Petroleum Geoscience
MSc and Postgraduate Diploma

Academic leadership: Royal Holloway

Founded in 1885, Royal Holloway is one of the six largest Colleges of the University of London and is home to the Department of Earth Sciences.

The Department achieved an 'excellence' rating for teaching quality and 70% of its research was graded as world-leading or internationally excellent in the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise (RAE). The RAE sees every UK university submit a dossier of their best researchers' work in 67 disciplines on which they are graded and ranked.

Academic staff

A welcome from the Programme Director

Hydrocarbons are a precious resource. Finding new reserves is becoming ever more challenging and the enhanced recovery of reserves from existing fields is becoming increasingly important. Well trained Petroleum Geoscientists with the ability to integrate geological and geophysical data, and to apply it on a variety of scales, have a vital role to play.

The MSc in Petroleum Geoscience provides graduates with training in the practical and technical skills required to address a range of questions, from understanding the distribution of hydrocarbons in sedimentary basins to quantifying the complex structural, stratigraphic and sedimentological architecture of individual reservoirs.

The department of Earth Sciences at Royal Holloway University of London has outstanding links with the international petroleum industry based on collaborative research projects. The distance learning MSc has been developed by a strong team of 13 academic staff supported by colleagues from industry and is based on an internationally recognised programme that is taught in Russia as well as the UK.

Looking forward to welcoming you to the programme.

Dr Gary Nichols