Geography (Human and Physical) (Research)

Interdisciplinary research institutes
Geography is part of two interdisciplinary institutes:

Global Systems Institute (GSI)
Geography plays a key role in the Global Systems Institute: a transdisciplinary group of researchers, educators and partners developing transformative solutions to secure a flourishing future for humanity as an integral part of a life-sustaining Earth system.

Environment and Sustainability Institute (ESI)
Geography also contributes to the Environment and Sustainability Institute on our Penryn Campus in Cornwall which has allowed us to expand our expertise in environmental and social change into areas focused explicitly on ecosystem services.

Human Geography research groups

Cultural and Historical Geographies
Focusing around six key themes:

• Geographies of creativity

• Creative geographies

• Historical geographies of science and exploration

• Geographies of landscape

• Visual, haptic and material geographies

• Theory and geophilosophy

• Space, Politics and Society

This group is concerned with the question of ‘Who Gets What Where and How?’ We investigate contemporary geographies of inequality, injustice and insecurity, and seek to understand new scales of governance, the emergence of oppositional practices, and innovative forms of popular participation.

Life Geographies
Research focuses on the geographies and politics of living and material systems. We address key questions around geography, life science and bio-politics.

Environment and Sustainability
This is a group of leading and emerging social scientists who undertake interdisciplinary research on frontier issues of environment and sustainability. The group bring spatial and geographical dimensions to research on sustainability theory and policy, and undertake cutting-edge research in distinctive areas such as place attachment, political economies of energy, climate justice and ecosystem services.

Energy Policy
Based at our Penryn Campus, Energy Policy is a core element of our wider environment and sustainability research and has a focus on placing sustainability and change at the heart of debates about energy policy and governance.

Physical Geography research groups

Landscape and Ecosystem Dynamics
This group builds on Exeter’s established strengths in water, sediment and nutrient cycling, but integrates expertise in ecosystem functioning, carbon dynamics and climate modelling. A key focus is on the links between landscape processes and ecosystem responses to human activity and climate change.

Geographers at Exeter also contribute to the cross disciplinary Earth System Science group.

To learn more about modules, assessment methods, facilities and our staff research expertise please visit our course page.