Geography (Physical)

Our Physical Geography degree provides a specialist physical geography pathway through our Geography programme, enabling you to focus on physical geography, environmental management, and the social and policy implications of complex environmental processes.

You’ll be able to select optional modules in your second and third years, allowing you to tailor your studies to your interests and career aspirations. You’ll have the chance to experience international field trips and a work placement, helping you to develop practical transferable skills that are applicable to a variety of careers.

Year one
Your first year provides a foundation in basic principles in both human and physical geography – this provides insights from both science and social science perspectives and gives you the tools to understand complex global challenges. You’ll apply these principles to a range of environmental processes and environmental management challenges as well as through a residential field trip module.

Year two
In your second year, you’ll build more specialist knowledge and skills. Your core studies will develop your understanding of the discipline of geography as well as scientific research methods, and you’ll enhance your knowledge of geomorphology, environmental hazards and geotechnologies.

You’ll have a choice of optional modules, allowing you to begin to specialise in topics such as climate and society, environmental management or science journalism and publishing. You’ll also start to plan for your career options, with an opportunity to undertake a work placement module.

The optional field trip to the Indian Himalayas offers a unique opportunity to explore physical geography processes and their management in a highly dynamic real-world context. On this trip, you’ll examine a range of environmental hazards such as soil erosion, flooding, landslides and air pollution, as well as community disaster resilience. Please note that some of our field trips may incur an additional expense on top of your course fees.

You can choose to undertake a Professional Placement Year between your second and final years.

Year three
You’ll complete a final year independent research project, allowing you to demonstrate the academic and transferable skills you’ve acquired on the course.

You’ll study a range of required and optional modules that give you the opportunity to specialise in topics such as river management, disaster risk reduction and environmental practice.

On an optional field trip to Barcelona you’ll explore physical geography processes and environmental management in a dynamic urban and peri-urban context. Potential field trip themes include wildfires and cascading hazards, coastal erosion and beach management, heat waves and urban flash flood risks.

You’ll be assessed through a variety of methods including essays, project reports, presentations, posters, video clips, field assessments, reflective items and time-constrained tests and examinations. These will give you a rich and diverse skill set, designed to be of real benefit in pursuit of your career goals.

You’ll be taught in lectures, laboratory practicals, workshops and seminars, with small groups that enable discussion and collaborative learning. You’ll learn in the classroom, lab and outdoors, with fieldwork on campus and at locations across the UK and overseas.

To find out more about how we teach and how you'll learn, please read our Learning and Teaching Delivery Statement.

As part of your degree, you could study abroad on a placement at one of Bath Spa’s partner universities.

Fieldwork is an integral part of our Geography programme as it provides you with the opportunities to learn hands-on geographical skills with real world applications.

Residential fieldwork is a required component of our first year programme while there are further optional residential field trip opportunities in both the second and third year. Our current residential field trip destinations are the English Lake District (first year), Northern India (second year) and Barcelona (third year).

Within modules you will also undertake fieldwork in the local area including on our beautiful Newton Park campus, as well as in locations such as the Mendip Hills, the Somerset Levels, the Royal Geographical Society in London and the Jurassic Coast of Dorset.

Please note that you will have to make a financial contribution towards residential field trips.

You’ll have the opportunity to undertake a work placement in your second year and a community engagement placement in your final year, as well as the option to undertake a professional placement year between your second and final year. Students have worked with local planning authorities, environmental organisations and the National Trust.

Guest speakers from industry and previous graduates contribute to the learning experience throughout the course. This insightful engagement with potential employers will help you make those all-important career decisions when you graduate.

There are prizes awarded each year in recognition of excellence in the core modules. This culminates with the Geography Project of the Year Award, for the best dissertation.

You’ll graduate from this degree prepared for a diverse range of careers in sectors such as research, consultancy, surveying, geographical information systems, government or non-governmental organisations (NGOs). The course also provides you with the knowledge and skills needed to progress to postgraduate study in a wide range of fields. Our graduates have undertaken postgraduate study in fields such as disaster management, climate change adaptation and environmental management.

Whatever your aspirations, our aim is that the real-world experience you gain on this course will set you up to take on diverse challenges, and to thrive in doing so.

If you’re a full-time undergraduate student starting your first year at Bath Spa University, you can apply for the Certificate in Global Citizenship, which you’ll study alongside your degree.

You’ll gain global awareness and add an international dimension to your student experience, and funding is available. On successful completion of the programme, you’ll be awarded a Certificate in Global Citizenship. This is in addition to your degree; it doesn’t change your degree title or results.

This optional placement year provides you with the opportunity to identify, apply for and secure professional experience, normally comprising one to three placements over a minimum of nine months. Successful completion of this module will demonstrate your ability to secure and sustain graduate-level employment.

By completing the module, you'll be entitled to the addition of 'with Professional Placement Year' to your degree title.

Before your Professional Placement Year, you'll work to secure your placement, constructing a development plan with your module leader and your placement coordinator from our Careers and Employability team.

On your return to University for your final year, you'll submit your Placement Portfolio, detailing your development on your placement.

You’ll be taught using our specialist facilities on our Newton Park campus in Bath as well as at field sites around the South West region and overseas.

• Lectures, seminars and workshops
  Teaching takes place in lecture and seminar rooms on our beautiful Newton Park campus including in the Commons building.
• Laboratories
  We have a number of well-equipped and recently refurbished laboratories dedicated to a variety of analytical applications spanning audio-visual data, soils/water/air and microfossils, to name a few.
• On-campus fieldwork
  Our location at Newton Park, nestled in a parkland valley setting just outside Bath, is a beautiful and unique 'natural laboratory' in which to pursue environmental education. Make the most of this setting by studying environmental processes on-site including at our stream gauging station and instrumented landslide complex.
• Off-campus field sites
  Day trips provide real-world learning opportunities in locations such as the Mendip Hills, the Somerset Levels, the Royal Geographical Society in London and the Jurassic Coast of Dorset. Optional international field trips provide the chance to visit India and Spain.
• Online research lecture series
  Participate in the online research lecture series organised by our Hazard, Risk and Disaster Research Group. This series provides an opportunity to engage with leading research from all over the world specialising in topics such as natural hazards, disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation.
• Library
• Commons building
• Virtual Learning Environment
• Specialist resources and dedicated Subject Librarian
• Writing and Learning Centre
• English Language Unit.

You’ll benefit from our excellent resources including laboratories, stock apparatus, field tools, and a suite of IT hardware/software, all supported by a highly-skilled team of technicians. Our key areas of capability are:

• Monitoring of environmental parameters including noise, light, air/gas, pH, particulates, water, metals, and volatiles; using dissolved oxygen and conductivity probes, flow meters, an atomic absorption spectrometer, a gas chromatogram, and a scanning spectrophotometer.
• Hydro-meteorological monitoring including Automatic Weather Stations, temperature/humidity loggers, anemometers, infiltrometers, and dip meters.
• Survey and analysis. Hardware comprising Total Stations, Terrestrial Laser Scanner (TLS), differential and handheld GPS and UAV. Software including ArcGIS Pro and Nvivo.
• Microfossil analysis using type collections and microscopes.
• Soil/sediment analysis using furnaces/ovens, particle size sieving, soil augers/corers.