Field-based teaching in Geography

Fieldwork in Geography and Environment at Aberdeen

Fieldwork is integral to Geography, and at the same time provides some of the most memorable experiences of your degree. Our fieldwork options also provide core skills for your future career, giving you vital transferable skills and experience of working in teams and independently in some of the world's most dynamic environments.

Our Honours Field Courses represent a true highlight of your Geography degree experience, and run to a range of foreign destinations. The Physical Geography Field Course takes students to Mont Blanc in the Italian Alps, with students working on projects related to glaciology, geomorphology and hydrology. Our Human Geography Field Course takes place in Amsterdam where students carry out research projects in areas of human geography including:

• urban geography
• tourism geography
• cultural geography

Building towards these trips, in your First Year we take advantage of the fantastic landscape around Aberdeen, and you will visit Sands of Forvie National Nature Reserve. The focus here is on developing core skills in geomorphology and biogeography. In your Second Year, week-long residential field courses take students to the Isle of Skye and the Cairngorms Mountain Range, and deal with a range of issues in Physical and Human Geography. 

On these trips we focus on key field skills and techniques which form important training for Honours Geography options in Third and Fourth Year. You will also have the opportunity to participate in further short trips in Aberdeenshire, learning, for example, about glacial processes involved in the formation of the Scottish Highlands landscape.