Fieldwork will be one of the most rewarding and enjoyable experiences of your time at Leicester. We believe it is integral to your geography degree, giving you the opportunity to develop and apply learning from the classroom to the real world. In addition:

• The University of Leicester fully funds all compulsory field-classes on compulsory
  modules, so the costs to you are minimal.
• All of the staff running field-classes are involved in field-based research worldwide, ensuring that our field teaching draws on real experience.

Our carefully designed field programme progresses from learning to undertake basic field techniques during the first year through to more advanced independent research skills that will allow you to pursue your own research interests in your final year dissertation project.

We offer the following compulsory and optional field courses:

An introduction to fieldwork for human geographers in Leicester

This is a compulsory first-year field course which runs through semester two. It links the knowledge gained in lectures and seminars with practical study in Leicester. The field course develops research skills in data collection and analysis. It also trains students in group work, oral presentation skills and IT.

The rainforests of the Colombian Amazon

This is an optional third-year module for students taking BSc Geography or BSc Physical Geography. Students will explore the physical geographical aspects of Neotropical Rainforests during a two-week field trip to Amazonia in Southern Colombia (near Leticia). They are introduced to the diverse Neotropical vegetation and will engage in making botanical vegetation plots and soil characterisation. Animal biogeography will be explored by studying insects at ground and canopy level while aquatic ecosystems will be explored in terms of their chemical/physical properties and their relation to aquatic processes.

Desert geomorphology in Mojave Desert, California

The Californian drylands field trip is an optional third year module for students taking physical geography. It is based around a ten day field trip to the Mojave Desert (located between Las Vegas and Los Angeles) and Death Valley. It provides an alternative to the conventional lecture-based approach to teaching dryland geomorphology and allows you to gain a first-hand knowledge and experience of a dryland environment at the same time as learning about it. Topics studied include weathering processes, desert rivers, sand-dunes, salt lakes, dryland hillslopes and alluvial fans.

Kenya: Environment, Gender and Development

This is an optional third year course, aimed primarily at students taking human geography. It offers students the opportunity for fieldwork-based critical engagement with contemporary issues and debates in environment and development geographies. It focuses on a number of interlinked themes, for example the politics, discourses and practices of development; social, cultural and gendered aspects of resistance, environmental justice and grassroots activism; and the politics and practices of conservation. The core of the module is a 12 day fieldtrip to Kenya. You will be based initially in Nairobi and subsequently at field sites in Naivasha/Bogoria. From these bases you will be introduced to local cultures, land-use practices, conservation and community development programmes. You will also have the opportunity to engage with local social movements. The latter part of the fieldwork course will be dedicated to you own small-group project work.

Nature, Culture and Country: The South-West USA

This is an optional third year Human Geography module for students taking BA Geography or BA Human Geography. You will explore contested understandings of the American landscape, and will be introduced to the ways in which Native Americans, tourists, National Parks and resource managers 'see' the landscapes of the South West. You will spend 12 days unpicking the complex cultural geographies of places such as the Grand Canyon, Monument Valley, Zion National Park and Las Vegas. You will undertake project work on five key themes: Colonial networks and settling the nation; Indigenous geographies; Iconography of landscapes; Contested natures; and Interpretations of sustainability. The module provides not only an introduction to some of the best-known landscapes on earth, but an opportunity to employ critical geographical approaches in the field.

Please note that the location for our third year Human Geography field courses alternates from year to year between Kenya and the SW USA

New York: Globalisation and multiculturalism

This is a compulsory second-year module for students taking BA Geography or BA Human Geography. This trip to Manhattan looks at New York as a global city, with day trips to Wall Street and Ground Zero. The gentrified area of lower Manhattan is explored along with New York's multiculturalism through trips to Ellis Island Immigration Museum and China Town.

The badland environment of southern Spain

This is a compulsory second-year module for students taking BSc Geography or BSc Physical Geography. This residential trip provides an opportunity to visit the striking badlands landscape of South East Spain, where many of the spaghetti westerns were filmed. In addition to absorbing the distinctive geomorphology of this arid area with extreme gullying caused by intensive rainfall, the fieldtrip provides more general lessons in how to become a better 'landscape detective'.

An introduction to fieldwork for physical geographers in Devon

This is a compulsory first-year residential course held during the Easter vacation which connects the knowledge gained in lectures and practicals with the study of a particular area. The field course develops research skills for data generation such as project design, visual observation, measurement and problem solving.

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