Field trips

Fieldwork forms an integral part of the Cambridge Geography experience.

I’ve always been a very ‘outdoorsy’ and adventurous person, and look for any excuse to get out and explore the amazing world we live in! For me, Geography gives me that opportunity, which is why I chose to study it at university. I just love being able to understand the landscape and scenery around me, and why it looks in the way that it does, and Geography enables me to do that. — Keziah, second year.

Residential and multi-day field classes

Every second year student attends either a residential or multi-day field class. These are seen as an essential building block for undergraduate final year dissertation research, both in terms of inspiring students in their choice of topics, and in teaching specific field research skills.

Field class teaching objectives and focus are diverse, reflecting the interdisciplinary nature of the subject, reaching from the physical sciences through the biological sciences to the social sciences and humanities. The fieldtrips aim to provide you with skills for collecting data using appropriate techniques, in a safe manner, while considering the impact of investigations on the environment and stakeholders.

Different trips run in different years. Recent destinations have included the Spain, Germany, Ireland, Switzerland and Morocco as well as the UK. We take seriously the environmental impact of fieldwork and its carbon footprint. We therefore do not run fieldtrips to long-haul destinations and seek to offer low carbon fieldtrips. We are aiming to reduce the carbon impact of our fieldtrips over time.

Our multi-day field classes are designed to combine field work away from Cambridge with lab work back in Cambridge. This provides a chance for students to learn more advanced techniques that those taught in other areas of the course.

The Department has endorsed and signed the Royal Geographical Society’s statement of principles on undergraduate fieldwork which includes a statement about auditing and reviewing of undergraduate fieldwork carbon impacts, offering low carbon fieldtrips and aiming to reduce their carbon footprint.

Mallorca field trip

The Mallorca fieldtrip is a fairly even mix of human and physical geography. Projects undertaken have been varied, from looking at coastal rock forms, to examining the portrayal of Mallorca’s Arabic history, to the representation of gay space in Palma.

Mallorca gallery

Tenerife field trip

The aims of this field trip are to introduce students to research and data analytical skills for developing an understanding of landscape and land-use patterns. This is primarily through field surveys, e.g. of volcanic outcrops, vegetation communities and land-use, and to integrate these with remotely sensed data. We work on the island in collaboration with Tenerifan volcanologists and ecologists.

Tenerife gallery

Skallingen field trip

The Skallingen fieldtrip is based at the University of Copenhagen Field Station near Esbjerg, on the Wadden Sea coast of Denmark. The aim of this field course will is to allow students to learn about the barrier coastlines of NW Europe, their histories and possible futures.

Skallingen gallery

Morocco field trip

The Morocco trip has covered a diverse range of topics: the changing nature of Islam, irrigation management, communications technology, gender and work, cultural heritage, and more.

Morocco gallery