Research

The Department of Geographical Sciences is well-recognised internationally and our staff have been awarded the highest number of international research grants at UNNC. UNNC is also the most successful university in China to be awarded European Horizon 2020 funding as a direct result of the Department.

Many of our staff are actively involved in international and national research collaborations supporting governments, companies and intergovernmental organisations to meet their scientific needs.

Environmental management

• Brownfield regeneration.
• Sustainable urban development.
• Ecosystem management in marine systems.
• Fisheries management.
• Assessing ecosystem services.

Geomorphology

• Modelling soil erosion and sediment transport.
• Geomorphology in South-East Asia and China.
• Impacts of climate and land-use change.
• Environmental baseline monitoring.

Geographic Information Science (GIS)

• Spatial analysis and visualisation. 
• Geospatial technologies for management.
• Optical Luminesces Dating.
• Catchment modelling using GIS.  
• Indoor Mapping and Navigation.
• Fire evacuation route planning.

Glacier

• Glacier analysis in Tibet.
• Climate Change.

Flooding management

• Stormwater modelling and flood risk assessment.
• International water management policies. 
• Assessing impact of changes on flood frequency.
• Water resource scenario and optimisation models.

Marine ecosystem

• Saltmarsh and estuarine ecology.
• The impacts of the fishing on the ecosystem.
• Benthic functioning.
• Flood estimation procedures for management.
• Use of GoldSim Monte Carlo Simulation Software.

River channel reconstruction

• Basic flow processes.
• Understand the fundamentals of sedimentation. 
• River bank stability. 
• Morphology of the resulting cross-section.

Paleoenvironmental

• Palaeoenvironmental and climate reconstruction.
• Ancient landscape and geomorphology.
• Quaternery palaeology.
• The origin and spread of agriculture in Eurasia.
• 14C chronology modelling.