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Department of Geography

 

Annual Report 2001: Introduction from the Head of Department

2001 was a year of continuing growth for the Department, putting in place the planning objectives from 2000.

The History of Population and Social Structure fully joined the Department, under the direction of Dr Richard Smith, moving into the Sir William Hardy Building and have added greatly to the Department’s profile in cultural and historical geography. After settling in over the summer they began life as part of the Department from October 2001.

The plans for the SRIF project in the Sir William Hardy Building to house the Unit of Landscape Modelling (ULM) continued throughout the year, the project gaining full approval and meetings with architects commencing. The development, including the building and equipment, will form a unique GIS and Remote Sensing Centre, including map and photographic libraries that will be a resource not just for the Department but for the University and nationally as well. At the time of writing, the national impact has already been recognised through a formal collaborative agreement with NERC which includes the provision of one of their aircraft for use by the Unit. This is leading to exciting joint research ventures such as the Arctic Deployment recently advertised as a joint NERC/ULM venture.

The Department and the Scott Polar Research Institute continued to strengthen their close working relationships with the appointment and arrival of Professor Julian Dowdeswell, who as well as taking up post as Professor of Physical Geography from 1 October 2001 has also been appointed as Director of the Institute to take over from Professor Keith Richards. His arrival has greatly strengthened the Physical Geography research in the Department and we were delighted that he joined us.


As is always the case in a dynamic Department, 2001 has seen the usual comings and goings.

Leavers from the Department include Alan Ingram and Chronis Tzadakis.

Drs Baker, Glasscock and Keeble formally retired although all still retain strong links with the Department.

New appointments to the staff include Professor Julian Dowdeswell and Dr Liz Watson, appointed to an established assistant lectureship.

It is always a pleasure to record the success of staff in achieving personal promotions and upgradings – in 2001, Dr Phil Gibbard to a Personal Readership, Dr Bernard Devereux to a University Lectureship and, on the support front, Mr Dan Scott to Computer Officer.

This year of growth and development was accompanied by the disappointing news that the Department had been rated as a 5 in the 2001 Research Assessment Exercise. We feel confident that once the developments of the last few years have had time to settle, and the real benefits of our new constituent units are felt, our position will be more properly recognised in any future research assessment.

Professor R J Bennett
Acting Head of Department
August 2002