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All undergraduate students in Geography will complete a dissertation in their final year.
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All undergraduate students in Geography will complete a dissertation in their final year. Various academic societies and research groups award prizes for the best undergraduate dissertations in their field submitted by university geography and other departments from across the country. Success in these competitions is therefore a mark of the highest quality by national standards. UCL Geography prize winners from recent years were:
2014
James Brennan
Validation of a spectrally invariant model of canopy radiative transfer with MODIS data and its application to canopy dynamics in Amazon forests. Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) Quantitative Methods Research Group (QMRG), Undergraduate Dissertation Prize. Joint second.
Joon Ting Ho
Modeling the hydrological impacts of climate change on the Tocantins-Araguaia river basin. Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) Climate Change Research Group (CCRG), Undergraduate Dissertation Prize. Winner; and British Hydrological Society, Annual Student Award for the best undergraduate dissertation in hydrology. Runner up.
Hannah Mallinson
Glacial isostatic readjustment of the British Isles: a study of coastal response in Western Scotland and Southern Wales. The British Society for Geomorphology (BSG) - Marjorie Sweeting Dissertation Prize. Winner.
2015
Daphne Lee
Ageing-environment relationships: public neighbourhood spaces in Singapore as a site of phenomenological construction. Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) Developing Areas Research Group (DARG), Undergraduate Dissertation Prize. Winner; and Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) Urban Geography Research Group (UGRG), Undergraduate Dissertation Prize. Winner.
Katharine Sherratt
Exploring the impact of rural financial insecurity on access to sanitation: a multi-dimensional approach, in Karnataka, India. Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) Rural Geography Research Group (RGRG), Undergraduate Dissertation Prize. Joint second.
2016
Joseph Hussey
Assessing the Association between Industry of Employment and Divergent Geographies of Wealth in England, 1981- 2011. Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) Population Geography Research Group (PopGRG), Joanna Stillwell Prize. Winner; and the Society for Location Analysis Bronze Prize.
Matita Afoakwa
Self, Status and Survival: The experience of return migration of professionals to Accra, Ghana. Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) Developing Areas Research Group (DARG), Undergraduate Dissertation Prize. Winner.
Ben Ayre
Constructing an Arctic Laboratory: Oil Spill Simulations at the Hydrocarbon Frontier. Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) Political Geography Group, Undergraduate Dissertation Prize. Winner.
Lucy Taylor
The male gaze of colonial cartography: a feminist analysis of maps of Africa from the Royal Geographical Society archive, 1851-1891. Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) Historical Geography Research Group, Undergraduate Dissertation Prize. Winner.
Alicia Xin Yi Wong
Evaluation of void decks as sites of social (non) interactions, and the nature and impacts of these (non) interactions. Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) Urban Geography Research Group, Undergraduate Dissertation Prize. Winner.
2017
Holly Campbell
Moments of progress: An exploration of the interaction between female enterprise and patriarchal norms in Selçuk, Turkey. Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) Economic Geography Research Group (EGRG) Undergraduate Dissertation Prize. Winner.
Wilson Chun Chan
Modelling the hydrological impacts of climate change on the Lake Eyre Basin, Australia.
British Hydrological Society, Annual Student Award for the best undergraduate dissertation in hydrology. Runner up.
Lilly Donnelly
Interpreting the revitalization of the Los Angeles River through the lens of urban ecological citizenship. Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) Political Geography Research Group (PolGRG), Undergraduate Dissertation Prize. Winner.
Anna Knowles Smith
Refugees and theatre: an exploration of the basis of self-representation. Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) Social & Cultural Geography Research Group (SCGRG) Undergraduate Dissertation Prize. Winner.
Carole Roberts
A multiproxy study investigating ecological response to acidification in Easedale Tarn, English Lake District, since the early 19th century. Quaternary Research Association Undergraduate Dissertation Prize. Winner.
