Geography is different from other environmental and social sciences. But how do we find common ground between the many approaches within the subject? In this module, you’ll explore the foundations of geography. You’ll look at how the discipline has developed, understand the divide between quantitative and qualitative methods and think about how geographers can use these differences to address real-world problems. You’ll learn what it means to be a geographer and how geographers can apply their unique skills to better understand the physical and social landscape around us. You will be taught through lectures, workshops and outdoor learning, both on campus and beyond.

This module provides you with the foundations in social geography, cultural geography and political geography. You will be taught through a combination of lectures and practical workshops ensuring that alongside geographical knowledge, you are developing core qualitative research skills such as working with documents and visual data and developing critical academic skills such as presentations and exam skills.

Explore international development through critical geographical perspectives. We start by understanding development both conceptually and historically, linking it to colonial histories and their ongoing impact today. We’ll also look at how development maps onto global inequalities. We explore the evolution of mainstream development discourses, including the Sustainable Development Goals, as well as alternative approaches like Postdevelopment and Decolonial theories. You’ll dive into specific issues like climate change adaptation in the global South, gender equality, rural development, food sovereignty, urban transformations and politics in the Majority World. We’ll examine how development ideas have evolved, from state-led initiatives to civil society actions and market-driven solutions. The module also looks at how development fits within global political and economic changes, focusing on inequalities and the different impacts development has across the Majority World. You will develop critical thinking and research skills through interactive workshop activities.

By now, you’ll have an idea of what research in geography involves, and why and how geographers undertake it. This module will help you develop the key skills needed to become an independent researcher. You’ll explore ethics, risk assessment and learn how to effectively search for and critically summarise existing literature. We’ll then cover a broad range of research methods in human geography, including surveys, questionnaires, interviews, focus groups, documentary research and creative methods. You’ll also learn how to analyse and present both quantitative and qualitative research. Looking ahead to your dissertation, we’ll teach you how to write up a research project and explore the potential for developing outputs with real-world impact.

Throughout your degree you gain a unique skills set based on your understanding of the interdisciplinary nature of sciences. In this module we develop your self-awareness of these skills and how to make the most of graduate-level employment opportunities.

We introduce you to the University’s employability resources including job search techniques and search engine use. We develop your skills in writing CVs and cover letters, and we draw on the expertise of employers and alumni. Your ability to effectively use these resources will enhance your employability skills, your communication skills and help you to develop a short-term career plan.

You will study culture from a geographical perspective and explore space and the spatial from a cultural point of view. With social geography you will explore social inequalities, identities and relations in specific places and in their spatial dimensions.

The module focuses on the key geographical concepts of landscape, place, space and mobilities, together with ideas of representation, belonging, aesthetics, the arts, (collective) memory, creativity, embodiment and justice. You will also develop an understanding of theories about culture, space, identity and power and their value in both conceptual and practical terms, developing your capacity to bring issues and perspectives of cultural and social geography to bear in insightful responses to key issues of the present and future.

Explores environmental geographies through empirical examples of our evolving relationship with the Earth and the sea. We build upon previously studied key concepts such as The Anthropocene and the role of non-western and indigenous knowledges, encouraging a more critical approach to the governance structures and justice frameworks that shape how human societies interact with the natural world.

You’ll engage with global and local examples of environmental governance, the ethical dimensions of environmental justice and the socio-political dynamics that influence issues of equity, access and environmental rights. You will also explore the connections between human and physical geography, considering how themes and concepts from Earth and marine sciences can offer new perspectives on our social worlds.

The world can appear infinitely complex, but when details are represented digitally it becomes easier to draw back, take new perspectives, simplify patterns and learn more about their underlying causes. Organisations of all kinds are interested in how spatial information can drive decisions, operations and policy; and the volume and variety of information captured about people, their surroundings and the planet is increasing rapidly.

Geographical Information Systems (GIS) provide us with the environment and tools to explore and interact with socioeconomic, environmental, topographic and remotely sensed data in order to generate understanding. At the end of this module, you will be able to query and interpret spatial data from multiple sources, create and critically interpret new outputs and appreciate how to visualise data for different audiences.

