The School of Geography is part of the Faculty of Environment at The University of Leeds based in the UK.

History

The University of Leeds was one of the earliest British universities to establish a school of

geography Geography (from Ancient Greek ; combining 'Earth' and 'write', literally 'Earth writing') is the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. Geography is an all-encompassing discipline that seeks an understanding o ...

in 1919. Various types of geography, including commercial geography, had been taught at the Yorkshire College (which preceded the University of Leeds) and in the university

economics Economics () is a behavioral science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interac ...

department before 1919. This reflects an earlier and broader European interest in the use of geographical knowledge as an aid to national and international trade. The early, inter-war years were characterized by small numbers of staff and honours students, very few research students, and limited resources and range of topics covered. The school has generally expanded over the years and in 2011 has about 70 members of academic staff and a large number of research students studying a broad spectrum of geographical topics. The School of Geography is now spread over the Garstang Building, the Irene Manton Building, and the LC Miall Building, all in close neighbourhood in the southern part of the main campus. A celebrated historical geographer, Robin Butlin has developed a history of the school and presented this twice at anniversary celebrations. Hopefully some of this material will become linked here in due course. (Unfortunately neither of these presentations were video recorded.) In the recent past the school was the hub of a major

glaciology Glaciology (; ) is the scientific study of glaciers, or, more generally, ice and natural phenomena that involve ice. Glaciology is an interdisciplinary Earth science that integrates geophysics, geology, physical geography, geomorphology, clim ...

research group headed by Tavi Murray now based at the University of Swansea. Various notable people have worked or studied in the school including: Danny Dorling and Stan Openshaw; Martine Croxall and Piers Sellers. Other notable people are still based there albeit in an emeritus capacity including Robin Butlin,

Mike Kirkby Michael J Kirkby (born 6 May 1937) is a British geographer and Emeritus Professor of Physical Geography at the University of Leeds. Kirkby was educated at the University of Cambridge from which he holds the degrees of Bachelor of Arts, BA and Doct ...

and Phil Rees.

Teaching

One of the larger geography departments in the UK, with over 600 single honours undergraduate students, 55 masters students and 60 research postgraduate students in 2011. It offers a range of BA and BSc

undergraduate Undergraduate education is education conducted after secondary education and before postgraduate education, usually in a college or university. It typically includes all postsecondary programs up to the level of a bachelor's degree. For example, ...

programmes some offered in conjunction with other university departments, including, the Institute for Transport Studies and the School of Earth and Environment. A range of geography elective modules are available for students from any discipline undertaking courses at Leeds. It offers a number of MA, MSc and MRes courses, including both vocationally orientated and research-focused courses. Many of these courses are also available as Postgraduate Diploma (PGDip) or Postgraduate Certificate (PGCert) courses and are also available under the part-time study scheme. In addition to face-to-face taught programmes, the GIS programme is available as a flexible, part-time, on-line

distance learning Distance education, also known as distance learning, is the education of students who may not always be physically present at school, or where the learner and the teacher are separated in both time and distance; today, it usually involves online ...

programme in which students can structure their study around other commitments. PhD research at the school attracts students from around the world. The

postgraduate Postgraduate education, graduate education, or graduate school consists of academic or professional degrees, certificates, diplomas, or other qualifications usually pursued by post-secondary students who have earned an undergraduate (bachelor' ...

research community is broadly divided among the five research clusters. Each of these maintain a list of topics they are interested in supervising. In addition to those listed, the school welcomes applications from prospective students that detail their own ideas for research in a proposal form.

Research

Its aim is to be at the forefront of research, helping to tackle major social, political and environmental challenges associated with global change. In the 2008 RAE exercise, it was ranked in the top six geography departments in the UK and awarded an 'Excellent' grading by

HEFCE The Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) was a non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom, which was responsible for the distribution of funding for higher education to universities and further education colleges in Engl ...

for the quality of its teaching, which is research-led. 70% of its research activity was judged to be 'internationally leading' or 'internationally excellent'. It currently has five research clusters about which the school administration and teaching is organised: * The Ecology and Global Change research cluster is active in tropical ecology,

paleogeography Palaeogeography (or paleogeography) is the study of historical geography, generally physical landscapes. Palaeogeography can also include the study of human or cultural environments. When the focus is specifically on landforms, the term pale ...

, and global scale modelling research. * The Centre for Spatial Analysis and Policy (CSAP) research cluster is active in retail geography, geodemographics, demographic modelling,

wilderness Wilderness or wildlands (usually in the plurale tantum, plural) are Earth, Earth's natural environments that have not been significantly modified by human impact on the environment, human activity, or any urbanization, nonurbanized land not u ...

, and city and regional planning research. * The River Basin Processes and Management research cluster is active in peatland, uplands, stream ecology, and glacial outburst flood research. * The Cities and Social Justice research cluster is active in

neoliberal Neoliberalism is a political and economic ideology that advocates for free-market capitalism, which became dominant in policy-making from the late 20th century onward. The term has multiple, competing definitions, and is most often used pej ...

