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# Philippa Williams appointed to three year fixed-term lectureship in Human Geography at Queen Mary, University of London
9th May, 2012
Philippa Williams has been appointed to a three year fixed-term lectureship in Human Geography at Queen Mary, University of London.
# Agroforestry and sustainability in the humid tropics
2nd May, 2012
# Land of Strangers - new book by Ash Amin
30th April, 2012
A new book, Land of Strangers, by Professor Ash Amin, examines the challenges of living with difference in western multicultural societies that perceive the future as uncertain and turbulent. Rejecting the uses of xenophobia that have arisen in response, but also proposals for closer inter-personal ties between minorities and majorities, the book turns instead to a politics of the commons. Focusing on encounters of race, imagined community, everyday living, collaborative work, and urban public space, the book claims primacy for the culture of the commons - its intensity and its plurality - in regulating dispositions towards the unknown. See more about the book, or listen to the podcast.
# The Scott Polar Research Institute and the Times World Atlas (13th ed.) Map of Greenland
19th April, 2012
SPRI scientists have been involved in discussions with HarperCollins during the production and review of a new insert to the Atlas, made public on 25th January 2012. We are pleased to have been able to contribute positively to this process, and that the end result of this controversy has been ultimately productive, leading to the publication by HarperCollins of a much improved map of the Greenland Ice Sheet.
# Volcano exhibitions
10th April, 2012
Volcanoes: beauty and menace, an exhibition of photographs of volcanoes and major volcanic eruptions, their hazards and consequences, is running weekdays until 5th April 2012. Venue: PandIS, New Museums Site.
Another exhibition, Frozen Volcano, ran from January 1st - February 4th 2012.
Dr Clive Oppenheimer also gave a talk on 3rd February, 'Monitoring volcanic gas emissions: from innovation to operational application'.
# History of Chambers of Commerce
10th April, 2012
A new book by Bob Bennett on the History of Chambers of Commerce was published in October. It is already exciting new debate about the integration of the Atlantic economy in the 18th century, and the challenges of business organisations working as partners with government in the 21st century.
A major seminar at the British Academy on 15 February discussed the findings of the book. The event focused on the modern and historic dynamics of business associations, exploring the tensions between member or government demands, national or local action, services to individual businesses or collective voice, and noisy campaigns or quiet lobbying. A podcast of the event is available.
Local chambers of commerce were born in the 1760s-70s as protest bodies, driven by threats from government policies. They began in the large port cities in Britain, Ireland and the American colonies, diffusing to all smaller towns by the 1920s, their roles gradually transformed into advisors to government and partners in promoting local economies. Now chambers are one of the lead partners in the UK Coalition Government's Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) around England.
Bob Bennett's view on LEPs is that they offer a genuine hope for a bottom-up, business-led approach, compared to previous target-driven government-led initiatives typified by RDAs. However, LEPS are also experiencing challenges
- The main activities are bidding for government funds.
- There are very small core resources.
- They have limited policy 'stretch', with little role in local planning decisions, transport strategy and other concerns that business view as priorities.
Bob has found that many business leaders are questioning whether LEPs are too much effort, for too little return.
Local Business Voice: The History of Chambers of Commerce in Britain, Ireland and Revolutionary America, 1760-2011, (OUP, 2011).
Bob has also put up a database of chamber statistical material, 1790-2005.
# Liz Watson awarded Pilkington Teaching Prize
10th April, 2012
Liz Watson has been awarded one of this year's Pilkington Teaching Prizes. The awards are made by the Cambridge Foundation in recognition of excellence in teaching; they will be presented at a ceremony in June.
# David Harvey elected Honorary Fellow of St John's College
10th April, 2012
It was announced on 23 January 2012 that David Harvey has been elected an Honorary Fellow of St John's College, Cambridge. David Harvey is currently Distinguished Professor of Anthropology at the City University of New York (CUNY), but his first degree was from Cambridge.
He matriculated in 1954 at St John's College and continued to a Ph.D degree in 1961 – an historical geography of the Kentish hop industry. From Cambridge he moved to Bristol and then, in 1969, to Johns Hopkins University in USA. He was Halford Mackinder Professor of Geography at Oxford from 1973-87.
His most recent book The Enigma of Capital (2010) places the current financial crisis into the wider context of the history of capitalism, which Harvey regards as having achieved world domination through intrinsically amoral and lawless practices.
His various books, which include Limits to Capital (1982), The Condition of Postmodernity (1989) and The New Imperialism (2003), have been translated into at least fifteen languages.
# Whose fault is famine? Starvation in the face of plenty
9th April, 2012
On March 5 Cambridge lecturer Dr David Nally spoke at 'Cafe Diplo', a weekly event hosted by Friends of Le Monde Diplomatique, on the historical causes of famine, with a particular focus on the similarities between the Irish Famine and those of the present day. The talk is now available on YouTube.
Nally's book, Human Encumbrances: Political Violence and the Great Irish Famine, was published by the University of Notre Dame Press (2011).
# Assessing protected area effectiveness
30th March, 2012
A new study, led by Dr David Gaveau of Stanford University, co-authored by Professor Nigel Leader-Williams of the Department of Geography, and published in Conservation Letters, aims to measure whether parks and reserves in the tropics succeed in protecting forests. The new study disentangled the effects of regulations governing access in unprotected lands surrounding the 110,000 sq km protected area network on the Indonesian island of Sumatra. Its results showed that measures of the effectiveness of protection differed according to the different land use regulations governing unprotected lands outside protected area boundaries.
# Year 12 Geography and Land Economy Masterclass - Saturday 31st March 2012
30th March, 2012
Come and experience undergraduate teaching at Cambridge…
For the first time, the Year 12 Subject Masterclass series, run by the Cambridge Admissions Office, are offering a Masterclass in Geography and Land Economy. A chance for you to experience undergraduate teaching, speak to current Cambridge students, and hear about how to apply to two of the leading university courses in the world.
