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Science and Engineering at The University of Edinburgh

School of GeoSciences

Institute of Geography
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Research

The Institute of Geography maintains excellence across the following research groups:

Cosmogenic Isotope Analysis and Geomorphology
(focussing on landscape dating and evolution)

This group undertakes research in the following areas: cosmogenic noble gas mass spectrometry; accelerator mass spectrometry; measurement of erosion rates; dating of landscapes; recent environmental change; long-term landscape development; erosion rate estimation; dating of soils and study of the patterns of soil accumulation.

Environmental Modelling and Monitoring
(including Geographical Information Science and Remote Sensing)

This group undertakes research in the following areas: system analysis; environmental database management; visualisation; parallel computing and GIS performance analysis; web-based GIS; geomatics; radar remote sensing; remote sensing of freshwater systems and vegetation; modelling of ice sheets and environmental change; acid deposition modelling; soil-plant relationships and land development in the humid tropics; tropical ecosystems; environmental policy.

Palaeoenvironmental Reconstruction and Modelling
(focussing on geomorphology, palaeoecology and dating)

This group undertakes research in the following areas: glacial and polar geomorphology, macrogeomorphology and long-term landform development; tephrochronology; palaeoevironmental change and reconstruction; application of cosmogenic techniques to geomorphology.

Geographies of Relations and Identities

In examining the interplay between place, space, relations and identities, the Human Geography Research Group advances understanding through situated research concerned with ethnicity, national identity, indigeneity, gender, caste and age, as well as intersections between them. Our research addresses the categories through which social identities are defined, illuminating their instability and contestability in, for example, studies of relations among and between peoples described as "indigenous" and "settlers" or "migrants"; among and between conflictual ethno-national groups in shared territories; and through scholarship that destabilises dominant conceptions of (ethno)nationality and gender. Our research here also embraces the commodification of places and identities in the leisure industry; creative uses of "natural" landscapes to enhance health and wellbeing; and embodied, emotional attachments between people and environments.

Geographical Knowledges, Practices and Policies

Here, our research examines the co-production of knowledges and geographies in, for example, studies of the meanings of "nature"; geographies of the production of scientific and non-scientific knowledges of the environment; geographies of the Enlightenment; analyses of the influence of risk and risk management as spatially organising frameworks in the field of insurance. This research is characterised by reforging geography�s connections with the humanities and by exploring discursive practices of knowledge-making including those associated with disciplinary boundaries. This aspect of our research explores the spatialities of knowledges and practices, analysing and informing policy in a range of fields including health-care, education and social justice. This research engages reflexively with questions of ethics and other aspects of the production of "academic" knowledges.

Development and Power

Drawing on political economy, political ecology, critical development and postcolonial theory, our research engages with uneven processes of development, geopolitics and globalisation through a range of processes, including education and social transformation, postcolonial and transnational geographies, global and local interactions, and environmental resource management. Specific areas of interest include the role of education in ensuring social inclusion, land reform and empowerment, the political economy of forestry and tourist resources, and regional development.

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