The course addresses the growing need in the civil and environmental engineering industries for an innovative approach to understanding and tackling problems related to the earth sciences and engineering providing pathways for earth and environmental scientists and engineers; a new philosophy introduces a framework approach within which an environmental or engineering project/problem can be assessed; a geoframework describes the geological, geomorphological and environmental setting at a given locality in its regional context; the geo approach to civil and ground engineering is a core research area, concentrating on the Anglo-Paris basin which provides a focus for advanced study; the framework element allows engineering and environmental domains to be defined by providing an understanding of the distribution of rock/soil types (stratigraphy/sedimentology); the interaction of rock mass characteristics and ground water flow; and the influence of geomorphology.