2018
Fumica Azuma
Mangrove recolonization following aquaculture: Case study from Pulau Ubin, Singapore. Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) Alfred Steers Undergraduate Dissertation Prize. Winner.
Miles Harrison
Empowering the poor? The effects of formalising informal settlements in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) Developing Areas Research Group (DARG), Undergraduate Dissertation Prize. Winner.
Charlotte Hudson
Impacts of climate change on river flows in Siberia’s Lena River Basin and its implications for the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation. British Hydrological Society, Annual Student Award for the best undergraduate dissertation in hydrology. Runner up.
Jack Wharton
Reconstructing AMOC over the past 7000 years: was the Industrial Era weakening an unprecedented event? Quaternary Research Association Undergraduate Dissertation Prize. Winner.
2019
Bronwyn Butler
Bloody injustice: period poverty, power and shame in 21st century Britain. Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) Gender and Feminist Geographies Research Group (GFGRG), Undergraduate Dissertation Prize. Third prize.
Tallulah Gordon
Suffragettes in the City: Exploring gendered memory through analysis of two London exhibitions commemorating the British women’s suffrage centenary. Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) Historical Geography Research Group (HGRG), Undergraduate Dissertation Prize. Runner up.
Helena Robertson
Mapping elections: a quantitative analysis of cartographic visualisation techniques. British Cartographic Society's Ian Mumford Award. Winner.
Teki Tetteh-Wright
Revealing the variations in Eurasian otter (Lutra lutra) diet through dietary analysis in the Stour and Colne catchments, Essex. British Association of Nature Conservationists ECOS Student Article Competition 2019. Winner.
Nicola Ward
The crash of ash: A study into the extent of ash dieback in Norfolk and the associated potential changes in woodland composition. British Association of Nature Conservationists ECOS Student Article Competition 2019. Second prize.
2020
Grace Atkinson
Disrupting gendered geographies of colonial knowledge and representation: a critical analysis of Beatrice Grimshaw's and Kathleen Haddon's travel writing and photography in Papua New Guinea, 1910-1914. Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) Historical Geography Research Group Dissertation Prize. Joint winner.
Yusuf Khan-Cheema
Noise is subjective? Exploring residents' lived experiences of aircraft noise around London's Heathrow Airport. Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) Planning and Environment Research Group Dissertation Prize. Winner.
2021
Finbar Aherne
Exploring infectious disease distribution in Greater London using quantitative spatial analysis of non-diagnostic proxy data. Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) Geographies of Health and Wellbeing (GHWRG), Undergraduate Dissertation Prize. Joint Winner.
Adwoa Amankona
You have to be excellent. You can't just be or just exist.' Exploring the cultural principles associated with Black Excellence and its placement on black students attending Golden Triangle universities. Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) Race, Culture and Equality Working Group (RACE), Undergraduate Dissertation Prize. Winner.
Joe Cappai
Tapping into tech: the influence of social media on dancers and the spaces they use to dance in London. Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) Digital Geographies Research Group (DGRG), Undergraduate Dissertation Prize. Winner.
Jay Chang
A detailed assessment of the current and future spatial distribution of Loxodonta cyclotis in Central Africa: An application of ensemble species distribution model. Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) Quantitative Methods Research Group (QMRG), Undergraduate Dissertation Prize. Joint Winner.
Will Chantry
Built from the internet up': examining citizen engagement in Google's first smart city, Quayside Toronto. Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) Participatory Geographies Research Group (PYGYRG), Undergraduate Dissertation Prize. Second place.
Heather Goldring
Migration and material culture: the Guyanese living room. Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) Developing Areas Research Group (DARG), Undergraduate Dissertation Prize. Winner.
Juliette Masson
The sociocultural integration of British immigrants within rural communities of rural Poitou-Charentes, France. Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) Population Geography Research Group (PGRG), Undergraduate Dissertation Prize. Winner.