# Strengthening the bond between policy and science
15th March, 2012
The importance of scientific advice to public policy has long been recognised, however there is growing debate over how this relationship should be understood and managed. To address this, a study group chaired by Prof William Sutherland with four members of the Department of Geography (Dr Bravo, Dr Doubleday, Prof Owens and Prof Richards) brought together over fifty academics and policy makers to agree a new research agenda on the role of science in public policy.
The findings appeared in the leading interdisciplinary open-access journal, PLoS ONE, on Friday 9 March. The aim of this project was to identify key questions which, if addressed through focused research, could tackle important theoretical challenges and improve the mutual understanding and effectiveness of those who work at the interface of science and policy.
# Talking Green Economy
15th March, 2012
Bhaskar Vira was recently interviewed by the Green Economy Coalition. He explains how the current distribution of resources is skewed and an understanding of power structures is critical to achieve a more equitable resource distribution. Our political system must guarantee access to those who live closest to nature but often lack a strong voice.
# Science Festival 2012 events
10th March, 2012
We have various events from 12th - 25th March 2012 for this year's Science Festival. Read more, or follow these links to each event:
# The Eruption after tomorrow
7th March, 2012
Imagine the perfect storm. A series of severe volcanic eruptions engulf the globe, spewing ash and sulphur into the atmosphere, causing widespread chaos on our intricate global economy, impacting our ability to grow food and grounding trans-continental air travel. This fantastic scenario was the subject of Dr Clive Oppenheimer's lecture Eruptions that shook the world on March 13 at this year's Cambridge Science Festival.
# Studentship: Emerging disease transmission in Western Uganda
1st March, 2012
New PhD Studentship: Emerging disease transmission in Western Uganda.
# CUCAP - Cambridge University Collection of Aerial Photography
1st March, 2012
The Cambridge University Collection of Aerial Photography (CUCAP) is the result of airborne survey campaigns which were started in 1947 by the pioneering JK St Joseph. Since then the collection has grown to almost 500,000 images of obliques and verticals in black and white, colour and infra-red. Virtually the whole of Britain has been covered, with the obliques depicting a wide variety of landscapes and features and the verticals being of survey quality, can be used in mapping projects.
Our new Online Catalogue lets you browse and search the collection.
# Can digital games and virtual worlds help us save nature?
24th February, 2012
Can digital games and virtual worlds help us save nature? Conservation scientists Bruno Monteferri, Chris Sandbrook and Bill Adams explore whether computer gaming is a new frontier for conservation.
Deep in the rainforest, a monkey runs down a river, leaping from log to log over the mouths of the waiting crocs. So begins Congo Jones and the Loggers of Doom, a computer game that challenges players to work alongside local communities to protect the Congo rainforest from loggers. Offered free by a UK charity that supports indigenous peoples, the game is just one example of a new trend in the gaming industry towards games relevant for biodiversity conservation.
# Studentship: Nippon Foundation Nereus Fellowship
7th February, 2012
New studentship: Nippon Foundation Nereus Fellowship
# John Pilkington - talk: "A Stroll through the 'Axis of Evil'"
7th February, 2012
John is an explorer, author, broadcaster and geography alumnus who went on a six-month Middle East journey, taking some stunning photos. Starting in Beirut, he unravelled a picture quite different from the news stories of the region, as he followed a winding route via the Euphrates and the Valleys of the Assassins to finish on the Persian Gulf. He met a spectacular variety of people - Druze, Maronites, Arabs, Kurds, Armenians, Azeris and both Shi'ite and Sunni Iranians - and to his surprise found families and whole communities working together to survive the harsh climate and political strife.
John has been called 'one of Britain's greatest tellers of travellers' tales'. His Radio 4 adventure travel programmes have won him wide acclaim, but it's probably for his thought-provoking talks and spellbinding photos that people know him best. Full details of this event ...
# MPhil courses
1st January, 2012
The Department offers a range of MPhil courses, including our newest MPhil, MPhil in Conservation Leadership. The full list of MPhils we offer are:
# Physical Geography / Environmental Science PhD Opportunities
1st January, 2012
Physical Geography / Environmental Science PhD Opportunities
# Austerity: we are not all in it together
21st November, 2011
Michael Kitson, Ron Martin (both of the Department), and Peter Tyler write about the impact of austerity, in a new blog post entitled "Austerity: we are not all in it together" on the OUPblog.
# Confronting homophobia in South Africa
31st October, 2011
Member of the Department, Dr Andrew Tucker is the Deputy Director of the Centre for Gender Studies in the Department of Geography. His research focuses on understanding the diverse ways in which same-sex desire can become visible in different communities in Africa and explores ways of servicing often marginalised groups with health services.
Dr Tucker champions a direct approach to challenging the homophobia that destroys so many lives in South Africa. He has helped to set up a hard-hitting healthcare campaign that encourages a radical change in attitudes within the country's most deprived communities.
# Scientists raise concerns regarding erroneous reporting of Greenland ice cover
31st October, 2011
Scientists from the Scott Polar Research Institute (SPRI), part of the Department of Geography, have raised concerns regarding what they believe are erroneous claims of a 15% decrease in the permanent ice cover of Greenland in just 12 years.
- News: SPRI scientists raise concerns regarding erroneous reporting of Greenland ice cover
- The Greenland Ice Sheet: How fast is it changing, and why?
- Scientists still concerned about the latest Times Atlas map of Greenland
- Media coverage
# Whose fault is famine? What the world failed to learn from 1840s Ireland
31st October, 2011
A new book by a Cambridge University academic revisits one of the worst famines in recorded history. The Irish Famine of the 1840s had terrible consequences: 1 million people died and several million left Ireland. Today the world is watching as millions in Africa face a similar fate: starvation in the midst of plenty. Dr David Nally's analysis of what happened in his native Ireland less than two centuries ago reveals some shocking parallels with what is happening in Africa.
The book was also picked up by the Huffington Post, where David has written a piece looking at the parallels between historical and contemporary famines.
Dr Nally appeared on 'Everyday Ethics', BBC Radio Ulster, Sunday 7 Aug 2011 [Listen (MP3 file)]. He was also interviewed by The Clare Champion, in an article Parallels in famine-stricken societies.
