MPhil/PhD Physical Geography MPhil/PhD Physical Geography

Potential areas of work are aligned with the Department's current research strengths and specialisms and include (but are not limited to):

• Alluvial geoarchaeology and environmental history
• Biogeochemistry, ecosystems and human health
• Extreme hydrological events (floods and droughts) and climate change
• GIS and remote sensing for assessment of water-related diseases
• Greenland ’s ice sheet mass balance/glaciology
• Mining impacts on freshwater, coastal, and marine environments
• Morphodynamics of large rivers, coasts, and deltas
• Quaternary environmental change.

Development, Inequality, Resilience, and Environments (DIRE)

Development, Inequality, Resilience and Environments addresses the most urgent and immediate threats to the resilience of human environment systems and seeks to understand the complex interactions between societies and the landscapes they inhabit that precipitate vulnerability, including rural and urban dynamics. Our scope also contributes to the growing body of research undertaken by University of Lincoln academics around sustainability, in particular environmental justice, and the role of governance, both within the UK and abroad.

Lincoln Centre for Water and Planetary Health (LCWPH)

The Lincoln Centre for Water and Planetary Health (LCWPH) focuses on solving the most pressing global environmental and societal challenges related to aquatic ecosystems and water resources. These include hydrological and sea-level impacts of climate change, flood-related contamination from metal mining and processing, and water-borne and vector-borne diseases affecting humans and animals, as well as behavioural, political, and economic adaptation mechanisms to mitigate environmental and human health impacts.

As part of the LCWPH, we have recently established the Lincoln Climate Research Group (LCGR), which addresses the physical, social, environmental, and political causes and drivers of climate variations over a range of temporal and spatial scales in the Global North and Global South. The interdisciplinary nature of this research group also feeds into other key themes within the University, such as 'Rurality' (e.g. through climate impacts on agricultural production) and 'Communities' (e.g. through climate change impacts of and adaptation to floods and droughts, migration and cites).

Find out more on the Department's research pages:

https://www.lincoln.ac.uk/home/geography/research/

https://www.lincoln.ac.uk/home/geography/research/postgraduateresearchprojects/

The key to a successful programme is to find a research subject that you are passionate about, and a supervisory team that have expertise in this area. The first thing that all students should do is directly contact a member of staff who works in an area that they are interested in. We have wide areas of expertise in the Department spanning climate change, river and coastal processes and pollution, waterborne diseases, biogeography, environmental behaviour, rural economy, social and political geography, development studies, and more.

Please visit the pages of the Department to find the areas you are interested in, and then identify potential academic supervisors:

https://www.lincoln.ac.uk/home/geography/

You are invited to contact the supervisors that you feel are best suited to your research area to discuss the process further. Applications should include a CV and a research proposal (not exceeding 3000 words, including references) with an indicative structure as follows: Names of proposed academic supervisors, aims and purpose of the research, overview of the academic literature relevant to your field, proposed methodology, and expected outcome/impact of your research. Upon positive evaluation of your proposal, you will be invited for an interview to discuss your personal/academics skills and your research project.

Enrolment Dates

To support your experience within the postgraduate research community, new students are encouraged to enrol in October, February, or May. In addition to meeting peers across the University who are starting their research programme at the same time, there is access to a central training programme designed around the first three months of study, and targeted support aligned to each stage of the postgraduate research journey. Alternative enrolment dates may be agreed with your supervisor on an individual basis.

Geography provides a broad range of career opportunities, including roles in the environmental and health sectors, the geographical information systems (GIS) industry, management and financial services, social and environmental consultancy, and teaching.