Doctoral Research (PhD)

We currently have a PhD school of 16 students, housed in dedicated office space in the centre of Geography. We welcome any inquiries from prospective doctoral students who hold very good (at least Class 2.1 or equivalent) Honours degrees, in any of the areas of specialist research outlined below.

As a place to undertake postgraduate research, Geography offers:

• international research expertise in human and physical geography;
• supervision by experienced, research active staff;
• research training programmes to help you conduct your research efficiently and effectively;
• dedicated postgraduate office accommodation;
• a friendly and supportive research community made up of staff, research assistants, research fellows and postgraduates;
• an excellent record of PhD completions.

You will also be based in a city which combines low living costs relative to the rest of the UK and which is small enough to be friendly yet large enough to support a wide range of cultural, sporting and shopping activities. It is also has easy access to major urban centres and some of the country's most magnificent scenery. Edinburgh and Glasgow are a little over an hour away by train while the city's airport now means the journey from Dundee to central London is just over an hour. To the north are the glens and mountains of Angus, to south and west the more gentle rural landscapes of Fife and Perthshire.

The web pages should cover many of the issues you are interested in, but please don't hesitate to contact us if you have any questions about postgraduate opportunities in the Geography Department.

Research topics

Expertise within Geography allows high-quality research supervision to be offered in the following areas:

• Children and youth geographies, in developed and developing worlds
• Environmental Management, especially coastal and estuarine environments
• Hydrology, Floods and Climate Change, including estimating the frequency of 100-200 year flood events from palaeo-records, understanding atmospheric drivers leading up to flood events, and sustainable flood management
• Glacial Processes and Climate Change, especially the dynamics of debris-covered glaciers, glacio-meteorology, and reconstruction of former glacier systems
• Remote Sensing, particularly of vegetation and land cover change
• Governance and Public Policy, in both developed and developing countries, with particular reference to the voluntary sector
• Health and Disability, including structural and post-structural perspectives
• Migration, including economic, social and cultural aspects of both international and UK-internal migration
• Social Justice and Social Exclusion, in particular crime and labour market disadvantage

Geography's research is focused around two research groups. The summaries of their activities are provided in the main entries for each research group, which also contain details of recent projects and published output.

• Environmental Systems Research Group
• Space and Society Research Group