, consumption,

sustainability Sustainability is a social goal for people to co-exist on Earth over a long period of time. Definitions of this term are disputed and have varied with literature, context, and time. Sustainability usually has three dimensions (or pillars): env ...

and

activism Activism consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make Social change, changes in society toward a perceived common good. Forms of activism range from ...

research * The Citizenship and Belonging research cluster is active in

citizenship Citizenship is a membership and allegiance to a sovereign state. Though citizenship is often conflated with nationality in today's English-speaking world, international law does not usually use the term ''citizenship'' to refer to nationalit ...

diaspora A diaspora ( ) is a population that is scattered across regions which are separate from its geographic place of birth, place of origin. The word is used in reference to people who identify with a specific geographic location, but currently resi ...

ethnicity An ethnicity or ethnic group is a group of people with shared attributes, which they Collective consciousness, collectively believe to have, and long-term endogamy. Ethnicities share attributes like language, culture, common sets of ancestry, ...

, and

sexuality Human sexuality is the way people experience and express themselves sexually. This involves biological, psychological, physical, erotic, emotional, social, or spiritual feelings and behaviors. Because it is a broad term, which has varied ...

research On-going research is examining major world cities and some of the remotest places on earth including the

Arctic The Arctic (; . ) is the polar regions of Earth, polar region of Earth that surrounds the North Pole, lying within the Arctic Circle. The Arctic region, from the IERS Reference Meridian travelling east, consists of parts of northern Norway ( ...

and

Antarctic The Antarctic (, ; commonly ) is the polar regions of Earth, polar region of Earth that surrounds the South Pole, lying within the Antarctic Circle. It is antipodes, diametrically opposite of the Arctic region around the North Pole. The Antar ...

and within the depths of the

tropical rainforest Tropical rainforests are dense and warm rainforests with high rainfall typically found between 10° north and south of the Equator. They are a subset of the tropical forest biome that occurs roughly within the 28° latitudes (in the torrid zo ...

. Water@leeds is a multimillion-pound university centre led by Joseph Holden. Global alliances of forest researchers in South America (RAINFOR) and in Africa (AfriTRON) are led by Oliver Phillips and Simon Lewis. The spirit of Stan Openshaw lives on in the school with the flame carried by those members of the

Centre for Computational Geography The Centre for Computational Geography (CCG) is an inter-disciplinary research centre based at the University of Leeds. The CCG was founded in 1993 by Stan Openshaw and Phil Rees (academic), Phil Rees, and builds on over 40 years experience in spa ...

(CCG) - an

inter-disciplinary Interdisciplinarity or interdisciplinary studies involves the combination of multiple academic disciplines into one activity (e.g., a research project). It draws knowledge from several fields such as sociology, anthropology, psychology, economi ...

university research centre concerned with the development and application of tools for analysis, visualisation and modelling geographical

systems A system is a group of interacting or interrelated elements that act according to a set of rules to form a unified whole. A system, surrounded and influenced by its environment, is described by its boundaries, structure and purpose and is exp ...

. Set up with £8 thousand in 1993, the CCG sustains itself via collaboration on a diverse range of research projects and is directed by Andy Evans. Facilities at the school include a suite of teaching and research laboratories dedicated to

soil Soil, also commonly referred to as earth, is a mixture of organic matter, minerals, gases, water, and organisms that together support the life of plants and soil organisms. Some scientific definitions distinguish dirt from ''soil'' by re ...

water Water is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula . It is a transparent, tasteless, odorless, and Color of water, nearly colorless chemical substance. It is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known liv ...

and

pollen Pollen is a powdery substance produced by most types of flowers of seed plants for the purpose of sexual reproduction. It consists of pollen grains (highly reduced Gametophyte#Heterospory, microgametophytes), which produce male gametes (sperm ...

research. There are field equipment stores, cold rooms and DEFRA approved soil rooms. For work in the field, the school has a 110 Land Rover Defender and a Skoda 4x4 estate vehicle. To support their GIS and computing activities they have a 24-hour cluster with provision for 25 students. The school has a range or audio visual equipment available to hire.

Staff

There are around 70 academic and research staff, 60 research postgraduate students and a team of professional support staff in 2011. The current Head of School is Robert M. Vanderbeck. Previous incumbents include David Bell, Gill Valentine, Adrian McDonald, Graham Clarke, John Stillwell, Phil Rees,

and Alan Wilson.

Alumni

Alumni include: Piers Sellers,

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...

astronaut; Simon Rix, bassist of Leeds-based band the

Kaiser Chiefs Kaiser Chiefs are an English indie rock band from Leeds who originally formed in 1996 as Runston Parva, before reforming as Parva in 2000, and releasing one studio album, ''22'', in 2003, before renaming and establishing themselves in their cur ...

; Jon Hammond, gold, silver and bronze medal winner in the men's 50m shooting at the

2010 Commonwealth Games The 2010 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XIX Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Delhi 2010, were an international multi-sport event for the members of the Commonwealth that was held in Delhi, India, from 3 to 14 October 201 ...

in Delhi, Martine Croxall, BBC journalist and presenter and the Most Reverend Alan Harper, former

Archbishop of Armagh The Archbishop of Armagh is an Episcopal polity, archiepiscopal title which takes its name from the Episcopal see, see city of Armagh in Northern Ireland. Since the Reformation in Ireland, Reformation, there have been parallel apostolic success ...

(appointed an OBE for services to conservation). The School keeps in touch with alumni through the Alumni Newsletter, Facebook and the School of Geography website. Graduates are known to have gone on to find positions in the following areas: environmental management, management and consultancy, GIS, government and NGOs, financial services and further study.

References

External links

School of Geography website
{{DEFAULTSORT:School Of Geography, University Of Leeds University of Leeds Geography departments in the United Kingdom