# Professor Susan Owens elected a Fellow of the British Academy
31st October, 2011
Professor Susan Owens has been elected a Fellow of the British Academy at its Annual General Meeting on 21 July 2011. Professor Owens is Professor of Environment and Policy, Head of the Department of Geography, and a Professorial Fellow of Newnham College. Her research lies in the field of environmental governance, with particular interests in land use, environment and sustainability, and in the role of knowledge, ideas and expertise in policy formation and change. She is currently a member of the Research Committee of ESRC, the Council of the Royal Geographical Society and the Advisory Group for the Royal Society's Science Policy Centre; previously, she has served on the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution and a number of other public bodies. She was appointed an OBE in 1998.
# Dr Laurent Frideres wins Economic Geography Research Group (EGRG) prize
31st October, 2011
Dr Laurent Frideres has won the Economic Geography Research Group (EGRG) prize for the best PhD thesis in economic geography, Spatial Industrial Clustering and Competitive Advantage: Comparing Firms Inside and Outside Industry Clusters.
# David Duhig wins First Prize in the RGS Climate Change Research Group dissertation award
31st October, 2011
Recent undergraduate student, David Duhig of St Catharine's College, has won First Prize in the RGS Climate Change Research Group dissertation award. The title of David's winning dissertation is The response of Haut Glacier d'Arolla, Switzerland to climate change computed using a coupled mass balance ice flow model.
# A Closer Look at Famine - Why do famines still plague us?
31st October, 2011
David Nally and Gerry Kearns have published an article in the latest Chronicle of Higher Education on the geopolitics and history of subsistence crises. Read more (access available until 23rd October).
# Talk: Is the future of food GM?
31st October, 2011
As part of the Festival of Ideas, the Faculty of Law played host to a fascinating talk on the future of GM crops.
Guest speakers Dr. David Nally (University of Cambridge, Geography), Professor Sir David Baulcombe (University of Cambridge, Botany), and Dr. Jack Stilgoe (University of Exeter, Science Policy) shared their different perspectives on this highly complicated, multi-disciplinary issue. The session was ably chaired by Dr Robert Doubleday (also from the Department of Geography).
# MPhil in Conservation Leadership
1st October, 2011
Information is now online about the new MPhil in Conservation Leadership. The full list of MPhils we offer are:
# Professor Julian Dowdeswell awarded Louis Agassiz Meda
13th June, 2011
Professor Julian Dowdeswell has been awarded the Louis Agassiz Medal of the European Geosciences Union. The medal was established to honour outstanding scientists whose work is related to Cryospheric Sciences. The medal will be presented during the General Assembly of the Union in Vienna in April 2011.
# Fiona McConnell elected to Junior Research Fellowship at Trinity College
13th June, 2011
Fiona McConnell, who was an undergraduate in the Department and then completed her PhD at Queen Mary, has just been elected to a Junior Research Fellowship at Trinity College.
# Peter Dyson wins Undergraduate Dissertation Prize of the Geography of Leisure and Tourism Research Group
13th June, 2011
Peter Dyson of Emmanuel College, has won the 2010 Undergraduate Dissertation Prize awarded by the Geography of Leisure and Tourism Research Group for his dissertation entitled 'Slum Tourism: Representing and Interpreting 'Reality' in Dharavi, Mumbai'.
# Andrew Tedstone awarded runner-up prize in the British Hydrological Society Student Award
13th June, 2011
Andrew Tedstone of Fitzwilliam College has been awarded the runner-up prize in the British Hydrological Society Student Award for his work entitled: 'The subglacial drainage system of the Hagafellsjokull-Eystri'.
# Chetan Kumar elected to non-stipendiary Research Fellowship at Hughes Hall
13th June, 2011
Chetan Kumar (until recently PhD student at the Department) has been elected to a non-stipendiary Research Fellowship at Hughes Hall, concurrent with his work at the Department as Research Associate on a project on ecosystem services and poverty alleviation in India.
# Greenland's glaciers double in speed
13th June, 2011
The contribution of Greenland to global sea level change and the mapping of previously unknown basins and mountains beneath the Antarctic Ice Sheet are highlighted in a new film released by Cambridge University this morning.
Cambridge University glaciologist Professor Julian Dowdeswell has spent three years of his life in the polar regions.
As Director of the Scott Polar Research Institute (part of the Department of Geography) at the University of Cambridge, this film follows him to Greenland and the Antarctic as his research reveals the challenges we all face from climate change.
# Icelandic eruption
13th June, 2011
Clive Oppenheimer, Reader in Volcanology and Remote Sensing in the Department, was on the BBC Today programme on 25th May 2011 talking about the Icelandic eruption. You can listen to the programme online. He also writes in the Guardian on the subject.
Georgina Sawyer and Evgenia Ilyinskaya, also from the Department, are currently making their way to Iceland to monitor the ash plume.
Clive will be at the forthcoming Hay Festival to talk about his new book Eruptions That Shook The World.
# Cambridge Geography ranked best degree by the Guardian University Guide and the Complete University Guide
13th June, 2011
The Guardian University Guide has once again given top place to the Geography Degree at Cambridge for 2012. The Complete University Guide also placed Cambridge Geography top.
Our online course guide has full details on the Geography Degree at Cambridge.
# Clive Oppenheimer speaks at Hay Festival
1st June, 2011
Speaking at Hay Cambridge volcanologist, Clive Oppenheimer, warns of volcano threat.
# The national census
28th March, 2011
Members of The Cambridge Group for the History of Population and Social Structure, part of the Department, have been undertaking research on the census over the last 200 years:
- The national census of 2011 and 1801: a world of difference and this Anglia News report
- What is your job title? Cabbage gelder, cut throat of pigs, man trap? and this Radio 4: Today programme
# Rex Walford
28th March, 2011
Staff in the Department were shocked and saddened to learn of the tragic death of Rex Walford OBE, in a boating accident on the River Thames on January 2nd 2011. Rex was well known to many staff through his work as a University Lecturer in Geography and Education (in the Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge), as a past Vice President and council member of the Royal Geographical Society, and as past President of the Geographical Association, including his long-standing association with local branch of the GA. He will be remembered for his wit, wisdom and endless curiosity for all things geographical; his loss to education geography is incomparable. A full appreciation of Rex's contributions to geography, and more widely to the arts, can be found at
- Dr Rex Walford OBE — the Geographical Association
- Rex Walford (1934-2011) — Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge
# Centre for Gender Studies - Public Forum in association with The Guardian Newspaper and kindly supported by Cambridge University Press
1st November, 2010
The Centre for Gender Studies in association with The Guardian Newspaper, kindly supported by Cambridge University Press, hosts 3 major international events in London. World class experts engage directly with the public on topics of gender and radical bio-medical advances of the 21st Century. What can the latest scientific advances tell us about gender, what will be possible in the future and why does it matter?
