Minor: Science

Study Area Description

This minor is designed for students with a desire to learn about astrophysics. This combination of units will give give you a rounded overview of all the fundamental topics of astrophysics and observational tools, i.e. telescopes, sensors and software.

Study Area Description

Geneticists and biotechnologists are involved in finding answers to many current and future challenges facing our world. The study of genes, their function and different applications of their products has led to significant improvements in food production, human health and medicine, and the management of wild biological resources. Ongoing technological advances are rapidly changing the way we view the biological world. Units in this Minor will provide the skill set to address real world problems to secure innovative solutions to emerging global problems.

Climate change is the foremost critical challenge to the sustainability and habitability of the Earth as we know it. There is rapidly growing demand for expertise in the science that governs climate and informs models of climate change - across the private sector, within many Australian government organisations, and in research institutions. This minor delivers a strong understanding of climate science and combines it with relevant knowledge about ocean-atmosphere interaction, insight into global change, sustainability and air quality and climate change mitigation measures. This combination is ideally suited to equip you with diverse backgrounds and primary interests to tackle the mounting challenges in areas such as sea level change mitigation, local climate adaptation, sustainable resource management and coastal ocean climate mitigation.

Study Area Description

Environmental management in the 21st Century has progressed far beyond pollution control and compliance monitoring, towards integrated solutions with multiple benefits across environmental, social and financial performance. This minor provides an opportunity for students to learn how to incorporate such solutions within their core discipline.

Study Area Description

Study Area Description

A set of units that addresses the interface between organic chemistry, analytical chemistry and biology, taught in the context of bio-active molecules, their origin, action and detection. This minor is taught at an introductory level and is intended to have broad appeal to those interested in the science behind medicines, natural therapies, forensics as applied to the sports industry and environmental pollutants, the biotechnology industry and the bio-economy. Two units cover the source of medicinal compounds, one focussing on chemical synthesis, the other dealing with compounds of natural origin, from sources such as plants and microbes. Drug discovery will be taught in the context of screening systems, the use of isolates from plants and animals, as well as rational drug design through computer-aided modelling. Drug action is addressed from both a human and a veterinary perspective, including an introduction to pharmacokinetics and environmental toxicology. Drug analysis deals with the common instrumental techniques and their application in the detection of drug abuse, drug residues and environmental toxins.

Study Area Description

As an applied science, ecology is used to design strategies for the management of wildlife populations and commercially important plant and animal species. The Wildlife Ecology minor will allow you to gain the broad range of scientific skills and specialist techniques required for understanding biodiversity, conserving and managing endangered animals, controlling pests and invasive species in natural and agricultural ecosystems, managing exploited populations and evaluating issues associated with the management of our natural resources. The minor is an extension minor for the Biology and Environmental Science majors. It will prepare you for further study, and equip you with the skills needed for employment in areas where ecological theory and practice is used to examine biological and environmental questions.

The following study areas have been discontinued or its version has been discontinued. Students who have already commenced one of these minors will be permitted to complete it.