Opportunities with degrees in Oceanography

A degree from the University of Southampton in either 'Oceanography with a basic science' or 'Oceanography Single Honours' will provide a graduate with skills that will prepare them for a variety of careers. The skills will vary depending upon the degree course followed. Many graduate jobs working in the marine sector start out as temporary one-year contracts, offering job flexibility to both the employer and employee. Whilst this sounds insecure, in reality many contracts are renewed, can continue for several years and may turn into permanent jobs in time. Monitoring agencies are more likely to recruit permanent staff without a short term contract phase. Commercial consultancies recruit according to market demand and their success in obtaining work in the short term.

Graduates are not restricted to work in the marine sector. The degrees offered provide training in skills such as written and oral communication, computer literacy, information analysis and problem solving, time management and numeracy.

Graduates who wish to continue in the University or academic sector will find that a Southampton degree is well regarded and that Universities employ graduates as technicians or research assistants to assist in teaching and research. Graduates who go on to undertake research leading to a PhD are employable as research fellows and lecturers.

Marine Biology with Oceanography

Opportunities open to Marine Biology with Oceanography graduates fall roughly under six headings:

Government Laboratories / Agencies: Oceanography with Marine Biology graduates may find employment with:

  • the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) in science administration and policy implementation at either the Chief Scientists Group in London or within the Marine Fisheries Agency.
  • the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (CEFAS), an agency that comprises the old Ministry for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food fisheries laboratories, employs graduates and provides much of the scientific fisheries and environmental advice to government in England and Wales.
  • The Scottish Office Agriculture, Environment Fisheries Department, which does similar work to DEFRA and CEFAS but operates in Scotland.
  • the Environment Agency, which has responsibility for environmental quality and is run on a regional basis and employs marine scientists to monitor coastal waters for pollution and manage salmon and eel fisheries in England and Wales.
  • sea fisheries Committees which manage inshore fisheries and may employ graduates as fishery protection officers.
  • museums throughout the UK who employ graduates in a variety of roles.

Nature Conservation: There are a variety of nature conservation bodies such as:

  • English Nature and Scottish Heritage plus their equivalents in Wales and Northern Ireland, the Joint Nature Conservation Committee, all sometimes offer employment suitable for Marine Biology with Oceanography graduates.
  • The Marine Conservation Society, who employ a wide variety of marine scientists.

    Opportunities are also available at times for employment with Wildlife Trusts (particularly those including coastlines in their area of responsibility) who require wardens and marine conservation officers.

Commercial Consultancy: There are a wide variety of commercial consultancy organisation who offer opportunities for Marine Biology with Oceanography graduates both in the UK and worldwide. These consultancies work in a range of areas providing data and advice to companies operating in coastal and oceanic environments.

Natural Environmental Research Council (NERC): NERC is a major employer of marine scientists in the UK and funds much of the work undertaken at NOCS within the research divisions. It also supports the British Antarctic Survey, and other research units both outside and within Universities. Many of these NERC laboratories are potential employers of Oceanography graduates and they also support many PhD students within UK universities.

Publishing: Many publishers, such as Kluwer, Academic Press and Blackwell Scientific, whose publications cover natural science subjects employ graduates as commissioning editors and in a variety of other jobs which need degree level scientific knowledge.

Environmental Organisations: Non-governmental Organisations (NGOs) such as Greenpeace and the World Wildlife Fund employ trained marine scientists in a variety of roles.

Oceanography: Physical/Mathematical pathway

The number of graduates each year in Oceanography Single Honours with a numerate background and a good grasp of physical principles of fluid dynamics is small so our graduates find they have skills not shared by many others. The two main areas of employment for such graduates are:

Government Laboratories / Agencies. Physical oceanography graduates can find employment in laboratories run by:

  • the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
  • the Environment Agency
  • the Department of the Environment
  • the Natural Environmental Research Council.

The work available in these laboratories can be either/both practically based (working on research vessels) or theoretically based (developing models and incorporating data into these models).

Commercial: Commercial opportunities for physical oceanography graduates generally fall into two categories: instrument design and manufacture; or survey. Companies offering such employment range from Fugro GEOS who have hundreds of staff to small concerns with perhaps only two or three scientists.

Oceanography with Physical Geography

Many of the career areas open to graduates of the Oceanography: Physical/Mathematical pathway are also open to those who graduate with a degree in Oceanography with Physical Geography.

In addition graduates of this degree scheme have found employment in the following areas.

  • Coastal engineering and consultancy
  • Local Authorities
  • Environmental consultancy
  • Interaction with planners and managers, in relation to catchment areas and the coastal zone.

Oceanography: Marine Chemistry Pathway

There are a range of opportunities available to graduates of the Oceanography: Marine Chemistry pathway. They include:

Government Laboratories / Agencies: As with most of our other degrees, graduates who have an interest in marine environment and its quality can be recruited by laboratories such as:

  • CEFAS
  • SOAEFD
  • Environmental Agency

Other government laboratories whose main objectives are basic or applied research in marine sciences include:

  • Plymouth Marine Laboratory, Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory, and Dunstaffnage Marine Laboratory;
  • the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton

Environmental Consultancies: Opportunities can arise for Marine Chemistry graduates in environmental consultancies, mainly those dealing with estuarine and coastal systems.

Oceanography with French

Employment opportunities available to other graduates from the School will also be open to Oceanography with French graduates. The Oceanography with French graduates will, however, have the additional advantage of being fluent in French and thus suited to living and working in French speaking countries, often bridging the language barrier between scientists who use either French or English as their first of second language. Bi-lingual scientists are well suited to work all over Europe and often become involved in translating both the written and spoken word.

Many oceanographic research projects are international and can involve collaborative work between English and French laboratories. A well qualified graduate in Oceanography who is also fluent in French would be ideally suited to employment on such a project.

More broadly, the additional language qualification alongside a science degree provides an excellent competitive background for a more general career in European industry or science.