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The University of Southampton
Geography and Environmental SciencePostgraduate study

Research Degrees

In Geography and Environmental Science we are proud of our strong track record of supporting postgraduate research students, with an excellent record for thesis submission. Our team of academic staff is committed to high quality, rigorous research and teaching and we have the first-rate facilities you would expect from a leading research school.

During the course of your research your progress will be supported and monitored by a supervisory panel who will make sure you have access to the advice and information you need to make your project a success.

If you are considering joining us, you will already be interested in research that is encompassed within one of our key research themes. You would have the opportunity to join at least one of these groups and get to enjoy being a part of an academic community with staff, post-doctoral researchers and fellow PhD students working in your broad field:

Within Geography and Environmental Science, specialised research and enterprise activities are also undertaken within WorldPop, Centre for Environmental Sciences (CES), GeoData and the Palaeoenvironmental Laboratory at the University of Southampton (PLUS). You may be supervised by a staff member in one of these centres, in which case you would also feel part of their networks.

An increasing proportion of our activities involves collaborative working across the University. You may find that your chosen project is jointly supervised by academic colleagues from Economic, Social and Political Science, Ocean and Earth Sciences, Civil, Maritime and Environmental Engineering, or another area.

 

Key information

Each year, Geography and Environmental Science advertises specific topics and projects for which prospective students may apply (for more information, follow our link below to current PhD studentships). Alternatively, some students may wish to submit an application with a topic and project design of their choice. Indeed, we encourage this in the case of Human Geography students. For student led applications, please follow the standard application guidance as per the advertised topics and projects, but in addition you will be required to submit a Research Proposal. There is no official format, but we suggest a minimum of 1000 words and coverage of the following items: the research problem, the context that makes the research problem important and relevant, the aims and objectives, potential research questions, and likely research methods.

Entrance requirements

English Language

If your first language or language of education is not English, we will ask you to show evidence of fluency in the use of English. For all of our postgraduate programmes, we require a level of IELTS 6.5, to include a minimum of 6.0 in Writing, Reading, Speaking and Listening. For details of other English language tests which we accept, you will find a list of approved tests on the International students section of our website.

If you require further English language tuition before commencing your programme with us, you may apply for one of our pre-sessional English language courses which are run by the Centre for Language Study.

View the doctoral programme profile for this course

 

Geography Studentships

Geography and Environmental Science at Southampton is one of Britain's leading centres for geographical research, with excellent facilities, a strong publication record, and a thriving research culture.

Our studentship opportunities are typically advertised from October/November each year (with a view to recruiting students for the following September), so please check back again if you don’t see anything available now.

Find out more

Apply here
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