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The Department of Geography at the OU has built a reputation for producing rigorous and innovative intellectual work in both human and environmental geography, a serious commitment to active engagement in the world beyond the academy, and the development of an intensive yet flexible research culture. Its achievements are reflected and recognised by having 55 per cent of its research rated as being ‘world leading’ or ‘internationally excellent’ in the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise (RAE), and are currently being built upon with the new OpenSpace Research Centre which is designed to enhance and extend current research strengths in the politics of culture and space; materialities, space and power and environment, politics and justice.
We offer two research degree programmes: Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) and Master of Philosophy (MPhil).
Key facts
The Department of Geography prides itself on:
- cultivating a genuinely collective research culture sustained by regular seminars, collaborative meetings, reading groups, workshops, conferences and visits from external scholars
- linking with external funding bodies and partner institutions to generate major collaborative projects on topics such as biosecurity borderlands, urban aesthetics, creative climate, emergent publics, the development of geriatric medicine, ethical consumption, interdependence and more
- hosting a lively postgraduate community of around 20 students on the campus who play a critical role in our research culture
- maintaining an excellent record in terms of the number of our postgraduate students who go on to further post-doctoral research or permanent academic posts.
For further information please visit the postgraduate research degrees section of our departmental website.
Further information
If you have an enquiry specific to this research area please contact:
- Name:
- Jan Smith
- Email:
- socsci-geog-pg-admissions@open.ac.uk
- Phone:
- +44 (0)1908 654456
For general enquiries please contact the Research Degrees Team via the link under ‘Your questions’ on the right of the page.
Publications
Research publications by Open University staff are available through Open Research Online (ORO), the university's repository of research publications and other research outputs. ORO can be searched or browsed by staff name or subject.
The following list, generated from ORO, provides a flavour of the most recently published work in Geography:
- Revill, George (2013). El Tren Fantasma: arcs of sound and the acoustic spaces of landscape. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers (In press).
- Revill, George (2013). Points of departure: listening to rhythm in the sonoric spaces of the railway station. Sociological Review Monograph (In press).
- Smith, Joe (2013). Media coverage of tipping points: searching for a balanced story. In: O’Riordan, Tim and Lenton, Tim eds. Addressing Tipping Points for a Precarious Future. Proceedings of the British Academy. Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press / British Academy, (in press).
- Barnett, Clive; Clarke, Nick and Cloke, Paul (2013). Problematising practices: Authors' response. Area, 45(2) pp. 260–263.
- Jehlicka, Petr and Kurtz, Matthew (2013). Everyday resistance in the Czech landscape: the woodcraft culture from the Hapsburg Empire to the communist regime. East European Politics and Societies and Cultures, 27(2) pp. 308–332.
- More publications relating to Geography
Research degrees
Your questions
For advice about applying for a research degree, or sponsoring a research student, send us an email or call +44 (0)1908 654882.