SARAH QUICKE: Students, my name is Sarah Quicke and it's my pleasure today
as one of the faculty in the Department of Geography
and Planning to briefly introduce you to our major in
human geography and planning.
Human geography and planning are essential disciplines
for understanding the complexities of cities and regions
and guiding their sustainable development.
This major explores the complex interplay of environmental,
economic, social and political processes shaping human activities,
at a range of scales from the local to the global.
To flourish human societies wherever they're located,
have to grapple with ecological sustainability,
cultural diversity, changing demographic pressures,
disasters and globally in meshed economic realities.
And this major provides graduates with the tools and knowledge to
lead those processes.
Our major in human geography and planning has been redesigned
for 2021 retaining all of the most fundamental and innovative units
from our current programme and introducing a set of strategic
new offerings to provide students with clear and aligned
pathways into employment and or into further study.
So at the first level, level one as you see there,
students are introduced to fundamental principles of geographic
inquiry through two core units that address major global challenges
related in semester one to urbanisation and sustainability.
And in semester two, to a unit which uses geophysical,
hydro, meteorological and humanitarian disasters,
to unpick the complex
and interrelated nature of political, cultural, economic
and environmental processes that precipitate
and shape crisis events.
With only two core units at this first year students have lots
of space to their timetable to explore units of interest for
second majors or just take electives that are of interest to them.
At the second year, level two there you can see students have
core units in economic and social processes that shape societies
and regions as well as a field based in geographic inquiry.
They can then choose a fourth core unit in either GIS
or an optional international fieldwork experience in years
where that unit is offered.
And at level three, you can see students build on the skills and
knowledge gained earlier in their degree to develop advanced
technical skills in socio economic and demographic data analysis,
as well as expert knowledge in local, regional
and global development processes.
And again here there are three core units at this level
which all students must take,
but more optionality regarding your fourth core unit,
so you can select a unit with more of an environmental focus
or a more urban planning focus.
This undergraduate major as you can see is aligned as a pathway
into a master of
Urban and Regional Planning,
which is a planning Institute of Australia accredited degree
and Master of international development.
Our human geography and planning graduates also have a whole
range of employment opportunities and career pathways
available to them.
Some of these are listed here.
But these lists are by no means exhaustive.
And I'll return to this theme of employment pathways at the end
of the presentation.
So why study human geography and planning at UWA?
Well, there are, I think, at least four reasons worth briefly
mentioning here.
The first is to develop tools and frameworks for addressing major
global challenges affecting our society and environment.
As researchers and teachers within the Department of Geography
and Planning,
we are passionate about and have expertise in,
planning for sustainable, just and vibrant cities and regions,
addressing poverty and equipping students with the skills
to understand and address the drivers of uneven economic
development,
assessing the uneven impacts of climate change or
changing climatic conditions on different communities and
people groups, and on understanding and accounting for
the population drivers of many of these major global challenges
in policy and practice.
So if you have a particularly interesting or passion for any
of these major issues,
then a degree in human geography and planning is something
I would strongly encourage you to consider.
A second reason to consider major in human geography
and planning at UWA is that our degree focuses on
the development of both the kinds of soft skills that are increasing
interest to all employers things like digital literacy,
critical thinking, creativity, teamwork, intelligence,
but under specific set of technical skills that are relevant to careers
and jobs that draw on geographical and planning,
knowledge and expertise.
And that includes things like the ability to spatially analyse a suite
of social, economic, demographic and environmental data.
So while students will receive a well rounded theoretical
and conceptual knowledge base,
we want them to be able to apply those theories and that
knowledge in real world scenarios.
A third reason to consider degree in human geography and
planning at UWA is our focus on real world and field
based learning.
Our experiences that this learning not only enhances skills
in data collection interpretation for students,
but it also builds a strong sense of cohort and collegiality
among our students through shared experience and
our staff love getting out into the field as well.
And a final reason I want to highlight for considering a major
in human geography and planning at UWA,
which builds on the three already discussed is our collaborative
and dynamic learning environment.
In the last round of national research performance assessment,
Human Geography at UWA, achieved the highest possible ranking
of well above world standard.
We work in diverse field sites from Perth to remote
regional Western Australia to you know,
the far reaching gold fields of Ghana and we collaborate
on research with governments and industry and researchers
from around the globe.
And students reap the benefits from this experience and
excellence through mentoring from genuine subject matter
experts with global knowledge networks.
We also partner with the geography and planning students society
which was established by and for our students to encourage
students to connect, explore their interests,
and continue learning and professional networking outside
of lectures and tutorials.
So in the past, they've organised social events,
public lectures with planning practitioners and other networking
opportunities.
And finally, as I mentioned earlier,
this degree can take you in a range of really interesting
career directions.
The latest research on the future of work and the requirements
of the future workforce suggests that in the context of
increasing globalisation and automation,
graduates will probably go through around five different careers,
and up to 17 different jobs.
So to navigate this kind of complexity graduates
with an understanding of a range of economic, social,
environmental and spatial and technical processes will have
an advantage.
A degree in human geography and planning gives you two
clear career pathways, one is professional as an urban planner.
And one is generalist as a geographer who has skills applicable
in a whole range of career settings and we believe that this
flexibility and breadth
is a great strength of our programme for our graduates
and their future prospects.
And it's reflected in exciting and diverse careers that our
geography alumni have pursued in some of the pictured here.
We have graduates that work in local government as planners,
for regional development commissions, for other government
departments and international agencies.
They work in research roles for organisations like CSIRO
and some have started their own successful consultancy firms
and community development businesses.
Geography graduates have a breadth of career pathways available
to them.
And I hope that we'll see many of you embarking
on that journey with us in 2021.