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The best of Geography's field trip photos

12 December 2022

Student

Each year, the Department of Geography holds a photography competition of photos taken around the world during field trips and field work. As part of its 100th anniversary celebration, the department ran an Instagram competition to select the 'best of the best' photos, which were exhibited in The Exchange. Below is a replica of the exhibition.

Field trips are an exciting way for our students to practically apply their studies in a real-world situation while exploring the world. They are integral to the King’s Geography experience because they allow students the opportunity to gain exposure to the practicalities of data collection overseas.

With the relaxation of COVID-19 restrictions, the Department of Geography has started to plan for the future of field trips. Whilst the first-year field trips will remain in the UK, to help keep the trips more sustainable, the Department will be reintroducing international trips from 2023.

Discussions around locations are currently taking place, with places like San Francisco, Mexico City, Lisbon and Cape Town potentially on the cards.

Locations for field trips are chosen by the Department to reflect certain elements at the core of the discipline. The team also thinks about what are the core academic teaching and skills they want students to take away from the trips, what different academic and life opportunities do they expose students to and what different experiences staff would like to explore.

The team behind the field trips are also rewriting the departmental fieldtrip policy to ensure field trips in the future reflect students’ interests and can remain as inclusive and sustainable as possible.

United Kingdom

Since the early days, Geography has been exploring, and investigating its local surroundings, using London as a ‘laboratory’ as well as further afield in the United Kingdom. This includes field trips to Rogate Field Centre in Sussex, Dartmoor and County Clare in the 1970s and 1980s, to more recent field trips during the COVID-19 pandemic to York and Malham in 2021. Staying local shows how much there is to analyse and learn about in our own backyard – across different natural, social and urban environments.

Morocco

Our physical geographers explore the changing climate, from the Mediterranean through to semi-desert mountains, to the arid Sahara. The trip includes discussing these issues at numerous locations, as well as practical studies of the aquatic biodiversity of the Draa River and methodology to estimate its past discharge.

India

There is nothing like immersing yourself in the local culture, language and development challenges for classroom theory to become alive. Our students participate in interviews, focus group discussions and informal observation at a range of locations from schools, fish markets, churches and prawn or coconut plantations to community groups and local governments.

San Francisco

Our human geographers study the local politics, economics and cultural geographies of this iconic city. The trip intersperses group-based project work with discovery of the surroundings, including a deeper look at gentrification, queerness, sustainability and earthquake mitigation. Skills acquired range from the ability to work with archival and visual sources to interviewing and survey-based skills.