describe, and predict changes in these systems is crucial for the management of the coastal environment. This course adds to the knowledge you have gained from other areas of natural and social science such as geomorphology, marine science, environmental science and management, and geography but does not assume previous knowledge of coastal systems. The course will build an understanding of coastal systems and the waves, currents, tides that act to change the coast over time. The management aspect of the course will outline some of the major problems facing the coast, some solutions, and some management approaches. In the practical sessions, you will start with basic features in programs such as Excel and ArcGIS. You will learn some aspects of coastal mapping and we will then work towards applying coastal change models and collecting and analysing data. There is no assumed background on any of the software (such as ArcGIS) in this course. The course is designed to expose you to industry standard software but it will not require previous experience. There is also a two-day field trip to North Stradbroke Island where we will learn about the coast and collect data in the field.

Archived offerings