Department of Geography

Birkbeck: London's evening university

Innovative, interdisciplinary research and teaching addressing today's key social and environmental challenges

Our staff

Our research

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Course Level

Undergraduate (BA, BSc, LLB)

Postgraduate (MA, MSc, LLM, MRes)

Certificate of higher education

Short course

MPhil/PhD research

Department

Congratulations: outstanding REF2021 result

78% internationally excellent or world-leading outputs. 62.5% internationally excellent for environment.

Our research

Our research is collaborative and covers the breadth of the discipline, from areas of critical contemporary theory and policy to empirical, policy-relevant research.

Our staff

With over 20 academic staff and many more researchers, teaching and scholarship, and professional support staff, the Department of Geography is a lively and stimulating environment in which to study.

Study here

We offer small, student-focused classes, facilitating quality interactions with your lecturers and classmates, and we offer courses at all levels of study, from short courses to MPhil/PhD.

Contact us

Get in touch with us if you have any queries about studying, researching, working or collaborating with us.

About us

Our department is genuinely interdisciplinary: we offer international development, community studies and social sciences in addition to geography, and our field trips explore diverse environments in the UK, India and the Mediterranean.

Current students

Read your programme handbook, access Moodle and My Birkbeck for Students, and find information about assessment, referencing, plagiarism and learning development.

Meet our staff

"Our students bring a massive amount to the teaching and learning experience, which makes Birkbeck a very lively and stimulating place to teach."

Professor Paul Watt

Find out more

Fieldwork

A number of our undergraduate degrees include fieldwork opportunities, in the UK and overseas, to develop your data collection and analysis skills.

Student funding

Securing funding for your studies will be a key concern and we are committed to providing the advice and support you need.

Become an MPhil/PhD student

Our MPhil/PhD programme will train you to conduct research of the highest academic standard and to make an original contribution to the subject.

Our publications

Our staff publish widely - read their latest publications.

Research centres and networks

Academics and researchers work together through networks and groups, which facilitate collaboration and interdisciplinary research.

Summer 2022 newsletter

Discover all the key news and information from within our department in our latest newsletter.

Research impact

Birkbeck's research excellence was confirmed in the 2014 Research Excellence Framework (REF), with 73% of our research rated world-leading or internationally excellent.

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Book an open evening

Book your place at our next Open Evening, to find out more about our courses and talk to our academic and student services staff.

Birkbeck explains: Is gentrification necessarily bad?

Dr Melissa Butcher from Birkbeck's Department of Geography discusses the mixed benefits and drawbacks of urban gentrification in London.

Although gentrification causes displacement, it can also bring better facilities and infrastructure to an area, but the question is, 'Who are these changes for?'

Find out more about our research

News

International conference set to showcase Birkbeck academic's research into waiting for healthcare in Britain

The conference, being held in London this month, will draw upon the findings of a five-year research project.

News

Birkbeck academic elected as Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences

Professor Karen Wells has been announced as a Fellow in recognition of excellence in the field of international development and childhood, as well as her wider contributions to the social sciences.

News

Minister for Skills, Apprenticeships and Higher Education visits Birkbeck as Government puts lifelong learning at the heart of the education system

The Rt Hon Robert Halfon MP visited Birkbeck yesterday to discover more about how Birkbeck’s flexible teaching model has been enabling lifelong learning and supporting people to improve their lives for 200 years.

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Events calendar

OSUN Worldwide Teach-In on Climate Justice: Love out of the Ruins: Transformative imagining as resistance to reckless fatalism

29 March 2023
13:00 — 16:00

Birkbeck 43 Gordon Square
Book your place

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Podcast

Insects and ice ages

Dr Stefan Engels from Birkbeck's Department of Geography discusses palaeoclimatology and how the remains of insects can help us understand abrupt climate change during the last Ice Age.

Comment

An archaeologist’s life (or how I learnt to love the pickaxe)

Ahead of the launch of Birkbeck’s BA Archaeology and Geography, Dr Melissa Butcher, a geographer, discusses her first experience of an archaeological excavation on the Greek Island of Despotiko.

Comment

Public-Private Partnerships viewed through a gender lens

In a new paper, Dr Jasmine Gideon argues that despite their current popularity, Public-Private Partnerships need to be reviewed through a gender lens.