Human Geography

Human geography examines the relationships between people and the places, environments and societies they inhabit, asking how populations are distributed, how cities and economies develop, how identities and communities form and how power, inequality and social injustice shape the spaces where people live their lives. It is a discipline that connects the local and the global, the individual and the structural, the contemporary and the historical, drawing on methods from both the social sciences and the humanities to understand the human dimensions of the world's most pressing challenges.

At Leeds Beckett University this three-year, full-time programme engages you with the rapidly changing world through topics including migration, identity, sustainability, social injustice, cities and globalisation. You will develop skills in qualitative and quantitative research, spatial analysis and fieldwork, learning to gather, interpret and present geographical evidence in ways that address real questions about how societies work and how they might work differently. The programme includes a year abroad, which extends your experience internationally and allows you to engage with different societies, landscapes and ways of life from a geographical perspective.

Human geography graduates are valued across a wide range of careers precisely because the discipline develops both analytical depth and social awareness. Career paths include urban and regional planning, community development, environmental and sustainability consulting, the civil service and local government, international development and NGO work, social research, journalism, education, housing, transport planning and the cultural and creative sectors. Many graduates also continue to postgraduate study in human geography, planning, international development, urban studies or related social science fields.