The contemporary world is full of fascinating political and economic changes. Both past and present crises in capitalism - from uneven wealth distribution to the challenges of the climate emergency - show that economy and politics cannot be understood separately.

This module introduces key themes in both economic and political geography. For political geography, we’ll dive into themes like geopolitics, the nation state, borders, conflict and resistance. For economic geography, we’ll look at how the economy shapes and interacts with political issues. We’ll also explore the challenges and opportunities of bringing economic and political geographies together. By the end of the module, you’ll have the skills to make sense of the political and economic world around you and understand key global issues from a geographical perspective.

Travel to the Scottish Hebrides to broaden your understanding of sustainability as a social, economic and environmental concern. We will challenge you to think about sustainability as an interdisciplinary issue and consider the future of the planet. You will deepen your understanding of what sustainability means in an island context, learning about the culture, landscape and economy of the Scottish Hebrides. There is the opportunity to travel by ferry between Hebridean islands, considering the ways in which islanders, alongside the local authority and Scottish Government, have sought to promote sustainable practice. You will see examples of progressive and alternative approaches to issues such as energy production, manufacturing, education, healthcare and social support.

Core for those students undertaking a project in the Human Geography pathway.

Conduct an independent research project on a specific topic within your field of study and present your findings in an extensive report. Throughout your project, you will receive one-to-one support from a member of academic staff. This is the largest piece of work that you will complete during your degree and, depending on your subject area, it will enable you to develop skills including formulating a research question; contextualising it within research literature; identifying and using appropriate research methods and techniques with which to address your question; collecting and analysing data; and interpreting your findings. Overall, the aim is to demonstrate your ability to conduct rigorous, independent academic work and communicate its outcomes clearly and effectively.

In this module we continue to develop your employability skills. We focus on your ability to communicate your scientific learning to reflect the interdisciplinary nature of your degree and empower you when it comes to job applications and interviews. This includes practice for assessment centres and associated tasks such as psychometric testing and skills testing, and 1-1 recruitment selection or panel-based interviews.

Humanity now lives predominantly in urban areas, with an incredible diversity of cities shaping daily life across the globe. In the 21st century, these cities are rapidly evolving and facing a host of complex challenges, from technological change and digital infrastructures to pressing issues of social justice, sustainability and resilience.

This module introduces you to cutting-edge thinking about cities and urban life, questioning long-held assumptions and encouraging you to critically explore what cities are, how they function and who shapes them. You’ll engage with big questions such as: What is a city today? What forces are shaping urban transformation? And how can we address the challenges cities face in more equitable and sustainable ways?

This module gives you an advanced introduction to the geographies of creative practice, an exciting and emerging area within contemporary geographic scholarship. Building on key ideas from earlier modules, you’ll expand your critical thinking and explore new methodological approaches. You’ll examine how place and space are connected to art, politics and creative expression, and develop a deeper understanding of how particular places become hubs of intellectual and artistic activity. You will develop a critical appreciation of how specific types of places (historical and contemporary) become sites of intellectual thought and creative expression.

Engage with a range of cultural, social, political and philosophical ideas and interpret these across a range of media, including the visual arts, film, music, narrative/graphic fiction and creative writing. The module will develop your appreciation of the spatial dimensions of critical thought and creative practice and thus deepen your understanding of the geographical imagination.

Explore the social, political and environmental challenges facing food systems in the world today. You’ll examine the history, culture and development of contemporary food production, focusing on how we interact with plants, animals and the land. Key debates will centre around food security and food sovereignty, using global case studies to reveal the connections between changing diets, landscapes and agrarian reform. You’ll be challenged to think critically and creatively about the future of food, developing innovative alternatives. Practical sessions will give you the chance to explore different ways of thinking about food and agriculture, and how these perspectives are rooted in broader political, environmental and social philosophies.

This module invites you to explore the economic, historical and political geography of the Global South in all its diversity. You’ll examine the region’s rich socio-economic and cultural assets, while also unpacking the complex opportunities and challenges its people face in the 21st century. Using examples from places such as Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean and Asia, you’ll track the transformations from colonial histories to contemporary realities.

