Undergraduate study: Geographical Tripos

Third year

In the third year, from October 2011, students select four papers, from a choice of 12, which are assessed by either three–hour written examination or by a combination of two–hour written examination and a coursework project. Papers on offer vary each year depending on patterns of research leave but those available in 2010–11 include:

Europe and Beyond: Politics, Societies and Economies
Political Geography: Geographies of Post–Colonialism
The Social Engagement with Nature
The Human Geography of the Arctic Regions
Contemporary India: The Politics of Society, Environment and Development
Geographies of Discipline and Social Regulation in the Nineteenth Century
Biosedimentary Coastal Systems
Biogeography
Glacial Environments
Volcanology

Dissertations

As part of the third-year examination, students submit a dissertation (not exceeding 10,000 words) on a subject of their choice. Members of staff and research students are available for preliminary advice on appropriate topics and procedures, and there is some supervision during the third year. The basic research is undertaken during the summer vacation at the end of the second year: this is an opportunity to put into practice what has been taught in lectures and practical classes.

The subjects and locations of dissertations vary widely, as a few titles from recent years indicate:

A Lost Community? Migration and community on St Mary’s, Isles of Scilly
Saviour or Stealth Tax? Pay-by-use Domestic Waste Charging in Dublin, Ireland
Food Access in Malawi: An Island Perspective
International Volunteering: The Balance Between Commercialism and Development
Living in the Valley of the Shadow of Death? Management and Risk Perception of Volcanic Hazards near Mt Rainier, WA
Sex, Space and Social Controls: The Geographies of Fear in Contemporary Britain
The Coffee Landscape of Honduras: Biodiversity and Fragmentation
Sulphur Dioxide and Hydrogen Sulphide Emissions from Mutnovsky Volcano, Kamchatka, Russia
Historical Geographies of Community Centres in Singapore: Entanglements of Power in the Constructions of a Postcolonial Nation
Recent Temporal Changes and Spatial Trends in the Dynamics of a Shrinking Valley Glacier: Haut Glacier D’Arolla, Switzerland
Observing surveillance: a Cultural Approach to Police Surveillance of New York.

Some students choose to do the research for their dissertations abroad, whilst others stay in the British Isles. Some funding is available from the University, via the Department and a number of travel awards for which there is open competition amongst undergraduates. In addition, some Colleges are able to make travel awards. However, the potential costs of fieldwork have to be carefully considered at the planning stage to ensure that the dissertation is feasible.