Projects supported
Projects we support cover a range of geographical topics, from volcano monitoring, to adaptations to climate change, to farmers' rights issues. Our grants programme has funded research undertaken in laboratories, archives and in the field in countries across all seven continents.
Grants awarded in 2024
The following projects have been selected for funding as part of this year’s grants programme. Grants are awarded subject to projects receiving approval of risk and ethics assessments.
Frederick Soddy Postgraduate Award
- Lena Easton-Calabria (School of Geography and the Environment, University of Oxford) From the Amazon to the Alps: Governing the Socio-Ecological Cost of Gold Production.
- Natalie Carter (Department of Geography, University of Cambridge) In the Margins of Protection: Narrating the Gendered Dynamics of Conservation in (Post)Conflict Uganda.
Frederick Soddy Schools Award
- High Ongar Primary School- Our Street.
- Ardnamurchan High School - Carna Hope Week.
- Bolder Academy - A Level Geography Fieldwork.
- Woodlands Primary School - River Fieldwork Study – Year 5 Pupils.
- Holy Family Catholic School and Sixth Form - Year 10 Fieldwork — Rivers and Urban Study.
- Islington Arts and Media School - Exploring Transport and Transformation on the Thames.
- Pedmore High School - Carding Mill Valley river study.
- Ferndown Middle School - Year 7 Trip to Lulworth Cove.
- Ormiston Bolingbroke Academy - Year 10 Geography trip.
Geographical Club Award
- Ella Wood (University of St Andrews) Investigating the Hydrological Significance of Rock Glaciers in the Kazakh Tien Shan.
- Harish Shetty (Bath University) Understanding the Spatial Dynamics of Home and Work Among Migrant Construction Workers in India.
Geographical Fieldwork Grants
- Zachary Scott-Paul, Samuel Reeves, Charles Wright, Valerie Devereux, Eden Kong (Durham University) Assessing coastal sewage pollution using macroalgae nitrogen isotopes.
- Samuel Nurney, Holly Edwards-Sloan (University of Sussex) Biogeography, ‘ecological forensics’ and implementation of the ‘Rights of Nature’.
- Sebastian Rumfitt, Montague Pierce Jones (University of Oxford), Solange Sabelle (Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile) Pumas in Patagonia: Investigating the Effects of Ecotourists on Health.
- Eleanor Mullier, Abby Lambert, Jane Williamson (University of Bristol) Biogeochemical explorations of the Watson meltwater river in Kangerlussuaq, Greenland.
- Joseph Thomas, Catherine Clarke, Madeleine Graham, Joseph McGrattan, Holly Muntus, Isaac Benfield (Newcastle University) Newcastle University Kangerlussuaq 2024.
Henrietta Hutton Research Grant
- Kendall Jefferys(University of Oxford) The role of functional traits and vegetation cover in structuring plantpollinator networks in the Brazilian Cerrado.
- Pasha Taylor (University of Cambridge) ‘Our National Park’- Positioning the Local Community in a National Movement, Observations from Cahuita, Costa Rica.
Innovative Teaching Grant
- Professor Nina Laurie (University of St Andrews), Ana Haustein (Markham College) Valuing the Peruvian Amazon: indigenous knowledge and scientific exploration past and present.
- David Anderson (Eton College), Dr Shane McGuinness (University College Dublin) Discovering Wetlands.
- Joseph Boyle (University of Oxford), Kate Hooper, Joanna Jones (Sanday Community School) Sanday's Seagrass and SDGs: co-design from beach to classroom.
Monica Cole Research Grant
- Jennifer Snell (Newcastle University) The response and recovery of the glacier, proglacial lakes, and river system at Skeiðarárjökull, to the December 2021 jökulhlaup.
- Joshua Abrahams (University of Leeds) The Impact of Wind Direction Variability on Glacier Melt.
Neville Shulman Challenge Award
- Olivia McGregor Riches of the Rupununi.
Postgraduate Research Awards
- Xiaowen Zhan (University of Manchester) The environmental justice implications of nature-based solutions: a case study of Sponge City program in two Chinese cities.
- Anthony Jones (Durham University) Quantifying the hydrological implications of engineered log jams on large-scale reaches using controlled flow.
- Benjamin Graves (King's College London) Assessing the meltwater runoff of the Khumbu Glacier, Nepal, through stable isotope analysis.
- Konstantinos Alexopoulos (Scott Polar Research Institute) Quantifying snow change and its effects to water availability in the warming Greek mountains.
- Zhiqiang Zheng (The University of Manchester) Rural Transformations Within Infrastructure Corridors On The Edge of The Tropical Jungle: Livelihoods, Natural Resources, And Sustainability In Northern Laos.
- Stella Chiemela (University of York) Analysis of Linkages between Environmental Change, Conflict and Food Insecurity in Nigeria.
