Applying to Read Geography
Course Structure
Preliminary Examination - Year One
The Preliminary Examination is designed to introduce first-year students to new concepts, ideas, and approaches in geography and to allow the deeper exploration of topics with which they are already familiar.
The Preliminary Examination consists of four compulsory courses relevant to both physical and human geography:
- Earth System Processes - introduces students to concepts in physical geography and includes lecture courses on 'Atmosphere', 'Biosphere', and 'Lithosphere'.
- Human Geography - introduces students to concepts in human geography and includes lecture courses on 'Economy and Transformation', 'Territories and Identities', and 'Culture and Society'.
- Geographical Controversies - a study of geographical controversies past and present emphasising critical understanding of the use of evidence and data in geographical argument.
- Geographical Techniques - introduces students to the theoretical and practical aspects of geographical techniques used in both human and physical geography, and includes lecture courses on 'Earth Observation', 'Quantitative Methods' and 'Qualitative Techniques'. Students will also attend short UK based fieldtrips.
Assessment
At the end of the first year students sit four written exams based on the above courses.
Final Honour School - Years Two and Three
The Final Honour School gives second and third year students the opportunity to specialise and tailor their degree to suit their own interests and is taught through a mixture of lectures, tutorials, seminars, workshops and practicals.
The Final Honour School comprises the 'Geographical Research' core subject, two foundational core subjects, three optional subjects, a dissertation and a fieldwork report.
Core Subjects
- Geographical Research - this compulsory lecture course underpins the Final Honour School by addressing the relation between conceptual and methodological issues and the practice of research.
- Foundational Courses - these provide a foundation for the option courses by addressing the core theoretical debates and major current issues in each part of the discipline. Students choose two of the following three courses:
- Space, Place and Society
This foundational course provides a human geographical perspective on space, place and society, taking account of relevant and major concepts in geographical thought, and acknowledging differing theoretical approaches. This course builds upon the Preliminary Examination 'Human Geography' course, developing the three themes introduced in the first year in more nuanced ways, at a variety of scales and with a stronger engagement with contemporary theoretical perspectives and debates. The focus of the course will be framed by three broad themes:
- 'Economy and Development' explores the dynamic spatial relations between economy and society with a particular emphasis on processes and practices of development and transition.
- 'Power and Politics' explores the complex relation between spaces and political processes at scales ranging from the global, to the urban, to the bodily. These relations will be explored through themes including race, class, and gender.
- 'Movement and Mobilities' explores movement as a constitutive process shaping contemporary spaces and places. Particular emphasis will be placed on the technologically mediated experiences of migration and travel in the modern world.
Some of the questions this foundational course considers are:
- What are the contemporary spaces of development and how do they differ from those of the past?
- In what sense is there now a world city network?
- To what extent is modernity defined by the experience of mobility?
- How might a politics of place contribute to new relations of responsibility, care and solidarity in a globalising world?
- How are the tensions between movement and security managed at national borders?
- Earth System Dynamics
This foundational course provides a comprehensive assessment of earth systems dynamics based on the research expertise in the department, cutting across a range of temporal and spatial scales. It builds upon core physical geography material delivered in the Preliminary Examination and utilises and amplifies some of the key concepts introduced in the 'Geographical Research' course.
The course begins by exploring the driving forces of climatic change at tectonic, orbital and millennial scales. The dynamics and change occurring in climate systems, ecosystems, and geomorphological systems are then explored. Finally the course considers the interlinkages between all these components within the overall earth system.
Some of the questions this foundational course considers are:
- What is the role of feedbacks within the earth system as drivers of environmental change over orbital and millennial timescales?
- What is the role of the global hydrological cycle in past and present climate change?
- How do geomorphic systems respond to climatic change century to millennial timescales?
- Which landscapes will be most sensitive to geomorphological change as a result of future greenhouse gas-induced warming?
- What is the importance of the oceans to the present-day functioning at the global scale of climate and terrestrial ecology?
- Environmental Geography
This foundational course provides an interdisciplinary approach to environmental issues, environmental policy and management. The course is empirically-focused and draws upon some of the concepts and theories introduced in the 'Geographical Research' course. Both physical and human geographers are involved in its delivery and students will be introduced to both scientific and policy aspects of environmental issues. The course provides tangible evidence of the need for integration between the different branches of the subject. The nature of current and future environmental change at a range of scales is introduced, particularly in relation to global climate change. A range of case studies will be used, which may include topics such as tropical deforestation, water resources, land degradation, transport and energy.
Some of the questions this foundational course considers are:
- How can international trade be managed so as to minimise impacts and maximise benefits to the environment?
- What are the key scientific uncertainties involved in the successful and sustainable management of common property resources?
- What methods and theories are most useful in predicting land use change over the next 20 years?
- What are the scientific debates surrounding geoengineering solutions to climate change?
- What might be the impacts of future climate change on flow and water availability?
- Space, Place and Society
Optional Subjects
Students choose three optional subjects from the following list:
African Societies - This optional subject aims to explain the continued pattern of social and spatial inequalities in twenty-first century Africa. The key questions posed are: why has Africa suffered disproportionately from international economic crises and continues to be dependent on external assistance? What are the historical foundations of the struggles over resources, political freedom, and other issues of social and economic transformation? What commonalities and differences exist socially and across space and what are the conditions for African renewal in the 21st Century?
Biogeography - The aims of this optional subject are to provide a firm grounding in biogeographical concepts, processes and patterns and to develop a critical understanding of the biogeographical theory relating to the conservation of nature via a programme of lectures and small group tutorial discussions. Students develop skills in communicating ideas in biogeography through the submitted work associated with the option.
Climate Change: Impacts and Adaptations - This optional subject aims to build on first year climatology teaching and provide students with a deeper / wider knowledge of: the operation of the climate system, how it is studied, how the climate of the recent past has varied, and how we can predict climates of the future.
Dryland Environments - Over 40 percent of the earth's land surface, and perhaps as much as 47 percent, is dry-sub-humid, semi-arid, arid or hyper-arid, supporting a human population of around 850 million. This optional subject aims to provide students with a strong grounding in the environmental (principally geomorphological) processes operating in drylands, their controls, and their temporal and spatial dynamics.
Forensic Geography - This optional subject comprises an introductory course on forensic geography and includes lectures which cover the definition of forensic geography, its historical review, the philosophical framework of the subject, matters concerning the provenance of trace materials (including sediments, soils, DNA, fingerprints, etc.), and reviews of geographical crime mapping and serial killer profiling. The option is presented with real life case studies in forensic geography. A further lecture course entitled 'Ideas in Forensic Geography' complements the introductory course and relates to the application of the philosophy, provenance and tenacity of trace evidence and profiling materials to the legal framework.
Geographies of Finance - This optional subject introduces students to the vocabulary of finance, drawing on the cutting edge of research relating to the global financial system, financial centres, financial globalisation, and their geographical footprint. It addresses, among others, the following questions: what institutions need to underlie a sound financial system? How are financial centres created, how do they grow and decline, and how do they compete with each other? What are the costs and benefits of financial globalisation?
Geography of Post-Communist Russia and East Central Europe - This optional subject covers topics such as: theories of 'transition' and the different paths followed by post-communist countries; ethnicity as a process reshaping the political social geography of the region at a variety of spatial scales; the emergence of 'new spaces' of post-socialism in Russia and East central Europe: for example, world / global cities, export-based regions; regions and spaces of exclusion in post-communist countries; the dynamics of centre-periphery relations and the different regional trajectories in and between the countries of the region; integrative processes in relation to the European Union; and environmental issues and problems in the post-socialist states.
Heritage, Conservation and Management - This optional subject introduces students to the growing field of heritage research, illustrating the ways in which science and social science contribute to understanding and protecting heritage. The focus will be on the identification, management and conservation of various forms of natural and cultural heritage at local, national and global scales. We will concentrate on geoconservation and cultural heritage conservation, with some consideration of biodiversity conservation where relevant.
Political Geography of European Integration - This optional subject explores the origins and development of the European Union since 1957 and examines the present structure and policies of the Union with respect to a number of geographical issues, including agriculture, regional development, economic restructuring and migration policy. The role of the European Union in its wider region is considered through examination of its foreign policy goals and its trade and aid policies with the developing world.
The Quaternary Period - This optional subject explores causes of global climate change, key environmental archives which provide evidence for climate change, and central spatial and temporal themes in Quaternary research. A range of related aspects are also discussed including methods of dating (geochronology), the nature of the stratigraphic record, applications of global climate modelling, sea level change and linkages between tectonics and environmental evolution.
Spaces of Politics - This optional subject aims to provide an introduction to recent empirical and theoretical approaches to the study of political practice in geography and related fields. As well as parliaments, international organisations and the mass media, the option will examine the changing importance of a range of less conventional sites of contemporary politics, including research laboratories, hospitals, farms, mines, public squares and the internet, as well as a range of political practices and forms such as public consultation and debate, direct action, art, opinion polls, and documentary film making.
Transport - The quality of the transport system affects all people, both directly in terms of the ease of getting around and indirectly in terms of the externalities imposed by transport on society (e.g. accidents, pollution and the use of resources). The problems caused by transport in cities and regions will be debated from different political, cultural and ideological perspectives, so that an understanding of the complexities of the processes can be obtained.
Please note that the optional subjects list is subject to change each year. There are no restrictions on the combination of courses chosen.
Each optional subject is taught through a combination of lectures, seminars and small classes. There is a written examination for each subject and students are also required to submit an extended essay for each.
Dissertation
The dissertation is an important component of the degree - it gives students the opportunity to undertake their own piece of original research which they write up as a 12,000 word dissertation. The dissertation may be on any topic, as long as it is geographical in nature. Students start planning their dissertations during their second year and usually spend the summer vacation doing the research and writing up.
Assessment
The Final Honour School is assessed as follows:
- One written exam on the 'Geographical Research' paper;
- Two written exams - one for each of the 'Foundational Courses';
- Three written exams - one for each of the 'Optional Subjects';
- Three extended essays, one for each of the 'Optional Subjects', of 5,000 words each;
- One geographical dissertation of 12,000 words; and
- One fieldwork report.