Hugh Clout
Emeritus Professor
Key achievements: Pioneering palaeolimnology research; leadership of HOLIVAR, Euro-LIMPACS, and other freshwater projects; major contributions to lake sediment analysis, ecosystem restoration, and conservation; international recognition including FRS, Victoria Medal, and Lifetime Achievement Award.
Emeritus Professor of Environmental Change at UCL, specialising in palaeolimnology, climate variability, and environmental monitoring.
Biography
Professor Clout specialises in rural and historical geography, with particular expertise in regional development, France, Western Europe, and London. His research explores the evolution of rural landscapes, regional inequalities, and the interplay between geography and social change. Educated at UCL and the Université de Paris I, he has taught at UCL since 1967, serving as Dean of the Faculty of Social and Historical Sciences from 1995 to 2004.
- BA, MPhil, and PhD: University College London
- Doctorat de l’Université de Paris I
- DLit: University of London
- Lecturer in Geography, UCL, 1967–1986
- Reader in Geography, UCL, 1986–1991
- Professor of Geography, UCL, 1991–2004
- Dean, Faculty of Social and Historical Sciences, UCL, 1995–2004
- Emeritus Professor of Geography, UCL, 2004–present
- Fellow of the British Academy
- Doctorat honoris causa, Sorbonne
- Rural and historical geography
- Regional development
- France and Western Europe
- London
Publications
Explore Professor Clout's full list of research outputs via UCL Profiles.
View publicationsResearch
Current research centres on the reconstruction of French towns and countryside in the 20th century, with a particular emphasis on the immediate post-war decades. Alongside this, ongoing projects explore the rural geography of northern France and the intellectual history of French academic geography through the correspondence of Albert Demangeon and his contemporaries.
Research is being further developed and refined to contribute toward a monograph on reconstruction in France during the 20th century, alongside a series of related articles.
The monograph will focus particularly on reconstruction during the 1940s and 1950s. Archival case studies are being developed for Paris and Lower Normandy, supported by additional archive and library work on Northern France, Upper Normandy, Alsace, Brittany, and other regions. The principal archival resource is the national holdings at Fontainebleau.
Research into the rural geography of northern France continues, examining patterns of land use, settlement, and regional development.
Letters received by Albert Demangeon between 1904 and 1917 are the basis for an ongoing series of papers on Demangeon, the Vidalians, and the historiography of French academic geography in the 20th century.
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