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20260412890The PhD Program in Marine Chemistry at the Faculty of Marine Sciences, King Abdulaziz University, was established in 2014 in the boys’ section, initially enrolling six students (five international students and one Saudi student). In 2023, the program expanded to include female students. In designing the PhD Program in Marine Chemistry, the department committee considered the rapid advancements and continuous growth in the field of marine chemical sciences. The program’s vision was expanded to incorporate several modern scientific disciplines, while also recognizing the significant value of marine environments as natural resources. Additionally, the program aligns with the notable scientific and applied progress achieved by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia across various sectors and to be consistence with Saudi 2030 vision.
A distinguished academic and research program with sustainability and community partnership.
Preparation of educational and technical qualified personnel in the field of Marine Chemistry and its contemporary applications that able to respond to labor market requirement through the provision of advanced educational and research activities to serve the community. This program is designed to develop the students’ awareness of the role of Marine Chemistry in contemporary applications, together with the skills of logical thought and flexibility of mind that will help them continue their personal development throughout their subsequent career. The program lays emphasis on the fundamentals of the subject, whilst offering students a wide range of final year options that are intended to stimulate the versatility, knowledge and skills that employers look for in a Marine Chemistry graduate.
| Course Code | Course | Credits | Prerequisites |
|---|---|---|---|
| MC 701 | Advanced Analytical Chemistry | 2 | – |
| Description | The basic objective of the course is to offer the student a broad coverage of physical methods and to give him the ability to develop a working mastery of the measurement process itself. The course is designed to provide the students with advanced knowledge on different spectroscopic theories and applications including infrared, NMR and emission spectroscopy. Students will also be thoroughly grounded in gas and liquid chromatography and chromatography- mass spectrometry. The course will also provide the students with theoretical basis and application of electrochemistry in the analysis of trace elements in seawater. | ||
| MC 794 | Research Methods and Project | 2 | – |
| Description | This course provides the students with training in basic research skills and techniques in the field of marine chemistry including, scientific writing skills, time management, record keeping, qualitative approaches to research, project proposal writing, ethics in scientific research, communicating science, and database searching and handling. This course enables students to produce well-reasoned written and oral reports of a high standard, manage their time effectively and work efficiently to realistic time schedule, maintain useful and meaningful experimental records, perform research in an ethical manner, and use databases relating to marine chemistry effectively. By the end of the course, students will be evaluated through designing, writing, orally presenting, and defending a research proposal. | ||
| MG 702 | Marine geographical information systems | 2 | – |
| Description | The course aims to develop knowledge and understanding of the principles of GIS and how to use the methods for spatial analyses and map design in geotechnology and analytical operations. The course includes the principles and fundamentals of GIS, use of geotechnology and competency in analytical and spatial operational methods. Principles of map design and understanding spatial database systems and application. It includes also spatial information analysis and modeling, contemporary issues in GIS, digital mapping, spatial databases, research methods and data analysis, and applied GIS modules, such as biodiversity and conservation, GIS and hazards, mobile GIS, mineral and energy resources, remote sensing of the environment, sustainable environmental management and waste management and contaminated land remediation. | ||
| MC 711 | Statistical Analysis and Quality Assurance | 2 | – |
| Description | This course is designed to provide students with advanced statistical analyses commonly used in marine chemistry. The course will focus on statistical concepts and techniques in quality control, graphical methods for data presentation and quality improvement, as well as statistical basis for control charts. The objective of this course is to provide students with required statistical procedures, and techniques to be able to organize, analyze, interpret and summarize the data in a useful and informative manner. | ||
| MC 712 | Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) | 2 | – |
| Description | Students will be thoroughly grounded in environmental issues affecting the marine and coastal environments and will be provided by the latest updates in how to manage marine and coastal resources. The course will place a strong emphasis on the importance of understanding coastal and marine ecosystem structure, function and processes and how human activities and global change are affecting these, considering the socio-economic implications. The course will allow the students to develop the skills in the management of coastal zones by examining the available technical and analytical frameworks. The course provides knowledge on policy design, methodology, tools and techniques for coastal zone management and an understanding of the special nature of the coastal zone and demands made upon its resources. | ||
