Welcome to the Department of Geography and the December edition of King's Choice News.

In addition to offer holder news and useful links, we have picked stories from the Department to give you a taste of life as a King's student in Geography.

NOTICE BOARD

Do you have any questions about Geography and student life at King's.  Our student buddies are waiting to hear from you. Olivia is there for our BSc students and Scott can answer questions from our BA students.

To reach Scott and Olivia email sspp-student@kcl.ac.uk

7 January 2015, 18:30, Department of Geography

Dr Joshua Howe (Reed College, USA) discusses 'The Tragedy of Climate Change: History, science, and the politics of global warming in the United States

Find out more and how to register for the lecture.

SUCCESS: IT'S A SMALL WORLD

Briony met Kay whilst on a placement at the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) back in 2007 when she was on secondment from the then national regeneration agency, English Partnerships, to the Design Team at the ODA.  At the time, Kay was a Programme Manager in the Systems &  Technology Department.  They met to discuss some GIS based maps Briony had requested.  They got chatting and soon discovered they had the Geography Department at King’s in common as although they’d graduated at different times, they had both had been taught by Nick Drake and Mark Mulligan (Briony previously studied Geography at King’s as an undergraduate and Kay took the MSc in Environmental Monitoring, Modelling and Management).  It cemented the start of a fantastic and creative professional partnership and friendship.

Find out more...

2ND YEAR FIELDTRIPS

Kerala, India

Hong Kong and Macao

San Francisco, California

Three of our second year undergraduate fieldtrips take place this month.  

Watch this space in the coming months as our current students share their experiences.

The Morocco fieldtrip will take place in February 2015.  You'll also have a chance to hear about the physical geographers time in the field.

Find out more...

ACADEMIC INTERVIEW: RICHARD SCHOFIELD

Dr Richard Schofield, Senior Lecturer, Environment, Politics and Development research group 

Why do you love geography?
It's just always been my favourite subject - ever since my first investigative project on the viability of the Humber Bridge as an 11 year old in secondary school (1973-74).  Ouch, that shows my age!  I've always thought as a geographer, even if lawyers, political scientists and historians frequently tease me with the proposition that I belong more properly in their domains.  Oh well, geography is (genuinely) multidisciplinary.

What are your research passions?
Territorial disputes and boundary questions - generally within a Middle Eastern context and often within a historiographic geographical context.  I love constructing historical geographies from archival sources.  Most recently, I've become fascinated with disputes over island territories - they are truly unique and arouse passions like you wouldn't believe.

Which undergraduate courses do you teach?
I convene a popular 2nd year module called Territory, State and Nation.  We try and make sense of a world where states continue to act surprisingly crudely in he conduct of territorial and resource disputes.  What is driving their actions?  Next year, we will be introducing an exciting new 3rd year module, Critical Geopolitics, which I'll run with 3 of my colleagues here in geography - Ruth Craggs, Alex Loftus and Nicholas de Genova.

Why did you choose to work at King's?
I like its location and its outlook, which balances staff and student interests effectively.  I find it a friendly, accessible and refreshingly informal place to work where I can knock on the door of colleagues in other departments just as easily as I can those in Geography.

Your secret London tip?
In constructing your own personal operative geography of London, walk or take the bus rather than the tube.  Get to know the capital via a real familiarity with its various localities rather than the advertising placards and inscriptions on tube station platforms.  That way you can build a London for yourselves of the places you actually like - and ignore the rest!