university of st andrews
I completed my first degree at the University of St Andrews in Scotland, graduating in June 2007 with an MA (hons) First Class in Geography.
During my first two years at St Andrews, I took core classes in physical and human geography, and the following optional classes:
- Social Anthropology
- Arabic
- Middle Eastern Studies
- Computer Science
During my two honours years, I focused solely on human geography. I took core classes addressing philosophical and methodological debates in human geography, as well as studying:
- Development Studies
- HIV/AIDS in Africa
- Imperialism and Colonialism
- Environmental Management
During my final year at St Andrews, I completed two longer pieces of written work:
- a review essay exploring political ecology
- a dissertation, which was entitled Moving Towards Sustainable Energy Provision: Two City-Scale Case Studies
university of edinburgh
Over the 2007/08 academic year I have completed the Masters by Research in Human Geography course with the Institute of Geography at the University of Edinburgh. The course provides advanced level research training for postgraduate study in human geography, and is recognised as a research training course by the Economic and Social Research Council.
During the year, I developed a research project exploring alternative food networks from which I wrote my masters dissertation. I have also taken the following research training courses:
- Research Design in Human Geography
- Methodological Debates in Human Geography
- Quantitative Data Analysis
- Data Collection Skills in the Social Sciences
The dissertation - the final part of the course - was submitted in August 2008.
awards and prizes
While at the University of St Andrews, I was awarded the MacIver Class Medal in my junior and senior honours years. I was also awarded the Royal Scottish Geographical Society University Medal, which is presented to the best graduating honours geography student in each of the Scottish universities.
More recently, my presentation at the School of GeoSciences Postgraduate Conference at the University of Edinburgh was recognised as the best in its class (see conference handbook).
