Royal Holloway Department of Geography

Royal Holloway Department of Geography One of the top 5 geography departments in the UK, and top 3 for geography teaching (Times Good University Guide 2025).

The Department of Geography at Royal Holloway is world-renowned. We are ranked within the top 5 geography departments in the UK, and in the top 3 for geography teaching (Times Good University Guide 2025). At our beautiful campus near Windsor we offer degrees across Human and Physical Geography which give excellent career prospects to our graduates.

Yesterday we were delighted to welcome alumnus Swatantra Gupta (MA Practising Sustainable Development, 2005-2006) back t...
08/10/2026

Yesterday we were delighted to welcome alumnus Swatantra Gupta (MA Practising Sustainable Development, 2005-2006) back to campus. He spoke with our students about the development sector, emerging challenges and the journey that took him from Royal Holloway to leading Private Sector Partnerships at UNICEF India.

Students were particularly engaged by his account of how the sector is evolving, providing scientific and technical insight, and strategic collaboration across governments and the private sector. They gained a clear sense that development careers are wide ranging, with opportunities in communications, digital data, fundraising, policy, operations and more. It was an excellent session that opened up new ways of thinking about careers in development for our Geographers and the diverse routes that lead to meaningful change in the sector.

Thank you Swatantra, it is always fantastic to hear from our alumni!

For this week’s , we are highlighting third‑year student Amy and her dissertation research. Find out more about her pro...
02/10/2026

For this week’s , we are highlighting third‑year student Amy and her dissertation research. Find out more about her project below:

‘I have had the most amazing opportunity to conduct my dissertation research in the research laboratories within the Department. My project, “Reconstructing eruption histories and long-range tephra correlations from marine cores close to the Azores using volcanic ash (tephra) geochemical analyses”, aims to refine the eruptive record of Azorean volcanoes. Although terrestrial sediment archives preserve many prehistoric eruptions, they can be obscured or eroded by more recent eruptive activity. Continuous proximal sediment records from marine cores, supported by tephrostratigraphy and geochemical analyses, provide a way to address these gaps and improve understanding of past and potential future eruptions. I have focused on two marine cores, GC01 and GC03.

During the summer I have been working with Dr Alice Carter-Champion and Katy Flowers to extract and analyse cryptotephra from these sediments, which were collected by Institut for Geoscience AU. I have learned a range of laboratory techniques, including tephra extraction through a process known as floating, involving using specific gravities of Sodium Polytungstate (SPT). It has been fascinating to see how samples vary with depth and to consider the processes behind these changes. Once I have analysed my samples under a microscope, I will obtain geochemical data for samples with peaks in tephra concentration. These results will be analysed in R, with the aim of applying machine‑learning methods to assign tephra layers to known sources.

A huge thank you to my supervisors for their continued support during my research!’

FieldworkFriday

What a whirlwind Welcome Week it has been. We have very much enjoyed meeting our new first‑year students, who also met t...
25/09/2026

What a whirlwind Welcome Week it has been. We have very much enjoyed meeting our new first‑year students, who also met their personal tutors for the first time, and welcoming back our returning students ahead of classes next week. Yesterday’s Welcome Reception, kindly hosted by , was a great way to celebrate the start of the year. Thank you to the committee for organising such a fantastic event. We are looking forward to all the upcoming activities you have planned. Stay tuned for all content!

The Department held its Geography PhD Research Forum and Poster Exhibition yesterday, featuring presentations and poster...
23/09/2026

The Department held its Geography PhD Research Forum and Poster Exhibition yesterday, featuring presentations and posters from postgraduate researchers working across physical and human geography. The event highlighted ongoing work on climate events, geomorphology, biocultural collections, environmental DNA and more. Thank you to all presenters, organisers and attendees for an engaging and successful afternoon for and !

As part of our series, we are highlighting the experiences our students are gaining as part of their studies. This wee...
23/09/2026

As part of our series, we are highlighting the experiences our students are gaining as part of their studies. This week, we are featuring Amy, who is completing her dissertation as a placement with The Crown Estate, as Amy explains.

‘Over the summer, I have been collecting data from a water body in Windsor Great Park to assess its ecological health and biodiversity. I have collected samples from multiple points around the pond and carried out a range of field measurements to help assess the condition of the habitat.

In the labs at Royal Holloway, I have been analysing the water samples to understand the factors influencing its ecology.

Completing this research as a placement has been a valuable opportunity to apply the knowledge and skills I have developed through my studies to a real-world environmental project. It has allowed me to gain practical experience in both fieldwork and laboratory analysis, while developing my data collection, analysis and problem-solving skills.

I hope my research will support the Crown Estate in continuing to effectively maintain and protect the pond. I look forward to presenting my findings in the future to the team and building on the experience I have gained throughout my placement.’

The start of Term is nearly here and campus is already buzzing with new arrivals. Here in Queen’s Building, we are putti...
18/09/2026

The start of Term is nearly here and campus is already buzzing with new arrivals. Here in Queen’s Building, we are putting the final touches in place as we get ready to welcome our new and returning students back to the Department for Welcome Week. Students, please keep an eye on your emails for important updates. We are also ending the week on a high as we are officially a Top 10 Geography department in The Guardian University Guide 2027 (ranking 10th out of 70 Institutions). This is a fantastic achievement for our whole community! 👏

Several members of our department attended the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) conference last week, contributing ...
10/09/2026

Several members of our department attended the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) conference last week, contributing to a range of thought-provoking sessions

Post doc researchers Kapil Yadav, Cathy Smith and Will Hayes convened and presented a panel “Reflecting on the Rural Transformations and Fire”, Will Hayes shares:

‘From the savannas of northern Ghana and the Himalayan landscape of Uttarakhand, to the hills and mountains of Serranía de Cuenca, West Cork and Kerry, and the Scottish Highlands and Islands, it was an absolute pleasure to contribute to and learn from the Rural Transformations and Fire panel at RGS-IBG 2026. 
 
Across the talks, the common theme was that the questions went well beyond fire itself to the future of rural livelihoods, changing labour and demographics, shifting land use, the loss and adaptation of local knowledge, and the potential role of nature-based solutions.  
 
Taken together, the session felt less like a discussion of fire in isolation and more like one about how rural places are being reshaped, and by who.’

Also featured in the photos is the session “Heat Stress in and Beyond Humans: Critical Planetary Health Perspectives,” led by Laurie Parsons, Camellia Biswas, Jennifer Cole and Pratik Mishra (University of Sussex).

These questions of changing environments and the challenges they create were also reflected in the work of PhD researcher Min Yee Tan, who convened the session “Who Cares… What Does It Mean to Care in Critical Geopolitics?”, bringing questions of care, politics and responsibility into critical geopolitical debates.

A fantastic week for

14/08/2026

Our latest staff spotlight features Dr Laurie Parsons, who brings the realities of climate change in the global economy into his teaching. Laurie is a Human Geographer whose research examines how climate change is experienced within the global economy, revealing the hidden environmental risks embedded in globalised systems of production. His work shows how everyday goods rely on processes that generate carbon emissions and contribute to global environmental crises, and how our consumption choices reflect these unequal landscapes of impact.

Laurie is strongly committed to policy engagement and has led major projects on climate vulnerability and inequality in Cambodia for organisations including Transparency International, Plan International, Save the Children, CARE International, ActionAid, the IDRC and the Royal University of Phnom Penh. Across Laurie’s first- and second‑year modules, students engage directly with such policy issues and explore how climate change is shaped by the social, political and economic systems in which we live.

This is what it means to study Geography at Royal Holloway.

14/08/2026

Our lovely Geography students often work part-time alongside their studies, and we have been lucky to have Lauren, one of our Geographers, working as a Student Ambassador with the College team this year.

She’s been helping out at our Open Days and is on duty today and tomorrow for anyone who’d like to come and visit our campus! 👋

For those of you who have your A-Level results and want to suss out your options, come and see what we have to offer! Check out our website for all the details and DM us with any queries.

📞 Clearing hotline: +44 (0) 1784 772455

This , we are spotlighting a student who conducted their dissertation research right here on campus, working with our H...
14/08/2026

This , we are spotlighting a student who conducted their dissertation research right here on campus, working with our Head Gardener, Dan, and the Estates Team to investigate innovative approaches to managing our natural environment. Saskia’s dissertation explored the effectiveness of natural flood management on the Canada Copse stream at Royal Holloway.

The stream has been managed using leaky log dams in its upper section and restored meanders further downstream. These measures are designed to slow water flow, manage sediment and reduce the risk of flooding in nearby areas.

To investigate how well these measures are working, Saskia collected data at different points along the stream, looking at factors such as water depth, flow speed, channel morphology and sediment size. Her research also compared normal conditions with higher flows created through controlled water releases.

Even though we haven’t seen much rain lately, the next big downpour will put these natural flood management measures to the test! With climate change likely to increase the intensity of heavy rainfall events in the UK, understanding how natural flood management works is becoming increasingly important.

Research like Saskia’s demonstrates how our campus can provide a valuable living laboratory for student research. Saskia also received a Geography Excellence Prize for her outstanding performance during her degree at last month’s graduation. A well-deserved recognition of her hard work and achievements! We wish you all the best for the future, Saskia! 🎓🌍

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Department Of Geography, Royal Holloway, University Of London
Egham
TW200EX

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