| MC 713 | Marine Environmental Risk Assessment | 2 | – |
| Description | Risk assessment is a critical element of environmental management. In addition to direct human impacts, environmental risk also implies threats to non-human species and entire ecosystems (the effects of which may in turn indirectly threaten humans). Planned emissions and unplanned incidents in the marine environment have the potential to result in adverse environmental effects if a discharge of hazardous material or release of energy comes into contact with sensitive receptors. Environmental risk management is the process of systematically identifying credible environmental hazards, analyzing the likelihood of occurrence and severity of the potential consequences, and managing the resulting level of risk. The benefit of risk assessment is to assist the decision making and planning framework for management of the marine environment. Course contents: • Definitions of risks, hazards, risk assessment • Ecological risk assessment • Basics of risk assessment • Risk-Benefit, Tradeoffs and Cost-Benefit Analysis • Risk Assessment methods • Risk Assessment: Exposure Assessment, pathways, models • Risk Assessment: Consequence Assessment • Risk evaluation and presentation • Environmental and Ecological Impacts • Risk Management and Mitigation Case studies: • Marine Ecotoxicology and Risk Assessment of oil and Hazardous and Noxious Substances Spills • Risk assessment of the coral reef environment • Risk Assessment to CZM | ||
| MC 714 | Marine Natural Products | 2 | – |
| Description | This course is designed to provide basic knowledge about the secondary metabolites obtained from marine natural origin (plant, microorganisms and animal source). Topics cover extensively the biological sources, chemical constituents, chemical tests, biomarkers in marine environment, and medicinal uses of drugs and other products obtained from natural sources. Moreover, the syllabus includes the study of different separation techniques and detailed spectroscopic studies including NMR, MS, IR, UV. | ||
| MC 796 | Special Topics | 2 | – |
| Description | The course is proposed to cover recent hot topics in various disciplines in marine chemistry. The coordinator of the course has to discuss the topics with members of department to select the topics according to the new developments in marine chemistry. The course could also take benefit from the presence of invited and visiting professors to give lectures about the advances in their research fields. | ||
| MC 715 | Geochemistry of Isotopes in the Marine Environment | 2 | – |
| Description | The course explains why the stable and radioactive isotopes are the most useful class of tracers available to geochemists and how the distributions of the isotopes have been used to study oceanographic processes controlling the distributions of the elements. The course also provides information about the use of radioactive isotopes for dating of sediments and water masses and to provide a way to put time into geochemical models. | ||
| MC 795 | Scientific Presentation | 2 | – |
| Description | The objective of this course is to enable students to develop their presentation skills and become successful scientific speakers. This course teaches students how to craft oral scientific presentations which is characterized by clear structure, substantial content, and effective delivery. The course covers all aspects of creating and delivering successful and effective scientific presentation. The course will empathize on skills assessment; presentation planning; developing and using visual aids; technology for presentations; and controlling the presentation environment. Basic roles for effective scientific lecturing, writing and poster presentation will be discussed. The students will acquire and improve their presentation skills through practical exercises. | ||
| MC 716 | Applications of Nanotechnology in the Marine Environment | 2 | – |
| Description | The course introduces the unique properties, synthesis, characterization, and behavior of nanomaterials in environmental systems. The course will also focus on the applications of nanotechnology (catalysis, sensing, pollution control, remediation) in marine environment. | ||
| MC 717 | Environmental Modelling | 2 | – |
| Description | Introducing the importance of environmental modeling, types of environmental models, how they are constructed and methods of testing their validity. The course will also deal with applications of environmental models and to what extent models may help researchers to understand interference between chemical, physical, geological and biological parameters in the functioning of the marine ecosystem and the capability of environmental models to predict spatial and geographic changes of variables under any environmental, natural or human induced, disturbance. | ||
| MC 799 | PhD Dissertation | 30 | – |
| Description | The student, in agreement with his supervisor(s) and with the higher studies committee of the department and in agreement with the research priorities of the department, an innovative research subject that would represent addition to our knowledge in the field of marine chemistry. The student will be prompted to present his research project in a scientific meeting organized by the department. | ||
Last Modified Date: 11/07/2026 - 2:48 PM Saudi Arabia Time
