GEOG4071: Advanced Research in Human Geography

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• The aim of this module is to enable students to engage in-depth with two major areas of research in Human Geography. It has a particular affinity with the Research Frontiers in Human Geography module and allows students to develop and deepen advanced subject knowledge in relation to the departments current research priorities. By the end of the module, each student will have a thorough understanding of two specific advanced research topics, be able to position their work within the debates that inform the research frontier, and be able to identify where their work could make a contribution. The module has been designed to fully integrate teaching and research through an extended critical dialogue about how to advance particular areas of research. Within the overall scope of the departments primary areas of research excellence, the module is designed to be adaptable to the emergent characteristics of research; in particular this means the changing and responsive nature of research priorities, the development of new research projects, the shaping of embryonic ideas, and the beginnings of new collaborations and connections.

• Students will select two options from a number offered in any given year, typically four. The content will reflect established areas of research excellence in Human Geography at Durham and will fit with the Departments research priorities. The specific options offered in any given year will map onto the below areas of advanced research, as well as reflecting the interests of the student cohort (including those informed by their Level 3 options). A set number of 10 credit options will be offered during Level 3, from which the students will select two (either one each in terms one and two, or both in the first term). The broad areas of advanced geographical research that the 10 credit option will be selected from include the following:
• Lived and Material Cultures and Economies
• Development and Social Change
• Politics and Security
• Health and Well-Being
• Urban Life and Governance
• Geography and Knowledge Production
• Geographys Histories and Theories
• Each option will involve the following teaching and learning elements delivered through a mixture of seminars, workshops and tutorials; introduction to relevant specialist literatures; in-depth and critical dialogue about how to advance particular areas of research; explorations of uncertainties, aporia and emergent problems in the advanced research area.

Subject-specific Knowledge:

• Show systematic knowledge and understanding of issues and concepts in two areas of human geography at a level that works at the cutting edge international research in Geography at Durham.

Subject-specific Skills:

• Develop and deploy a range of advanced research skills appropriate to two area of Human Geography research.
• Be able to engage critically and creatively with areas of advanced research, and evaluate the contribution those areas of work make to how we understand and engage with the contemporary world.
• Be able to identify and develop an appropriate research framework and place research within a wider academic context.

Key Skills:

• Show analytical skills in the synthesis of information, including the ability to relate academic literature to different types of empirical material.
• Deploy the ability to engage critically with existing research, including the ability to evaluate the contribution of specific pieces of research and to identify how an area of research can be developed.
• Enhance the ability to debate ideas, to develop an argument through dialogue with other people, and to make critical and creative contributions to knowledge.
• Demonstrate advanced skills of written communication.

• Teaching will vary according to which specific options within the module are selected. However, the following will be the default form given the nature of teaching at Level 4. Each module will be divided into a series of parts. Each of these will have a series of staff-led seminars, workshops, and tutorials. The seminars will start with a presentation by a member of staff, followed by discussion on the basis of (a) pre-allocated readings, and (b) questions and comments in response to the staff-led introduction. The workshops will be student-led, working through materials provided in case study packs. The tutorials will follow the seminars and workshop in each part of the module and will consolidate learning from that part and provide guidance on reading for the next part. They provide a forum for the summative assessment. For some students the tutorial support may be via email/telephone/webcam/video conference depending on the intersections between this module and the Research Project/Collaborative Research Project component of the degree.

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