Geography BSc

Compulsory

• Biosphere and Ecology

  This module aims to give students an understanding of the natural events that damage environments and communities, including the evolution of multicellular life, ecosystems, ecosystem relationships, and biohazards (diseases and infestations).

• Earth System Science

  This module aims to give an understanding of physical processes that underpin the Earth system, including fundamentals (e.g. matter, motion, energy, gravity, electromagnetism, thermodynamics, atmosphere (composition, weather, climate), hydrosphere (hydrological cycle, oceans, rivers, freshwater, groundwater), lithosphere, cryosphere, and gaia theory.

• Global London

  Through focusing on the concept of ‘Global London’, this module shows you how the social sciences can enable you to better understand their lived social environment. It introduces you to the techniques used by a range of disciplines within social science for gaining and validating knowledge of the social world and equips you with an academic skill base appropriate for university study. 

• Introduction Geographical Research and Fieldwork

  This module introduces students to the nature of geographical research and some of the ways of collecting and analysing geographical data. Through both local and multi-day residential fieldwork, the module provides opportunities for experiential learning and an introduction to a variety of types of fieldwork, in both familiar and unfamiliar environments.   

• Living with Environmental Change

  Through specific case studies, this module provides a holistic, integrated approach to understanding reciprocal relationships between societies and environments, drawing on both social and natural science expertise. It enables students to better understand the ways in which environmental change impacts on society at multiple scales, and the possibilities for societies to respond.  

• Space, Place and Society

  This module aims to familiarise you with key ideas and fundamental concepts in human geography. In particular, it will focus on reciprocal relationships between space, place, and society and the significance of these concepts within diverse areas of human geography. 

Compulsory

• Climate Change

  This module aims to give students an understanding of the evidence for, and mechanisms behind, climate changes.

• Geography: A Controversial Discipline

  This module will introduce students to the history and philosophy of geography through a critical, decolonial lens. Students will explore the social, cultural, economic and political context of past and present knowledge production, and the people and forms of knowledge excluded from this. 

• Geographical Research Methods and GIS

  This module will expand students’ understanding of research methods used in both physical and human geography. It is intended to prepare students to plan and undertake research for their dissertations. 

Optional

• Climate Politics

  This module aims to enable students to attain a comprehensive understanding of key concepts and theories in the politics and political economy of climate change. It will provide students with resources to assist them in making informed judgments on a range of questions and debates.  

• Colonialism, Migration and Global Racism

  This module explores the concept, meaning and practices of ‘race’, ethnicity, racialization, and global racisms. It identifies how ‘race’ and racism have evolved over time, and in different contexts - both nationally in the contemporary UK as well as in other parts of the world. 

• Ecosystem Stressors

  This module aims to provide students with an understanding of pressure on Earth’s ecological systems alongside the observed and predicted impacts.

• Ethnicity, Migration and Identity

  Learn about the range of key concepts, theories, and controversies in the anthropology of ethnicity, culture, nationhood, and identity. Drawing on case studies from within and beyond Britain, it will encourage you to consider how identities are created, deployed, and contested.  

• Sustainable Development and Political Ecology

  Students will engage critically with principles and practices of sustainable development and learn to understand environmental questions through a lens of political ecology. The module will provide opportunities for students to develop their own of attitudes and values in relation to the environment.  

• Urban Regeneration and Inequalities (field -based) or Dynamic Earth (field-based)

  You are introduced to issues of urban regeneration and their impacts in relation to urban inequalities, and apply this understanding in relation initially to London and subsequently to a European city in which they undertake a field visit. 

• Geomorphological and Earth Hazards

  Students will develop their understanding of a range of geomorphological features and hazards at a variety of temporal and spatial scales. On completion of the module, they will have a sound appreciation of how term geological processes are reflected in a range of landforms from continents to particles. They will be able to apply appropriate techniques robustly to gather evidence and to express their ideas systematically and effectively.

Compulsory

• Geography Dissertation

  You'll undertake an individual research project on a topic of your choice. You'll gather and analyse data and write up their findings, with support from a dissertation supervisor.  

• Leadership for Change

  This module aims to develop the leadership and influence skills that will help you to promote forms of positive change within society and the environment (either individually or collectively). Through engagement with a project in the local community, you'll engage in personal and professional development activities that will enhance your employability.  

Optional

• Applied Conservation and Ecology

  This module will give students an understanding of applied ecological and biogeographical principles and how these inform conservation practices. This module will also allow students to undertake a series of field investigations to address conservation questions during a field course.

• Cities, Power and Social Change

  An introduction to urban sociology and will develop the students understanding of urban development, cultures, and representation. The course will offer theoretical tools and provide practical applications for the relationship between space, culture, and social life in contemporary cities.

• Critical Perspectives on International Development

  You will gain a theoretical and historical overview of the changing relationship between anthropology and international development as you learn to understand the multiple ways in which anthropological research can enhance our understanding of contemporary policies and practices in international development. 

• Environment and Sustainability

  The aim of this module is to look at environment and sustainability from a multipronged perspective. The module will help students develop a nuanced understanding about managing our natural resources. Both top down and bottom up approaches to manage nature will be explored. 

• Environmental Justice

  The module introduces students to diverse notions and theories of social justice, and to the emergence and development of environmental justice movements. It enables students to explore how environmental justice claims are made in relation to substantive issues at different scales of analysis.

• Environmental Management Systems

  This module introduces students to the fundamentals of environmental management in the context of production-consumption-management systems. The module also introduces the concept of governance in spatial and temporal scales to help students understand that political, economic and social dimensions are important considerations alongside environmental impacts for sustainable management of our systems.

• Global Migration

  Equips students with an understanding of the key concepts in global migration including the causes and consequences of migration, national and international responses to migration and the diversity of migrant flows within a global context, using cases from both Global North and Global South contexts.

• Lawyers, Guns and Money: Making the Modern World-System
• Nature-Based Climate Solutions

  This module provides students with an understanding of the methods used to reduce climate changes.

• Psychogeography

  In this module you will study the relationship between the individual and their environment, both in situ and in movement, to reconsider habitual understandings of how we live in and move through our environment. 

• Race, Class and Space

  This module introduces you to contemporary debates on race, class, and space. You'll become familiarised with different theoretical positions, and ways in which race and class are spatially structured.  

• Earth Surface Processes and Management

  Students explore the potentially dynamic way in which processes acting at Earth’s surface can operate and reflect on how these processes are affected by, and impact upon human activity. They examine important components of the surface/near surface environmental system and learn to explain complex environmental contexts, such as rivers, coasts, slopes and soils, and propose realistic and sustainable management solutions

• Ice Age Environments

  The module develops students’ understanding of the ‘Ice Age’, the most recent episode of Earth history. It examines the nature of climate and environmental change and the evidence that our understanding is built on. Case examples, including a field class, will help students to develop skills and understanding, and appreciate the legacy of the Ice Ages for present day risks and opportunities.