For Students

The remit of the Subject Centre for Geography, Earth & Environmental Sciences (GEES) is to support the professional development of those who teach and support learning in higher education (e.g. lecturers, lab technicians, cartographers, postgraduate demonstrators) in order to make your learning experience a better one.

We do this by running workshops, funding pedagogic research (research on learning), hosting conferences, collecting case studies of good practice and sharing them throughout the community and providing teaching resources, amongst many other activities. We are specific to Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences as there are 23 other Subject Centres to deal with the whole spectrum of subjects on offer by universities. We all work under the umbrella organisation 'The Higher Education Academy' which was set up by the government in 2004; however the Subject Centres have been around since 2000. If you would like more information on our background please click on the ‘about us’ link at the top of the page.

The vast majority of our work is conducted directly with /for members of staff but we are really keen to ensure we engage with students in order to hear your perspective and find out what you think the real learning and teaching issues are. We have a student representative on our Advisory Panel and also conduct a variety of activities involving students, including:

Hosting student placements;
Running joint staff-student events;
Providing a forum for staff and students to share their perspectives of higher education;
Running an annual student essay competition.

If you would like to know more about these or any other of our activities, or would like to suggest other ways in which we might involve students in our work then don't hesitate to contact us at info@gees.ac.uk We look forward to hearing from you.

'Careers and Employability'

The following Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences Employability Profiles can be used to help you identify the skills that can be developed through your studies.

CHES (The committe of Heads of Environmental Sciences) have produced a poster which contains numerous career ideas - What can you do with a degree in Environmental Science?

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'Them & Us'

In 2007 we produced a publication themed around the student learning experience. It contains articles written by students, staff and some collaborative pieces alongside advice, information and research into student perceptions and attitudes. This should help staff understand what it is like to be a student now and vice versa.

The main publication is available to download from this web page (below) and in hardcopy. If you would like some copies, please email susie.bissell@plymouth.ac.uk. We have also developed some wiki pages (see GEES wiki) on this topic with the follow up from the student-staff discussion group and we have provided additional articles, links and resources you may find helpful or of interest. The added benefit of it being a wiki means you can add to these pages anything you think other members of the community may find interesting.

Them & Us - A publication for Geography, Earth and Environmental Science Staff and Students (1.2 mb pdf)

Them & Us WebPages have been moved to the GEES wiki

If you would like information on the history of this project there is an archive of the original project web pages inviting submissions etc.

Sian Evans, who co-ordinated this project has since left the Subject Centre, however if you would like some information on working with students or the project itself please email the Subject Centre Manager Yolande Knight at yolande.knight@plymouth.ac.uk.

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Student Essay Competition

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Funding and travel bursaries

TSG travel bursaries for PhD and Masters students - The Tectonic Studies Group awards 4 international postgraduate students (including Masters students) and 4 UK based postgraduate students in the field of tectonics and structural geology with bursaries of £500 each.
Undergraduate Fieldwork Bursaries
John Rose Award 2010

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National STEM student survey with prize draw

Studying a Science, Technology, Engineering or Maths (STEM) subject? If you are studying a "STEM" subject (which includes earth sciences), we are interested in hearing from you about your career aspirations and likely choices. We'd like to know (amongst other things):

- why you chose to do your particular degree in the first place
- what sort of job/career you are seeking when you graduate
- and especially whether you might want to do a "STEM"-related job or not

By completing this survey, you could be the lucky winner of one of FIVE prizes of a high-spec digital SLR camera or an iphone 3GS -- your choice -- each worth around £500. To have a chance of winning, all you need to do is complete the survey via the link below. It should take no more than 15 minutes. All responses and information remain confidential.

Survey link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/STEMcareers

The survey is now live and will be open until early February. The research output will improve the Government’s understanding of the factors that influence the supply of STEM-qualified graduates into the workforce.

If you have any queries about the survey please contact louise.atkin@crac.org.uk

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