Hattie Powell-Cook
'Miles from home': a study of abortion migration from the Republic of Ireland. Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) Gender and Feminist Geographies Research Group (GFGRG), Undergraduate Dissertation Prize. Highly Commended.
Tang, Bing Yang
Exploring the workers’ journey for a better ride: A curiosity-led qualitative study on food delivery drivers experiences in Singapore. Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) Economic Geography Research Group (EGRG), Undergraduate Dissertation Prize. Winner.
2022
Manon Davies-Lewis
Exploring the ‘peculiarity’ of the Welsh: paupers, punishment, and popular protest in rural west Wales during the 19th century. Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) Historical Geography Research Group (HGRG), Undergraduate Dissertation Prize. Highly Commended.
Natalie (Yuqiao) Deng
A tephropalaeoecology study investigating volcanic eruptions and tephra depositions' impacts on a lacustrine ecosystem in Northeast China, using diatoms as environmental indicators. Quaternary Research Association Undergraduate Dissertation Prize. Winner.
Hollie Parry
Projections of thermally induced coral bleaching across Caribbean reefs, using a marine heatwave algorithm. Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) Quantitative Methods Research Group (QMRG), Undergraduate Dissertation Prize. Joint Winner.
Keli Sheng
‘This is my home here’: Exploring the Everyday Politics of Belonging of Chinese Youth in Lake Geneva, Switzerland. Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) Race, Culture and Equality Working Group (RACE) Undergraduate Dissertation Prize. Second place.
Samantha (Cheuk Lam) Siu
How symbolic capital matters: international student mobilities from Hong Kong to the UK. Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) Population Geography (PopGRG), Joanna Stillwell Prize. Joint Winner.
Samuel Street
Navigating the maelstrom: The conjunctural geographies of Nigerian online freelancers. Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) Development Geographies Research Group (DevGRG). Winner.
Sally (Chenyuan) Wang
Assessing the impacts of climate change using hydrological modelling for the River Dee catchment, Northeast Scotland. British Hydrological Society (BHS), Annual Student Award for the best undergraduate dissertation in hydrology. Winner.
Jacinta (Li) Yee
An investigation of how heritage is represented in the landscapes of the Bras Basah Bugis Arts and Heritage District. Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) Urban Geography Research Group (UGRG), Undergraduate Dissertation Prize. Winner.
2023
Athena Eftychiou
Investigating the impact of the 2009 Mt Redoubt eruption on the geomorphology and dynamics of Drift River, Cook Inlet, Alaska. The British Society for Geomorphology (BSG) - Marjorie Sweeting Dissertation Prize. Winner.
Matthew Lam
Exploring the causal impact of mobile/pop-up vaccination units on COVID-19 vaccine uptake in South-West London. Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) Quantitative Methods Research Group (QMRG), Undergraduate Dissertation Prize. Joint Winner.
Iñaki Manosa
Taming the “growth machine: The case of the Encircled Garden in El Faro, Comuna 8. Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) Latin American Geographers Research Group (LAGRG), Undergraduate Dissertation Prize. Highly commended.
2024
XinTong Chen
Negotiating home, borders and national identity: mainland Chinese student migrants' childhood educational experiences in Singapore. Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) Population Geography (PopGRG), Joanna Stillwell Prize. Winner.
Marcus Moon
Variations in carbonate preservation and grain size at the Shatsky Rise during the Late Pliocene and their relation to the intensification of Northern Hemisphere Glaciation. Quaternary Research Association Undergraduate Dissertation Prize. Highly commended.
Akshaya Selvaraju
Belonging across borders: Transnational and Indian Tamil diaspora in East Ham, London. Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) Participatory Geographies Research Group (PYGYRG) Dissertation Prize. Winner.
Catalina Wadham
Reimagining Utopia: Contemporary Latin American Artists in London. Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) Latin American Geographers Research Group (LAGRG), Undergraduate Dissertation Prize. Highly commended