Geography research
The University of Manchester is home to one of the UK’s most dynamic groups of geographical researchers, scholars and teachers. Geography at Manchester has risen to become one of the top tier institutions for its size, and our twenty-five staff and handful of research fellows are widely recognised for the quality of their contributions to the international research community. In RAE 2008 94% of our outputs were considered internationally-recognised, with an exceptionally high proportion (65%) judged to be internationally-excellent or world-leading. Geography at Manchester also sets international research agendas in other ways. Over half our staff hold editorial positions with leading research publications, including the editorship of eight major journals such as Antipode, Area, Geoarchaeology, Geoforum, and Progress in Human Geography. Manchester is known too for the impact and influence of its post-docs and PhD students. Recent graduates have been appointed to Chairs at leading universities in Europe, North America and the Far East, while others now shape national and international policy environments through their work in government agencies, research institutes and activist organisations.
Research at Manchester makes significant contributions to some of the most important intellectual and practical issues facing society. Our research is organised into four areas of expertise:
Geographical Political Economy - analysis of the material, social and cultural processes that shape and transform geographies of production, reproduction and nature.
Space, Culture and Society - analysis and theorisation of the cultural and political practices that produce and regulate space.
Environmental Processes - dynamics of contemporary earth surface processes, with expertise in geomorphology/ hydrology, freshwater environmental science, remote sensing, terrain analysis and geographical information science.
Quaternary Environments and Geoarchaeology - analysis of the response of geomorphological systems and ecosystems to global climate change, incorporating a distinctive geoarchaeology research agenda.
Our research staff also work in close collaboration with two of the School of Environment and Development's multidisciplinary Research Centres:
The Centre for Urban and Regional Ecology (CURE) - analyses of urban and regional sustainability from the local to European scale.
The Centre for Urban Policy Studies (CUPS) - policy-relevant research on the evaluation of area-based urban policy initiatives, regional development, spatial planning and housing, and the measurement of neighbourhood dynamics.
In 2005 Geography research staff founded the cross-School Society and Environment Research Group, one of the largest groupings of environmental scoial scientists in the UK.