Optional modules

Geography Dissertation

The aim of this module is for Joint and Combined Honours Geography students to be provided with the opportunity to undertake personal research with suitable guidance into any field of geographical study.

Physical Activity and Health of Children

The aims of this module are to:

  • Understand the implications that physical changes which occur during the growth period in children and adolescents have for their physical activity, sedentary behaviour and health.
  • Understand the patterns and trends of physical activity and sedentary behaviour in children and adolescents, the factors that influence these patterns and trends, and their relationship with children and adolescents' health.

Critical Pedagogies in Physical Education

The aims of this module are for students to critically reflect on contemporary policy, curriculum and pedagogical issues relevant to a school PE context and how these impact on teaching and learning, and to gain experience of the delivery and practice of PE and selected areas through work based learning.

Contemporary Issues in Sporting Cultures

The aims of the module are for students to develop a critical understanding of the practice and policy of contemporary sport cultures. There is an explicit link with the multi-disciplinary approach to social sciences taken at part A and the more sociologically driven modules in part B.

Applied Sports Science: Analysis and Conditioning

The aim of this module is for students to advance their knowledge, understanding and application of the applied sports science disciplines of strength and conditioning and performance analysis.

Sport Policy and Governance

The aims of this module are for students to develop a critical understanding of the policy-making process, policy analysis and associated tools, concepts and models in sport; and to develop a critical understanding of of sports governance and governance principles, structures and standards in local and global sports organisations.

Glacial Environments and Landscapes

Glaciers and ice sheets are experiencing major change and are expected to change further during the coming century, in response to global climate change. This module will explore the key features and processes associated with glaciers and glacial environments.

Specific aims of this module are for students to examine:

  • The characteristics, dynamics and operation of the worlds glaciers, ice sheets and ice-influenced environments and their contemporary response to ongoing climate change.
  • The geomorphological processes and landforms associated with ice-masses and glacial environments.
  • The effect of spatial and temporal variations in the operation of glacial processes and their surface expression in glacerised and glaciated landscapes.

The module will also cover focus contemporary issues and state-of-the-art knowledge in glacerised and glaciated environments through time.

Climate Change: Cooperating with the Future

The aims of this module are that students:

  • Achieve a sound understanding of the evidence for human-driven climate change and of how it undermines the habitability of the Earth.
  • Develop a critical appreciation of the impacts of climate change on specific societal spheres of activity, such as health, sport and security.
  • Build a strong appreciation for the importance of decarbonisation, by practising carbon action planning in the context of a university.

Landscape Evolution and GIS

The aims of this module are that students examine:

  • The spatial and temporal scales of landscape evolution and the processes that cause landscape change.
  • A range of geospatial tools and techniques for analysing and interpreting landscape evolution across scales

Employment, Work and Life

Drawing on contemporary examples, the central aim of this module is for students to examine the strategies different social groups adopt in order to make a living in uncertain economic times.

Geographies of Housing and Home

The aim of this module is for the student to evaluate the multiple geographies of housing and home.

Independent Geographical Essay

The aim of this module is to give students the opportunity to explore and research an aspect of Geography of their choice.

Dryland Environment Fieldcourse

This fieldcourse is at an additional cost to tuition fees. 

The aim of this module is for students to develop an understanding of the geomorphology, biogeography and climatology of dryland environments. Students will gain practical experience in a range of field and laboratory techniques including process monitoring, geomorphological mapping, sedimentology and microclimate data analysis.

Urban Political Geographies Fieldcourse

The aims of this module are to:

  • Introduce students to the diverse contemporary human geographies of a major city.
  • Familiarise students with a range of field techniques in urban, social and political geography.
  • Equip students with experience of constructing informative visual resources.
  • Enhance practical and transferable skills through group, student-centred and co-operative learning in a fieldwork environment.

Rural Futures

This module aims to:

  • Develop your understanding of how and why the 'rural' is fundamental to understanding our past, present and future.
  • Provide you with the knowledge and tools to critically evaluate the impact of rural processes, policies and planning on people and places.

Conservation: Principles and Practice

This module aims to explore the history, approaches and techniques associated with the conservation of ecological communities, habitats, landforms and archaeological sites, and the potential conflict between legitimate economic and social activities.

Aeolian Processes and Landforms

The aims of this module are for students to examine:

  • The physical attributes of environments where wind-blown sand and dust dominate (aeolian environments).
  • The effect of spatial and temporal variations in the operation of aeolian processes and their surface expression in contemporary landscapes.

Environmental Change in the Anthropocene

The aim of this module is to provide students with an understanding of some of the major drivers of change affecting natural environments at varying spatial scales, the ecological response of both terrestrial and aquatic systems, and how such changes can themselves have impacts on human activity and society.

Knowledge of contemporary functioning of major ecological systems will be combined with evidence from palaeoenvironmental archives to explore the relationships between environmental stressors, and ecological systems, today and in the past.

The module will include the use of various types of evidence (e.g. documentary, inventory, palaeoenvironmental) and modelling approaches to understand how global biogeochemical cycles and major ecosystems (e.g. tropical forests, coastal regions) have changed over time.

Understanding will be deepened by interrogation of real-world datasets in the practicals, which will form the basis for the assessed coursework report.

Mobilities, transnationalism and diaspora

The aims of this module are to:

  • Outline the concepts and typologies related to the study of transnational mobilities, transnationalism and diaspora.
  • Analyse the nature and geographies of transnational mobilities, transnationalism and diaspora using a theoretical and a contextualised case study approach.
  • Evaluate the outcomes of transnational mobilities and diasporic networks.

Geographies of Education Virtual Fieldcourse

The aim of this module is for the student develop an understanding of contemporary geographical education in different national contexts.

Psychology for Physical Educators

The aim of this module is for students to gain an in-depth understanding of psychological issues relating to the experiences of children and young people in physical education and youth sport.