- Shadma Ahmed (University of Bristol) Studying Indian Muslim Women Activism: An Exploration of Gendered Religious Resistance in Contemporary Indi.
- Ziqiu Ren (University of Manchester) Filming Everyday Spatiotemporal Patterns: Food Markets as Infrastructural Nodes in Chinese Urban Context.
- Anu Jogesh (London School of Economics) “Values at Risk”: Examining climate-related financial risks and community vulnerability in India.
- Lucas Sebastián Worsdell (Coventry University) Co-innovation for Caribbean Agroecological Transitions (CiCAT).
- Nina Djukanović (University of Oxford) “Green are Fields, Not Mines:” The Case of Lithium Mining in Serbia.
- Genia Hill (University of Oxford) Smallholder Perspectives of their food system activities: A key consideration for sustainable food systems transformation.
- Jasmin Rainero (Glasgow Caledonian University) Eliminating barriers to community energy projects in deprived communities: A just transition approach.
- Holly O'Donnell (University of Oxford) All that glitters is not gold: mapping the impacts of alluvial mining on mammal communities in the Peruvian Amazon and implications for ecosystem restoration.
- Zoe Gough (University of Southampton) Investigating the impact of environmental change on tropical montane bees and their pollination services.
- Emily Madsen (University of Oxford) Conflict amidst ecological shifts: the link between changing carnivore communities and Human-wildlife conflict.
- Benjamin Ong (University of St Andrews) (Extra)ordinary natures: Reimagining environmental education in urban Malaysia.
- Francisco Garcia (University College London) Food movements and the right to the city.
- Anuschka Erkemeij (Birkbeck, University of London) Making home at the end of the world: survival strategies within home-making practices.
- Harish Shetty (Bath University) Understanding the Spatial Dynamics of Home and Work Among Migrant Construction Workers in India.
- Madeline Routon (University of Manchester) Making Home in the Margins: Creative Precarity and Placemaking in Barcelona.
- Crystal Ahiable (Royal Holloway, University of London) Measuring organic carbon inputs from fine-root production in UK wooded peatlands.
- Ella Wood (University of St Andrews) Investigating the Hydrological Significance of Rock Glaciers in the Kazakh Tien Shan.
- Ambreen Masud (Newcastle University) Integrating remote sensing with citizen science for urban flood risk analysis in Cartagena, Colombia.
Ralph Brown Expedition Award
- Dr Charlotte Hopkins (University of Hull) Using pelagic SBRUVs for a biogeographic exploration of Scottish elasmobranchs.
- Professor Niki Alsford (University of Central Lancashire) Haenyeo Voices: Harmonising Haenyeo Traditional Knowledge with Ecological Baseline Monitoring to Uncover Climate Change Impacts on Jeju Island Reefs.
Ray Y Gildea Jr Award
- Dr Naomi Holmes (University of York) Building inclusivity and accessibility into your fieldwork.
Small Research Grants
- Dr Antonio Allegretti (Lancaster University) Truly global. Reterritorializing the Italian 'borgo' in Southern Italy.
- Dr Mahsa Alami Fariman (Coventry University) Undoing Open City; The Demolition of Coventry’s City Arcade and Bull Yard.
- Dr Ben Gowland (University of Oxford) The UK Foreign Office’s Information Research Department and the Spatial-Politics of British Cold War Neo-imperialism.
- Dr Catherine Oliver (Lancaster University) Narrating The Historical Geographies of Environmental Change through the Personal Archives of Birdwatchers.
- Dr Nathan Salvidge (University of Reading) Investigating the role of smartphone technologies and digital platforms in (re)shaping young people’s everyday livelihood mobilities in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
- Dr Hannah Fair (University of Oxford) Situating Pests: Impacts, Disgust, Expertise and Responsibility (SPIDER).
- Dr Thomas Kelly (Queen Mary University of London) Arctic peatland C loss on long timescales and the effect of legacy on modern greenhouse gas emissions.
- Dr Anna Jackman (University of Reading) States of Precarity.
- Dr Alexander Manby (University of Oxford) Uncovering hidden histories of internationalism: co-curating and digitising the archives of Congress of World Hmong People (CWHP).
- Dr Thomas Chudley (Durham University) Assessing interconnected crevasse hydrology on the Greenland Ice Sheet.
Thesiger-Oman International Fellowships
- Professor Dawn Chatty (University of Oxford) Mobile Pastoral Women in Oman Speak.
- Dr Abi Stone (University of Manchester) RiVER Routes into Vleis: Environmental Reconstruction of conditions facilitating hominin occupation in the northern Namib Sand Sea.
- Professor John Wainwright (Durham University) Landscapes of Transformation: The Taș Tepeler of Southeast Türkiye.
Walters Kundert Fellowship
- Dr William Harcourt (University of Aberdeen) Uncovering the drivers of glacier surges using geophysics & physics- informed AI.