You’ll learn about the different development strategies adopted by postcolonial states and investigate current issues around governance, climate change adaptation, natural resources and rural-urban connections. By considering these topics in their wider spatial, economic and historical contexts, you’ll gain a deeper understanding of how globalisation is shaping everyday life in specific localities across the Global South.

This field module focuses on the governance of dynamic and rapidly changing socio-ecological systems in tropical South East Asia – places often conceived as utopias. You will explore the concept of ‘utopia’ and how it relates to environment and development challenges, considering why they succeed or fail. Visit a range of sites that reflect a continuum of different management trajectories.

Through these cases, you will explore related trade-offs and approaches to natural resource management. Engage with different stakeholders (e.g., policy makers, tourists, local farmers) to explore their differing views of utopia and preferred development and conservation trajectories and their implications for society and the biophysical landscape. This multidisciplinary trip is designed for you, whether you're a natural or social science student, and will challenge you to engage with literature, concepts, methods, and assignments from areas outside your immediate degree focus.

Gain an in-depth understanding of the concepts, methods and applications of health geography. Health is central to living a good life, yet huge inequalities can be seen whether in the North West of England or in the Global South. Geography and related disciplines make vital contributions in defining these inequalities as ethically unacceptable (i.e. inequitable) and examining their causes (political, social, economic and environmental).

Discover useful theoretical and empirical tools for developing appropriate policy responses to tackling these inequities. Learn about the merits and weaknesses of qualitative, quantitative and mixed-methods approaches to health research, applied to well-known, emerging and neglected diseases. Develop a critical, reflective understanding of health geography as a fast-moving, plural and contested sub-field. This module opens the door for you to further training and careers in public health, including in local government, national health institutions and the charitable sector.

The modern world is defined by unprecedented social and ecological crises: global heating, biodiversity decline, mounting economic inequality and the wicked problem of decarbonising society justly and equitably. You will approach these challenges head-on, asking how they were produced, by who, why and with what effects. You will be introduced to the field of political ecology and to some of its most influential conceptual approaches (degrowth, feminism, anti-colonialism and more).

Together, we will ask and answer questions such as: What is climate justice? Why is it so difficult to decarbonise the global economy? How do items we use every day — from mobile phones, to clothing, coffee and water — impact peoples, animals and environments near and far? You will learn to think critically about the world they live in, to reflect on the implications of social and economic policy and consider how climate justice might be attained.

Our planet is shaped by ongoing geological, climatic and ecological processes that are increasingly dominated by mankind. Everywhere you look you will find change, but not all changes are important. To make informed decisions, we need to know how to test ideas and identify reliable trends.

This module will teach you how to overlay spatial layers to answer increasingly complex questions about when and where changes are happening, whether they are connected, what is occurring in locations with incomplete data and to predict the magnitude and distribution of impacts? As more and more data is collected and shared by networked devices, corporations and remote sensing technologies, understanding spatial relationships is crucial. The operations of most industries already depend on geospatial analysts and this module will teach you skills needed to take advantage of the digital age.

Do you want to entertain and inspire children and the public in STEM? With an introduction to teaching as well as wider engagement opportunities, learn how to understand your audience and how to engage and enliven them. You will also learn how to balance this with educating them and presenting science in a way that’s appropriate to your audience. We include an introduction to pedagogy, how to inspire school pupils and how to use traditional and new media for science communication.

You will deliver an activity of your choosing to an audience. This could be a lesson at school, engaging with children at a large outreach event or delivering a public lecture. In addition, you will also reflect on your activity to discuss what you’ve learnt and what changes you would make. You can deliver this by either video, podcast or article.

During this field trip you will actively engage with the Geography of the cities of Glasgow and Edinburgh. You will explore the contested futures of these places and how this contestation plays out in relation to topics like activism, national identity, ethnic diversity, housing and tourism. You will then be in a position to use your experience and insight to inform your reading and understanding of the extensive existing academic literature on these unique cities. You will develop an understanding of the cultural, economic, political and social processes that contribute to the formation and differentiation of places, through both conceptual analysis and experiential and empirical fieldwork.