# Karenjit Clare wins 3-year Junior Research Fellowship at Oxford
24th August, 2010
Former PhD student and now Lecturer and Bye-Fellow of Girton College, Karenjit Clare has won a 3-year Junior Research Fellowship at Green Templeton College, Oxford.
# Alan Baker elected Fellow of the British Academy
24th August, 2010
Alan Baker was elected a Fellow of the British Academy on 22 July.
# Adrian Hayes
24th August, 2010
The Department regrets to report the death of Adrian Hayes on 13 August 2010. Adrian's funeral will take place on Thursday 26 August at 1.00pm at the Arbory Trust Woodland Burial Ground at Barton Glebe, near Cambridge. Adrian's family requests that no flowers are sent for the funeral. Adrian's family wishes it to be known that his friends and colleagues are very welcome to attend the funeral.
# Professor Philip Gibbard awarded honorary doctorate degree
21st June, 2010
On 28 May 2010 Professor Philip Gibbard of the Department of Geography was awarded an honorary doctorate degree (PhD honoris causa) by the University of Helsinki. This is the highest honour the University can bestow.
Phil was one of twelve distinguished persons from science, culture and society who received the degree of honorary doctor at the University of Helsinki, Faculty of Philosophy conferment ceremony.
The citation read: "Philip L. Gibbard (b. 1949) from the University of Cambridge is one of the most widely known researchers of ice-age geology, and in recent years he has had particular success in developing a geological timescale. Professor Gibbard has exceptionally wide professional networks and a profound command of his field. He has been involved in close co-operation with the University of Helsinki, and has been a significant background figure in the Finnish community of Quaternary researchers for over thirty years".
# Franz Huber accepts an ESRC-funded research fellowship at OU Business School
21st June, 2010
PhD student, Franz Huber, has accepted an ESRC-funded research fellowship for two years at the Open University Business School.
# Dr Jim Duncan is awarded AAG Distinguished Scholarship Honors
12th April, 2010
Dr Jim Duncan is awarded the AAG Distinguished Scholarship Honors in Washington, April 2010.
# Jenny Gold awarded Andrew Hill Clark Award
12th April, 2010
PhD student Jenny Gold has been awarded the Andrew Hill Clark Award by the AAG Historical Geography Group for the best PhD paper.
# Evelyn Landerer awarded Frederick Soddy Award
12th April, 2010
This year's Frederick Soddy Award, administered by the Royal Geographical Society/Institute of British Geographers, has been awarded to Evelyn Landerer of the Scott Polar Research Institute (part of the Department of Geography), to fund her PhD fieldwork on changing experiences of space and movement in Siberia.
# The Anthropocene: a new Epoch of geological time caused by humans?
12th April, 2010
In 2002 the chemist Paul Crutzen suggested that we are now living in a new geological interval of time that is dominated by human activities. He termed this the Anthropocene. Since then the term has been widely but informally quoted by a range of earth and environmental scientists, has attracted much public attention, and has been the focus of suggestions that it be formally incorporated into the Geological Time Scale. A recent article (Jan Zalasiewicz, Mark Williams, Will Steffen & Paul Crutzen 2010 The New World of the Anthropocene Environ. Sci. Technol., 44, 2228–2231) examining the nature, scale and status of the Anthropocene as a potential new geological epoch has appeared highlighting key themes such as the effects of anthropogenic influence on global change (e.g. sea level rise, ice sheet stability, ocean acidification, biodiversity) and how this will be reflected in a distinctive geological record. The proposal of the term Anthropocene is controversial has and has triggered comment in various places, including National Geographic News on 6th April 2010, which includes a quote from Professor Phil Gibbard of the Department.
The New World of the Anthropocene
Jan Zalasiewicz, Mark Williams, Will Steffen, Paul Crutzen
Environ. Sci. Technol., 2010, 44 (7), pp 2228–2231
Publication Date (Web): February 25, 2010 (Viewpoint)
# Steven Bland awarded Participatory Geographies Research Group Dissertation Prize
25th January, 2010
Recent Undergraduate, Steven Bland of St Catherine's College has been awarded the Participatory Geographies Research Group Dissertation Prize for his dissertation entitled: 'The Challenges and opportunities facing the movement for radical climate action in the UK'.
# Britain's island heritage: reconstructing half a million years of history
25th January, 2010
The latest instalment of a 20-year study to understand how Britain became an island completes a tale of megafloods and super-rivers.
Deep below the Bay of Biscay, where the English Channel meets the Atlantic Ocean, layers of sediment hold precious information about how Britain came to be separated from mainland Europe. Until recently, the clues had remained hidden, off limits owing to the impracticalities and cost of obtaining long-piston core samples and high-resolution acoustic data in this area. However, thanks to an Anglo-French collaboration between Professor Phil Gibbard, who leads the Quaternary Palaeoenvironments Group in the Department, and PhD student Sam Toucanne and his colleagues from the University of Bordeaux, the seabed has now yielded its secrets. In doing so, it provides the final instalment in a story that has been unfolding for two decades, since Professor Gibbard first began his detailed palaeogeographic and paleoenvironmental reconstructions of the southern North Sea.
This work has recently been featured in The Independent, The Telegraph, The Daily Mail, and others.
# Indigenous Development in the Andes: Culture, Power, and Transnationalism
25th January, 2010
Sarah Radcliffe's new book, Indigenous Development in the Andes: Culture, Power, and Transnationalism has now been published by Duke University Press.
