Julian Agyeman Profile

What year did you graduate?

1980

What subject levels did you study prior to arriving in Durham?

A level Geography, Biology and Chemistry

Which degree programme did you study at Durham and why?

BSc Joint Honors Geography and Botany., with a minor in Anthropology. I was, and have made my career around interconnections. Geography and botany are inextricably interlinked. Plus, David Bellamy was a lecturer in Botany!

What were the highlights of studying at Durham?

Durham is a wonderful place to study: its history, intimacy and character all contributed to my learning experiences. I had a great group of friends, many of whom I’m still in contact with. And graduating in the Castle was fantastic!

What was the topic of your third year dissertation?

“The Plants and soils of Pickering Forest, North Yorkshire"

What are you doing now and how did your degree help prepare you?

I’m a Professor in the Department Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning, and the Fletcher Professor of Rhetoric and Debate, an endowed professorship at Tufts University, in the Boston metro area, Massachusetts. I think I got a really solid grounding at Durham in the way the natural world functions. Now, I focus mainly on social science, urban environmental and sustainability planning, but a scientific background helps me better understand human-environment interactions.

What other skills did studying at Durham help prepare you for the world of work and your future career?

I think the study skills, reading papers, critiquing, questioning, were important.

With hindsight, what else would you have liked us to have taught you?

GIS! I was the pre-GIS generation. We used satellite imagery but GIS was not taught in those days! Also, a class on urban ecology would have been great!