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Career Opportunities
We will support your career development
The Department is ready to support your career development whilst you study for your degree at Leicester. We support this development through the following ways:
- We have a dedicated careers tutor in the department. During term time you will receive weekly email digests containing information about career fairs, jobs, career development courses and other practical information.
- The University has a dedicated careers service that is there for your use. You can have one-to-one meetings to discuss your career plans, check your CV and take assessment tests.
- Your research thesis may be of interest to a company or business. For example, a number of our students receive financial support for undertaking their thesis from the Ordnance Survey.
- We will teach you modules that develop key employability skills. Geography helps to explain the formation of places and landscapes, the interactions between environment and people and how economies and societies are interconnected. Increasingly, we have to be able think spatially using maps, images, (real or virtual) and other sources of data. We have to be able to formulate questions, collect data, process and analyse data. We have to make meaning of trends, patterns and anomalies and effectively communicate this to politicians, scientists, and the public. You will be trained in these skills.
- Geography is also relevant for personal and social development including self motivation and interpersonal skills, confidence building, project design and implementation and critical analysis and debate. As a Leicester geography postgraduate you will develop practical and academic skills, communication skills (written and oral) and unrivalled spatial awareness.
Links with Business
The department has strong links with businesses, government offices and industry, both locally and nationally. Because of this reputation, our research has much to offer organizations in the public, private and voluntary sector. For example, in recent years members of staff have been involved in a number of highly successful collaborative projects including:
- The informal economy and community self-help (Nottinghamshire Business Link and the Countryside Agency)
- Earth observation techniques and applications (European Space Agency, Joint Research Centre of the European Commission)
- The political and economic situation in the Russian far east (BP Exploration
- Metadata for spatial information (Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Monks Wood and ADAS Ltd.)
- GIS service accessibility modelling (Ministry of Health, New Zealand)
- We have also worked with Infoterra Ltd., Syngenta, the East Midlands Regional Development Agency, the Home Office, DEFRA, J Sainsbury plc and many others.
Testimonials
I work as a Business Analyst for Veolia Environmental Services in London. My role is extremely varied, with tasks including regional report generation, budget analysis, mapping and digitising. I came to the University from a computing background, with basic geographical knowledge. The MSc taught me a range of geographical skills in different disciplines, as well as those essential for the workplace. In fact, my first task was to update route maps using the GIS software that we used throughout the course. The reputation of the course and the University within the industry has allowed me to find the ideal career path - I feel that the course has given me a great kick-start to my career.
Tom Cattermoul, MSc GIS
After leaving Leicester University, I took a job as a Project-Coordinator for a retail consultancy called the ORC Partnership, based in rural Oxfordshire. The job involves the practical use of GIS in modelling various retail scenarios using products developed in-house. The broad nature of the course at Leicester, which gives a solid grounding in geospatial techniques, has equipped me with the knowledge to be able to understand more about the systems used at work and discuss developments with our technical team. My work in the consultancy side of the company allows me to see the application of GIS and also involves regular fieldwork trips, which I particularly enjoy!
Ian Chambers, MSc GIS:
Having spent three great years in Leicester doing my undergraduate degree in Geography, I had no hesitation in accepting the opportunity of staying on an extra year to do the M.Sc. in GIS and Human Geography. Leicester is a great place to study, with lots of friendly people in the Geography department, and the GIS facilities in particular are 1st class. The experience has given me the motivation, skills and confidence to pursue doctoral research in geographies of health and healthcare.
Tom Astell-Burt, MSc in GIS and Human Geography
I took the MSc in Sustainable Management of Natural Resources. The work for my research dissertation opened my eyes to Africa, its vast dusty plains bordered by blue mountains, its impenetrable wetlands, its marvellous wildlife. My life has been different ever since. Studying the cycle of nutrients in a pristine natural environment in Kenya helped me to interpret processes in perturbed ecosystems once I came back to Europe. I now act as a consultant for the Italian Environment Agency. My ecological background and my interests in biogeochemical cycles form a valuable ‘substrate' in the application of the principles of Environmental Impact Assessment.
Nic Pacini, MSc SMNR
I'm working part time for the Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust on their database of biological records and for their consultancy on a number of projects, mostly involving survey work of one type or another. I consider myself fairly lucky to have a job with the wildlife trust as my background, prior to doing the MSc (NRM) included no relevant experience. I have no doubt that I would not be doing this now if I had not done the MSc. The knowledge I gained both during the taught course and whilst working on my dissertation are directly relevant to what I do now. It has given me confidence to tackle issues which previously I knew little about.
Rupert Simms, MSc SMNR:
The MSc in Research in Human Geography teaches a wide range of research skills and offers an interesting selection of taught modules whilst also encouraging the development of a specific research interest. For me the course proved to be an excellent precursor to further postgraduate study in the Geography Department at Leicester because it provided me with the necessary training and background to be awarded one of Leicester University's fully-funded PhD open scholarships.
Tim Vorley, MSc Research in Human Geography:
I found the combination of taught skills modules and the freedom of the MSc research dissertation gave just the right balance to this course. The taught programme, delivered by a dynamic team of academics from disciplines across the social sciences, enabled me to gain the breadth of knowledge and confidence necessary to continue my postgraduate studies. Furthermore, the ESRC recognition this MSc course has been awarded as a social science ‘Research Training Programme' was a prerequisite for my current PhD post (PhD ESRC/CASE studentship at Sheffield University). Had I not completed this recognised course I would have been ineligible for my current funding opportunity.
Simon Parris, MSc Research in Human Geography:
I'm currently employed by DEFRA as a Stewardship Adviser and I help manage and maintain Countryside Stewardship agreements for farmers in South Yorkshire. Much of what we completed as part of the Land, Biodiversity and Sustainability modules on my MSc programme has been invaluable to me in the last year with the Rural Development Service. I am just about to take up a new job with the Environment Agency as an Environment Officer. I had to complete a gruelling 5 hour assessment before they offered me the post and my knowledge of Green Taxation, Pollution Permits and EU Directives and Regulations, covered in the Economics and Law modules, played a central part in swinging the interview my way.
Martin Flack, MSc SMNR:
