Department of Geography
World Rankings

Durham is one of the world’s leading universities as shown by our world top 100 position in the QS World University Rankings 2021, where we are ranked 86th.
A record 19 Durham subjects are also in the world top 100 of the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2020, including 11 in the world top 50 and three in the world top ten.
Founded in 1928, the Department of Geography at Durham is one of the leading centres of geographical research and education in the world. We have been ranked in the top 10 for eight consecutive years in the QS World University Rankings by Subject (2020). We are recurrently ranked in the top handful of programmes in the UK by various league tables. We are ranked 2nd in the Guardian University Guide 2019 and 4th in the Complete University Guide 2021, and The Times/Sunday Times Good University Guide 2020. The most recent Research Excellence Framework found we produced the most world leading research publications and were top for overall research power in the discipline nationally.
Our ambition is to provide an outstanding education experience for each and every one of our undergraduate and postgraduate students, and for the Department to be a key research node in global networks, known for its agenda-setting research across the range of our specialisms. With over 60 academics, 40 researchers, 40 professional support, administrative and technical staff, 750 undergraduates and 130 postgraduates, we teach and research across the discipline. Our specialisms span from Antarctica, Greenland and the Arctic to Bangladesh, China and the emergent economies, whilst continuing to attend to the closer to home, the North east region in which we are located.
We are fortunate to enjoy a superb research and teaching environment in a wonderful City, with top class laboratory and IT facilities in a supportive and collegial atmosphere. At our core, our strength is drawn from all the people - staff and students - who together create and sustain the vibrant scholarly community that makes Durham Geography.
Professor Mike Crang
Head of Department
Latest Geography News
- Two Funded PhD Projects: Antarctic Sea Ice Evolution and Ecosystem Responses Since the Last Glacial Maximum
- New NERC IAPETUS2 Physical Geography Studentships for 2021 / 2022
- New Online International Boundaries Course
- PhD Student Wins Award at UK Glaciology Conference
- New Masters by Research Projects Available at the Department of Geography at Durham for 2020/2021
Jobs
Events Over the Next 14 Days
Thursday 28 January 2021
Thursday 4 February 2021
- Physical Geography Seminars: External Seminar Speaker - 'Using cosmogenic nuclides to estimate long-term landslide activity' 2:00pm to 3:30pm, Online (via Zoom), Dr Duna Roda-Boluda, GFZ Potsdam, Contact simon.e.engelhart@durham.ac.uk
Contact Details
Durham University
Lower Mountjoy
South Road, Durham
DH1 3LE, UK
Tel: 0191 3341800
Fax: 0191 3341801
geog.dept@durham.ac.uk