A week in the life
Marine Biology
Student profile:
Course: BSc (Hons) Marine Biology
Living arrangements: I live in a shared flat in Southsea, near Kings Theatre with 3 other people.
Current timetable
No. of hours scheduled in lectures per week: 6 hours
No. of hours scheduled in seminars per week: 2 hours
No. of hours scheduled in labs/specialist spaces per week: Avg. 3 hours
Approximate amount of hours allocated to independent study per week: 8-12 hours
Monday
I started the day pretty relaxed with a late start, as I was still tired from the weekend spent climbing in Portland with the Climbing Club. Later on, a few friends on my course and myself went for a long walk in the South Downs before coming back and writing a to-do list of priorities and tasks for the week ahead as I had a couple deadlines coming up. I used my Google Calendar to have a look at when I would be able to do my independent research around my University timetable, as well as when I could potentially go to the gym and see friends in the week.
After this was done, I spent the rest of the afternoon catching up on lecture notes I had missed last week for the Marine Ecophysiology module. In the evening I went to the weekly pub quiz with my housemates.
Tuesday
This was a particularly full university day for me. Our first lecture was 0900-1100 at the Institute of Marine Sciences (IMS). The lecture was on chemosynthetic organisms as well as a brief from our lecturer about the lab work we would be doing that Friday.
Because we had a seminar 1300-1400, we stayed at the IMS, and completed our group research task exploring the life history, ecology and behaviour of Sawfish.
After the seminar, I had a quick meeting with my assignment supervisor. For this assignment we have to write a Grant Proposal on our own project idea based on various topics - mine is based on Mangrove Forest restoration in Indonesia. We discussed ideas in the meeting and I asked questions that I was stuck on.
The 1500—1700 lecture was following on from the seminar earlier, for Marine Conservation and Ecology Module. In particular this lecture was on Marine Megafauna. Finally, after a busy day of uni, I came home and chilled with my housemates for the rest of the evening.
Wednesday
I had a work shift as an ambassador for the University’s Outreach Team. For this shift we went into a local school in Portsmouth to help deliver a workshop on identity for their PSHE day. The shift was finished by midday, so after lunch I went to the gym to train at the climbing wall. I then met some course friends in the University library to work on our current assignment.
Thursday
I had planned Thursday for this to be an independent study day, and spent the morning working on my Grant Proposal assignment, researching literature on other restoration projects to base my grant on.
In the afternoon I began to look at my other assignment, which is to create a poster on Microplastics and how they can be vectors for transporting pathogens in the marine environment. After a long day of research, I spent the evening having a movie night with friends.
Friday
I started off with a 1000-1300 lab practical at the IMS. This lab was looking at Shore Crab morphology and ventilation, followed by a dissection - it was really fun!
The rest of Friday was spent chilling out after a long week, and heading to the supermarket.
Friday evening was really fun as I went to the University of Portsmouth Big Band gig with friends at a local pub.
Saturday
I decided to have a complete day off from any uni work. I went to visit a friend in Brighton - which is only a 1.5 hour train journey from Portsmouth. We had a lovely day, walking through the centre and ending with a beach sunset before coming back to Portsmouth.
Sunday
I finished the week with a lie-in on Sunday morning; a very chilled start to the day. Then after lunch, some friends and I decided to go to the library to work on our poster assignment. They then came back to my house and we made dinner together.
What do you hope to move onto when you graduate?
I am hoping to go on to do a Masters course in Marine Biology, possibly a Masters of Research (MRes) or in Marine Conservation. I'm still unsure which route to take at the moment. Then perhaps a job role within tropical marine ecology and conservation.