The book is a nuanced examination of the complexities involved in designing and executing "culturally appropriate" development agendas, and it illuminate a web of relations among indigenous villagers, social movement leaders, government officials, NGO workers, and staff of multilateral agencies such as the World Bank. Indigenous Development in the Andes offers a comprehensive analysis of the diverse consequences of neoliberal development, and it underscores crucial questions about globalization, governance, cultural identity, and social movements.
The book can be ordered from Duke University Press.
# All poor, but no paupers: a Japanese perspective on the Great Divergence
6th January, 2010
A set of Leverhulme lectures to be held at the Law Faculty on 5pm on 1st, 3rd, 8th and 10th February 2010, to be given by a Visitor to the Department, Professor Osamu Saito, Cambridge Group and Hitotsubashi University.
# Apply to Cambridge!
26th October, 2009
Thinking of applying to Cambridge as an Undergraduate in Geography? Check out our prospectus.
- Undergraduate course guide
- Open days - Thursday 5th & Friday 6th July 2012
- Cambridge Geography ranked best degree by the Guardian University Guide and the Complete University Guide
# The Politics of Presence in Latin America
26th October, 2009
The Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities is hosting an interdisciplinary conference, The Politics of Presence in Latin America on 23-24rd October 2009.
# Franz Huber receives the 2009 Early Career Regional Studies Association Award
19th October, 2009
Phd student Franz Huber has received the 2009 Early Career Regional Studies Association Award.
# Katya Shipigina awarded Remote Sensing and Photogrammetry Society Student Prize
19th October, 2009
Katya Shipigina, PhD student at the Scott Polar Research Institute, has been awarded the Student Prize of the Remote Sensing and Photogrammetry Society for her MPhil thesis
# Christopher Fitzsimmons wins British Hydrological Society Undergraduate Dissertation Award
19th October, 2009
Christopher Fitzsimmons, who graduated from St Catherine's College this summer, has won the British Hydrological Society Undergraduate Dissertation Award.
# End of an era: new ruling decides the boundaries of Earth's history
19th October, 2009
After decades of debate and four years of investigation an international body of earth scientists, led by Cambridge Professor Phil Gibbard, has formally agreed to move the boundary dates for the prehistoric Quaternary Period by 800,000 years.
# Alumni Weekend 2009 events
24th September, 2009
We are running talks and an exhibition for our alumni this weekend, 25th - 26th September 2009.
# Research Clusters
16th June, 2009
The Department's Research Clusters investigate a range of issues in both the environmental sciences and social sciences.
# Open Days for prospective Undergraduates - Thursday 2nd & Friday 3rd July 2009
8th June, 2009
Geography Open Days for prospective students will this year be on 2nd & 3rd July 2009.
- Undergraduate prospectus
- Cambridge Geography has been ranked best degree by The Independent and the Education Guardian
# Conor Farrington wins Harold Blakemore prize
8th June, 2009
Conor Farrington has won the Harold Blakemore prize, awarded by the Society for Latin American Studies, for the best essay by a UK based PhD student in the field of Latin American Studies.
# Quaternary definition led by Cambridge Geography Professor
8th June, 2009
The International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS) has elected to formally define the base of the Quaternary at 2.6 million years before present, and also to lower the base of the Pleistocene — an epoch that encompasses the most recent glaciations — from its historical position at 1.8 million years to 2.6 million years ago. The decision, finalised on 21 May, will now be passed to the executive committee of the International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS) for ratification, which is expected shortly.
The vote shifts an 800,000-year slice, formerly part of the Pliocene Epoch, into the Pleistocene. "It's kind of a land grab," says Philip Gibbard, a geologist at the University of Cambridge, UK, who has fought for the redefinition since 2001. "But we see it as just putting straight a mistake that was made 25–30 years ago. "In 1985, the beginning of the Pleistocene was defined at 1.8 million years ago, calibrated to an outcropping of marine strata in southern Italy. But some geologists have long felt that was a localised, arbitrary boundary that did not reflect worldwide changes — and argued instead for the 2.6-million-year mark, when the entire planet cooled".
The term Quaternary was adopted in the early 1800s, when geologists divvied up fossil records of Earth's history into four periods: the Primary, Secondary, Tertiary and Quaternary. The first two terms were discarded long ago, and although Tertiary is still sometimes used, in recent decades some geologists came to consider the Quaternary an outmoded relic. In 2004, a major publication left the Quaternary out of the ICS timescale altogether, making it vulnerable to extinction from scientific nomenclature. In place of the Quaternary, it extended the prior 'Neogene', which began 23 million years ago, up to the present. The Quaternary community went into open revolt but now peace reigns, as the term is safely defined for the first time in its history.
Read more in Nature and in Science ...
# Workshop: Community-based Action and NRM in an era of Neoliberalism
4th June, 2009
Workshop: Community-based Action and NRM in an era of Neoliberalism (June 19)
# Colloquium: The Inhabited Arctic
4th June, 2009
Colloquium: The Inhabited Arctic at SPRI (17th June)
# Workshop: Trading Across Scales: Current Perspectives on Managing Wildlife Use
4th June, 2009
Workshop: Trading Across Scales: Current Perspectives on Managing Wildlife Use (15th June)
# Cambridge Geography ranked best degree by The Independent and the Education Guardian
20th May, 2009
The Education Guardian University Guide 2010 has once again given top place to the Geography Degree at Cambridge. The Independent's Complete University guide also placed Cambridge Geography top.
EducationGuardian.co.uk's guide to universities and colleges claims to be the most comprehensive source of information on UK higher education. The tables use a range of criteria.
Professor Richard Smith, Head of Department, said:
We are pleased to report that we have once again appeared as the top UK university Department of Geography in the Independent's Complete University Guide published on 30 April 2009 and the Guardian's list of top Universities for teaching Geography published 12 May 2009.
Our online course guide has full details on the Geography Degree at Cambridge.
