PhD in Environmental and Geographical Sciences

University of Nottingham Malaysia

Semenyih, Selangor, Malaysia

Quick Facts

Duration

3 years

Mode

Full-time, On-campus

Intake

Feb, Apr, Jun, Sep

Tuition Fees

RM154,500

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Entry Requirements

PhD

A good master’s degree (usually merit or higher), plus an upper second-class honours degree (2:1) in science, engineering, or geography and environment-related subjects. Non-UK qualifications will be assessed against this standard OR
A first-class honours degree in science, engineering, or geography and environment-related subjects. Non-UK qualifications will be assessed against this standard

Faculty-Specific Requirements

Faculty of Science and Engineering: A qualification in a related field is usually necessary for admission to postgraduate programmes
Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences: Consideration may be given to those whose previous degree is in a different discipline if they have relevant work experience and can supply further supporting documents as outlined in the application checklist

Note:

In instances where additional evaluation is required, applicants may be invited to participate in an interview

English Requirements

IELTS (Academic): 6.0 (with no less than 6.0 in each element)
TOEFL (iBT) For tests taken up to January 2026: 80 (minimum 19 in Writing and listening, 20 in Reading and 22 in Speaking)
TOEFL (iBT) For tests taken from February 2026: 4.5 (with no less than 4.5 in each element)
PTE (Academic): 65 (with no less than 65 in each element)
MUET: Band 4

Notes:

IELTS (Academic), TOEFL iBT, and PTE (Academic) test results must be less than two years old
IELTS One Skill Retake is accepted
IELTS Academic Online, TOEFL iBT Home Edition, and PTE Academic Online are not accepted
MUET results are valid for five years from the release date
English language tests must be taken at a test centre situated in the applicant’s country of residence
International applicants who meet the University’s requirements may also need to submit extra documents or an approved English test for MOHE, if required

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Course Structure

Overview

Current research projects include:

Agro-tourism and community development
Atmospheric composition and climate variability
Climate change impact on biodiversity, conservation assessment of vulnerability of environment and adaptation strategies
Conservation ecology of large animals, including the Management & Ecology of Malaysian Elephants (MEME)
Conservation planning and prioritisation
Disaster recovery monitoring and assessment – remote sensing multi-scale approach
Distributed hydrological modelling: characterisation of watershed, precipitation, run off processes and hydrography shape
Geospatial applications and capabilities for forecasting river floods and predicting urban watershed; climate change and its impact of terrestrial ecosystems
Hydro-biogeochemical process and climate changes
Institutional responses towards community participation in natural resources management
Location-based crowd-sourcing data quality assessment
Machine learning for remote sensing image analysis and high-performance computing
Mapping and monitoring vegetation with UAV’s to enhance ecological knowledge
Optical properties of water from different sources
Remote sensing of intercrops
Social and environmental impacts of mining past, present and future trajectories using remote sensing, GIS and social surveys methods
Social capital and natural resources management
Spatially explicit modelling of ecosystem services for regional-scale natural resource management and land use planning
Sustainable intensification of agroecology for community development and agrobiodiversity conservation
Tropical ecology and biodiversity conservation
Valuing the ecosystem services
Water pollution and public health

Within Management and Ecology of Malaysian Elephants we have a number of sub-projects:

Development and application of molecular genetic tools for the management and conservation of elephants in Peninsular Malaysia
Development of adaptive management strategies for human-elephant conflict across Asia
Monitoring the effectiveness of translocations as a management and conservation tool for Asian elephants in Peninsular Malaysia

Research degrees with joint supervision from the Nottingham UK campus are also possible in a number of research areas, including: