LECTURER: Hi, my name's Dr Julian Clifton.
I'm head of department
of the Department of Geography and Planning.
And I'm here to talk to you today
about the BSc Geography undergraduate major.
I'll like to start by introducing ourselves,
who we are in the department at UWA,
briefly outline the range of our undergraduate majors
that we offer, and then I'll talk about the BSc Geography,
talk about the units and the content
and how this can get you ready
for an exciting career following graduation.
So Department of Geography at UWA
is well-established department,
one of the oldest in the country, going back to 1964.
In the most recent assessments
of National Research Excellence,
we received the highest possible category
of well above world standard, and above world standard
in human and physical geography, respectively,
which was one of the highest level in terms of rating,
highest levels of departments in geography,
across the country.
Our teaching and research cuts across key areas,
all of which have high employment potential for students.
And we pride ourselves on a very active student society.
And as a department, we maintain close links,
both with schools across the statewide,
and employers in terms of making sure
that our graduates have the requisite skills
to enter it into the workplace.
We offer three undergraduate majors, the BSc Geography,
the BA Human Geography and Planning,
and the Bachelor's in Environmental Design
and Environmental Geography and Planning.
And you can see videos
outlining these majors on the website.
The BSc Geography focuses on key issues
affecting people and the planet.
Geography is central to understanding how we use,
conserve, and sustain natural resources.
It is the degree of choice
for anyone who is interested in environmental conservation
and environmental management.
We focus, in our BSc Geography, for example,
on probably the major issue affecting society
in the 21st Century, climate change.
We also focus upon how to manage and conserve
increasingly scarce natural resources, such as fresh water.
We give you vital training in contemporary techniques
of data collection and analysis, principally GIS,
but also remote sensing.
This slide outlines the structure of the degree.
Each of the units that you can see here
are either core or option.
And I'll briefly outline the structure of these
as we work through from Level 1 through to Level 3.
So Level 1, the core unit in semester one
is climate change environments and society.
And this looks at the impacts of climate change,
both on pre-industrial and modern societies and environments
throughout the world.
You also have a choice of at least one
of urbanisation and sustainability, in semester one,
and disasters in Level 2.
Urbanisation and sustainability
is all about how we maintain
sustainable, liveable, urban communities
both in present and into the future.
And disasters look at how and why environmental hazards
turn into disasters at the global scale.
Moving to Level 2, we have three core units.
The climate system, GIS, and reading landscapes.
The climate system is an introduction to climate science.
It builds upon the unit at Level 1,
allows you to gain an in-depth understanding
of processes involved in the atmosphere,
which are associated with climate change.
Geographic information systems
is an introduction to GIS techniques.
Again, an essential skill for anyone entering the workplace
with an interest in environmental conservation issues.
Reading landscapes, the other core unit at Level 2,
is a field work unit.
In this unit we take you out and around in WA
looking at how people over time
have used, shaped and influenced the natural environment.
You also have a choice
of at least one optional unit at Level 2.
Archaeology of rock art, the international field work unit,
and hydrology and water resources.
So archaeology of rock art
is introduction to rock art,
how do we conserve it?
How do we manage it?
And how do we preserve it into the future?
The international fieldwork unit, as the name implies,
is a residential overseas field work unit
open to all BSc Geographers
where usually in the mid winter break,
mid winter, sorry, semester break,
we take students overseas
for anywhere between seven and 10 days,
looking at issues of development,
conservation and environmental management in locations
which have included the United States, Europe,
including France, Germany, and Spain,
Indonesia, and more recently Japan.
The hydrology water resources unit
looks at how we manage
increasingly scarce fresh water resources
with a particular focus on WA.
Moving into the third year,
we have a field work unit,
climate change adaptation and mitigation,
advanced GIS, and environmental policy and planning.
The field work unit builds upon the Level 2 skills
through allowing you to design
and implement your own project.
Looking at an issue related to conservation and management,
either in an urban setting or a natural setting.
Climate change adaptation and mitigation
builds upon early units
by looking at policies which are designed
both to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases
and to mitigate the impacts, to adapt to the impacts.
Advanced GIS and remote sensing
builds upon GEOG2201, giving you skills
in remote sensing techniques
and environmental policy and planning
is all about the design and implementation
of environmental regulations,
environmental planning techniques.
Remember at UWA, you can combine your choice
of a first major with any other second major.
So students in the BSc Geography
commonly take their second major as Environmental Science,
Marine Science, or Environmental Geography and Planning.
Alternatively, instead of choosing a second major,
you can make up the total number of units
through taking units from any other major
across the university.
Through taking the BSc Geography,
you'll develop a wide range
of highly valued workplace skills.
You'll be skilled and practised and confident
in leadership, team leadership,
project design and project management
through the field work units, which we offer.
You'll be highly skilled in data collection,
data preparation, data analysis, and data reporting,
both qualitative and quantitative data,
and you'll be skilled through your practise
in professional report writing and presentation
through your preparation of things like
policy briefs, environmental reports,
environmental consultancy reports, and so on.
And you'll have a range
of very exciting and rewarding career pathways,
both domestically and overseas.
Geographers are not subject in terms of career demand.
They're not subject to cyclical downturns
such as you find in other disciplines.
Geographers are always in high demand by employers
because of the varied and important skillset that they have.
And this can lead you, for example,
into careers in environments conservation,
environmental management,
planning and managing resource use,
international development, and a whole host of others.
There are really no limits to the careers
that you can choose with a BSc in Geography.
If you want to know more,
please feel free to contact me directly via email.
I'll be more than happy to answer any questions.
Browse through the other resources
on the online open day.
Look for Geography or Geographical Sciences
in the UWA handbook,
and very much hope this has been of interest to you.
And if you're interested in any of these exciting careers,
BSc Geography is the major for you.
Thanks very much.