# Kim Beazley's AAG paper awarded 2009 Development Geographies Specialty Group Paper Award
6th April, 2009
Kim Beazley's AAG paper "Who Directs the Destinies of the Displaced? Interrogating Notions of the Powerless Oustee" has been awarded the 2009 Development Geographies Specialty Group Paper Award at the upcoming AAG meeting in Las Vegas.
# Franz Huber wins RGS-IBG EGRG prize
6th April, 2009
Franz Huber, one of the Department's economic geography PhD students, has won the prize of the RGS-IBG EGRG, for the Working Paper Prize (new for 2009): Social capital of economic clusters: towards a network-based conception of social resources
# Physical Geography / Environmental Science PhD Opportunities 2009
28th March, 2009
Physical Geography / Environmental Science PhD Opportunities
# Graduate studentships
28th March, 2009
# Freeze Frame - historic polar images at SPRI
28th March, 2009
Freeze Frame - historic polar images at SPRI
# Annual Report 2007-8
4th February, 2009
# Comparative Colonialisms
8th January, 2009
Comparative Colonialisms: An Interdisciplinary Workshop
# Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) 2008 result
6th January, 2009
The Cambridge University Department of Geography was ranked first jointly with the Departments of Geography at the Universities of Bristol, Durham and Oxford in the 2008 RAE Assessment Exercise. The percentages of research assessed were 30% at 4*, 40% at 3*, 25% at 2* and 5% at 1*. There were 49 Units of Assessment submitted in Geography and Environmental Studies across UK institutions.
# Princes visit University of Cambridge to meet experts on global trends
10th December, 2008
Their Royal Highnesses Prince William and Prince Harry were in Cambridge on 28th-29th October 2008 to attend a two-day seminar on the social and ecological challenges facing society.
Amongst the University presenters was Professor Bill Adams of the Department of Geography.
The seminar was hosted by the University of Cambridge Programme for Industry (CPI) and focused on a number of global trends: poverty, environmental limits, climate change and security.
# Heart of the Sahara
21st October, 2008
John Pilkington: 'Heart of the Sahara' - 22nd October
# Alumni weekend: 26th-27th September
15th September, 2008
Alumni weekend: 26th-27th September
# Geography welcomes the Cambridge University Centre for Gender Studies
8th September, 2008
The Centre for Gender Studies is an international locus for cutting-edge gender research and a wide community of academics from across the disciplines interested in gender. The Centre is now part of the Department of Geography.
A seminar day will take place on 29th September.
# Seminar presentation by Ingo Kirchner
12th June, 2008
Seminar presentation by Ingo Kirchner
# Zeldovich Medal
19th May, 2008
The Committee for Space Research (COSPAR) has awarded Dr. Kauzar Saleh with the Zeldovich Medal for 2008 in Space Studies of the Earth's Surface, Meteorology and Climate. This award is given jointly by COSPAR and the Russian Academy of Sciences to recognize excellence and achievements of early career scientists.
# 2007 Ashby Prize
19th May, 2008
The Scott Polar Research Institute and Dept. of Geography are pleased to announce that Dr. Richard Powell, a former Ph.D. student (supervised by Dr. M. T. Bravo and Prof. K. S. Richards) and ESRC Research Fellow at the Scott Polar Research Institute/Geography, has been awarded the 2007 Ashby Prize by the editors of Environment and Planning 'A' in recognition of the exceptional quality of his paper on the geography of experimental field practices in the Arctic. The research for the paper was carried out as part of his doctoral work and subsequently submitted for publication. The full reference for the paper is Richard C. Powell (2007) 'The rigours of an Arctic experiment': the precarious authority of field practices in the Canadian High Arctic, 1958-1970 Environment and Planning A 39(8) 1794-1811.
# 25 years of Family Forms and beyond
13th May, 2008
Conference: 25 years of Family Forms and beyond
# Cambridge Geography ranked best degree by the Education Guardian University Guide 2009
13th May, 2008
The Education Guardian University Guide 2009 gave top place to the Geography Degree at Cambridge.
EducationGuardian.co.uk's guide to universities and colleges claims to be the most comprehensive source of information on UK higher education. The tables use a range of criteria.
Professor Richard Smith, Head of Department, said:
We are delighted that we have sustained leading position in the provision of a Geography Degree course that is so highly rated. We seek to provide an educational environment that will continue to satisfy the aspirations of the extremely high quality of those who apply to read Geography in Cambridge.
Our online course guide has full details on the Geography Degree at Cambridge.
# Open Days for prospective Undergraduates - Thursday 3rd July & Friday 4th July 2008
29th April, 2008
The Department is running Open Days on Thursday 3rd July & Friday 4th July 2008.
# Julian Dowdeswell awarded Founder's Medal of the Royal Geographical Society
29th April, 2008
Professor Julian Dowdeswell has been awarded the Founder's Medal of the Royal Geographical Society for 2008. This is one of the two most prestigious medals awarded by the RGS.
# The Anthropocene
29th April, 2008
Humans have altered Earth so much that scientists say that we may be witnessing a transformation of the World as profound as the end of the age of the dinosaurs, and entering a distinctive new geological period.
Writing in the February issue of the Geological Society of America, GSA Today, Britain's leading stratigraphers (experts in marking geological time, including Phil Gibbard, Professor in the Department) the Geological Society of London's Stratigraphy Commission argue that industrialisation has wrought changes so substantial that usher in a new epoch - the Anthropocene.
# Networks in Society and the Economy
12th April, 2008
Networks in Society and the Economy
# Will Harvey wins prestigious post-doc research fellowship at the University of British Columbia
24th March, 2008
PhD student Will Harvey, who has just submitted his thesis has won a prestigious post-doc research fellowship at the University of British Columbia.
# University Scholar broadcasts live from the bottom of the ocean
24th March, 2008
A former University student is taking part in a series of unique underwater classroom tutorials off the coast of the Florida Keys. Read more ...
# Alumni Talk: From Cambridge Geography to the Olympics
9th March, 2008
The first in a series of our Alumni talks - careers talks by former students of the department - will be on Monday 10th March, at 5pm in the Large Lecture Theatre.
# Physical Geography / Environmental Science PhD opportunities - October 2008
11th February, 2008
Physical Geography / Environmental Science PhD opportunities - October 2008
# Ecosystem services and human well-being: Interrogating the evidence
11th February, 2008
Seminar series, 15th January: Ecosystem services and human well-being: Interrogating the evidence
# Former students abroad featured in the media
14th January, 2008
Joe Powell, a student who graduated from the Department last year and has gone to Makerere University in Uganda to do a Masters degree. He has written about his experiences in the Guardian.
Additionally, former student Tim Bromfield has also been involved in the Katine development project being featured/supported by the Guardian.
# Workshop: Experiencing the state: marginalised people and the politics of development in India
31st October, 2007
This workshop will be held on 23rd January 2008 in the Department.
# Research seminars - Michaelmas term 2007
3rd October, 2007
Research seminars for this term
# Second Life virtual world lecture from Cambridge Geography professor
25th September, 2007
Professor Philip Gibbard, from the Department of Geography, will speak for half an hour to an audience he himself cannot see using the 3D internet world, 'Second Life'.
The lecture will take place in Second Life at 7pm on Thursday, September 26th and will last for about 30 minutes, including the question and answer session.
See more details and the Lecture venue in Second Life.
The slides from Phil's talk are now available online.
# QPG members featured on BBC's 'Countryfile'
22nd September, 2007
Members of the Quaternary Palaeoenvironments Group joined BBC presenter John Craven to present the vegetational history of the famous Hockham Mere site for the programme Countryfile.
The report can be watched online and was screened on BBC1 TV at 11am on Sunday 23rd September.
# Catastrophic floods in the English Channel
1st August, 2007
There has been much interest in research on Catastrophic floods in the English Channel published in Nature, 19th July 2007.
# Undergraduate open days 2007
23rd June, 2007
# Annual Report 2005
9th June, 2007
# Jie Ding one of two winners of this year's RGS-IBG Hong Kong Research Grant
8th June, 2007
Jie Ding (PhD student) has been selected as one of two shared winners of this year's RGS-IBG Hong Kong Research Grant.
# Andrew Currah awarded EGRG (Economic Geography Research Group) annual prize
8th June, 2007
Recent former PhD student, Andrew Currah, has just been awarded the EGRG's (Economic Geography Research Group) annual prize for the best PhD dissertation.
# Research seminars - Easter term 2007
21st May, 2007
# Cambridge Geography ranked best degree by the Guardian University Guide 2008
21st May, 2007
The Guardian University Guide 2008 gave equal first place to the Geography Degree at Cambridge.
EducationGuardian.co.uk's guide to universities and colleges claims to be the most comprehensive source of information on UK higher education. The tables use a range of criteria.
Professor Bob Haining, Head of Department, said:
"I am very pleased to see that we continue to score highly in these national comparisons. My colleagues and I will continue to make every effort to offer a first class education to the outstanding students who study here."
Our online course guide has full details on the Geography Degree at Cambridge.
# Ron Martin elected to three-year Leverhulme Major Research Fellowship
1st May, 2007
Ron Martin has been elected to a three-year Leverhulme Major Research Fellowship, from October 2007 to September 2010 to research evolutionary economics and economic geography.
# Lectureships in Physical Geography and in Economic Geography
21st April, 2007
Lectureships in Physical Geography and in Economic Geography
# Human Geography PhD opportunities - ESRC studentships
5th February, 2007
Human Geography PhD opportunities - ESRC studentships
# Professor Sir Alan Wilson
29th January, 2007
The General Board has conferred the title of Honorary Professor of Urban and Regional Geography on Sir Alan Wilson, Master of Corpus Christi.
The seminar scheduled for 10th May (entitled 'Boltzmann, Lotka and Volterra and the evolution of geographical structures') has been postponed.
# Research seminars for Lent Term
26th January, 2007
Research seminars for Lent Term
# Symposium on Geopolitics
4th January, 2007
Symposium on Geopolitics - Friday January 12 2007
# Graduate Studentships
1st January, 2007
# Christopher Rimmer awarded British Hydrological Society prize
29th November, 2006
Christopher Rimmer has been awarded second prize (cash and certificate as 'runner up') by the British Hydrological Society for his dissertation on 'The changing climate of Swiss hydroelectric power production: An analysis of the Haut Glacier D'Arolla meltwater discharge characteristics'.
# Will Harvey awarded EGRG (Economic Geography Research Group) prize
7th September, 2006
Will Harvey, Ph.D. student, has been awarded the EGRG (Economic Geography Research Group) prize for the best Masters Thesis. Will's thesis was entitled "Highly-skilled migration: An analysis of immigrant networks in biotechnology" and has formed the basis of his PhD work.
# Joseph Fisher has been awarded Joanna Stillwell Prize
7th September, 2006
Part II student Joseph Fisher has been awarded Third Prize for the Joanna Stillwell Prize for Population Geography Dissertations.
# Undergraduate open days 2006
13th May, 2006
# Human Geography PhD. Opportunities - October 2006
11th May, 2006
Human Geography PhD. Opportunities - October 2006
# Cambridge Geography ranked best degree by the Education Guardian 2006
11th May, 2006
Cambridge Geography ranked best degree by the Education Guardian 2006
# EGRG Annual Symposium 2006
11th May, 2006
# Chloe de Pencier wins Landscape Research Group Dissertation Prize 2005
24th April, 2006
Chloe de Pencier of Sidney Sussex College has won the Landscape Research Group Dissertation Prize 2005. Her first class dissertation was entitled "Landscapes of the Mind: An Artist and his Public, Questions of Communication". The work was judged as "the best undergraduate dissertation or project based on original academic research and showing conceptual sophistication in the study of landscape".
# European Science Foundation Exploratory Workshop on Evolutionary Economic Geography
24th April, 2006
Cambridge hosted a European Science Foundation Exploratory Workshop on Evolutionary Economic Geography, convened by Prof Ron Martin (Cambridge) and Prof Ron Boschma (Utrecht) on April 3-5. Some 24 leading evolutionary economists and economic geographers from across Europe met to explore the construction of a new evolutionary perspective for studying the economic landscape.
# Robin Donkin
24th April, 2006
The Department received, with great sadness, news that Dr Robin Donkin, Fellow of Jesus College and a former member of the Department, died on 1 February 2006. Text of the eulogy spoken at the memorial service can be read online.
# Geography and ethics
1st February, 2006
'Geography and ethics': this term's research seminars
# NERC studentships
1st February, 2006
NERC studentships available for MPhil degree in GIS and Remote Sensing
# Physical Geography PhD. Opportunities - October 2006
1st February, 2006
Physical Geography PhD. Opportunities - October 2006
# Sarah Radcliffe made Editor of Progress in Human Geography
23rd November, 2005
Dr Sarah Radcliffe has recently been made Editor of Progress in Human Geography (one of five editors)
# Simon Reid Henry awarded best PhD thesis in Economic Geography
23rd November, 2005
Dr Simon Reid Henry: AAG Economic Geography Speciality Group: best PhD thesis in Economic Geography for 2004.
# Rory Gallagher awarded prize in AAG's Sexuality and Space Speciality Group's student paper competition
23rd November, 2005
Rory Gallagher: Second Prize in the AAG's Sexuality and Space Speciality Group's student paper competition
# Al James awarded best UK PhD thesis in Economic Geography for 2003
23rd November, 2005
Dr Al James: RGS-IBG Economic Geography Research Group: best UK PhD thesis in Economic Geography for 2003
# Will Harvey awarded Millennium Scholarship
23rd November, 2005
MPhil student Will Harvey, who has received the highly prestigious Millennium Scholarship from the University.
# Mia Gray appointed secretary of the Economic Geography Research Group at the RGS
23rd November, 2005
Dr Mia Gray has become secretary of the Economic Geography Research Group at the Royal Geographical Society.
# Andrew Currah accepts lectureship in Geography at Oxford University
23rd November, 2005
Andrew Currah, PhD student in economic geography, has just accepted a lectureship in Geography at Oxford University.
# Will Harvey made Editor of Contour
23rd November, 2005
Will Harvey has been made Editor of the RGS-IBG E-Journal Contour
# Dr Clive Oppenheimer awarded the Murchison Award
23rd November, 2005
The Royal Geographical Society with IBG have awarded Dr Clive Oppenheimer the Murchison Award ('for publications enhancing the understanding of volcanic processes and impacts')
# Research seminars for Michaelmas term 2005
10th October, 2005
Research seminars for Michaelmas term
# Cambridge Geography ranked best degree by the Education Guardian
10th October, 2005
The Education Guardian 2005 University Rankings gave first place to the Geography Degree at Cambridge, with 83% (6% clear of the next ranked University). A total of 84 Degrees were analysed in the survey.
EducationGuardian.co.uk's guide to universities and colleges claims to be the most comprehensive source of information on UK higher education. The tables use a range of criteria. A staff score (based on the teaching staff in each subject); entry qualification : (what it takes to get in); spend per student (how much money is put into teaching); staff/student:staff ratio; value added score (conversion of A-levels into a degree class), student destinations (postgraduate employment)j, and inclusiveness (recruitment of ethnic, disabled and mature students).
Professor Bob Haining, Head of Department, said:
"I am delighted at this recognition of the tremendous amount of hard work that colleagues put into teaching undergraduates in Cambridge. We are fortunate to have outstanding students, and we make every effort to offer teaching of the highest standard."
Our online course guide has full details on the Geography Degree at Cambridge.
# Cambridge Geography ranked top by The Times Good University Guide
10th October, 2005
The Department has come out top for Geography in the 'The Times Good University Guide'. The rankings are based on official assessments of teaching quality, research, average Ucas scores and percentage of graduates who go on to graduate-type jobs or further study.
The rankings for Geography are available at
http://extras.timesonline.co.uk/gooduniversityguide2005/20geography.pdf [PDF format].
Cambridge Geography was also recently ranked best degree by the Education Guardian.
# Annual Report 2004
1st October, 2005
The Department's Annual Report 2004 is now online.
# Ron Martin elected a Fellow of the British Academy.
31st July, 2005
In July 2005, Ron Martin was elected a Fellow of the British Academy.
# Open Day for prospective Undergraduates - 7th July
1st July, 2005
Open Day for prospective Undergraduates - 7th July
# Environmental Policy: Change and Continuity, North and South
1st May, 2005
Environmental Policy: Change and Continuity, North and South - one day conference on 13th May
# ESRC studentships and Physical Geography PhD opportunities for UK students
23rd February, 2005
ESRC studentships and Physical Geography PhD. Opportunities for UK students - October 2005
# Geomed 2005: Conference on public health
1st February, 2005
Geomed 2005: Conference on public health to be held in September bringing together geographers, statisticians, epidemiologists, computer scientists and public health professionals.
# Producing Rigorous and Relevant Graduate Research in Social and Economic Geography
1st February, 2005
Producing Rigorous and Relevant Graduate Research in Social and Economic Geography
# CCRU and Khaled Bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation to assess tsunami impact on Western Indian Ocean coral reefs
24th January, 2005
An international coral reef assessment group, jointly co-ordinated by Dr Tom Spencer and Capt Phil Renaud, Executive Director of the Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation, and led in the field by Annelise Hagan of the Department of Geography's Coastal Research Unit, leaves for the Seychelles on 7 January to assess tsunami impacts on the coral reefs and shallow banks of the southern Seychelles (5-10 deg S).
# University-wide open day for Undergraduate admissions
14th June, 2004
University-wide open day for Undergraduate admissions - 1st July 2004
# Professor Hans-F. Graf
17th June, 2003
Appointment of Professor Hans-F. Graf to the Chair of Environmental Systems Science
# Research Clusters
17th June, 2003
New information detailing the work of the five research clusters in the Department is now online.
# New staff information online!
19th May, 2003
# Physical Geography Ph.D. Opportunities - October 2003
19th March, 2003
Physical Geography Ph.D. Opportunities - October 2003
# Photos from Cambridge Festival of Science - National Science Week events
19th March, 2003
Photos from Cambridge Festival of Science - National Science Week events
# Environment and Livelihoods in African Drylands
18th February, 2002