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Report of the General Board on the establishment of a Professorship of Physical Geography and a Professorship of Human Geography

The GENERAL BOARD beg leave to report to the University as follows:

1. The Faculty Board of Earth Sciences and Geography have advised the General Board of the need for two new Professorships in the Department of Geography to enhance teaching and research in the fields of Physical Geography and Human Geography. The new Professorships will reinforce the Department's position at the interface of the physical and social science approaches to environmental problems, maintain its leading role in area studies of these issues, and further its work on problems of economic development, policy, and political issues which arise from the interaction of humans with the environment.

2. Within the field of Physical Geography, the Department of Geography, and other cognate Departments, envisage that the establishment of a proposed environmental unit within the University will provide the opportunity for major developments in the analysis of environmental systems. This research on the physical understanding of the environment and earth observation methods will in turn facilitate the modelling and prediction of natural hazards and the consequent development of enhanced early warning mechanisms. In order to provide appropriate academic leadership for the geographical component of the proposed environmental unit and to address the Department's need for enhanced research in the field of environmental modelling, the Faculty Board have proposed that a Professorship of Physical Geography should be established in the Department. The holder of the Professorship would be expected to make a major contribution to building up the Department's research activities in his or her field in ways that will attract substantial external funding.

3. The Faculty Board also consider that the Department of Geography is in urgent need of senior leadership to take forward research and teaching in the related fields of quantitative human geography and Geographical Information Systems (GIS). GIS form the centre of data gathering frameworks for almost all national and international data routinely collected by governments and international agencies. Examples of such data include censuses, social statistics, public health information on disease incidence and prevention, urban and transport systems, economic indicators such as employment, wages and prices, and cartographic information. Increasingly, historical archival data in these areas are also becoming available in GIS format. Although excellent opportunities for collaboration exist both within the University and externally, the Department has only limited activity at present in these rapidly developing fields of enquiry. In order to develop teaching and research in the Department in this field the Faculty Board have proposed that a Professorship in Human Geography in the broad area of quantitative analysis or GIS be established.

4. In order to meet the cost of these new offices, the Faculty Board have proposed that three University Lectureships in the Department of Geography should be suppressed, namely the offices that became vacant on 23 April 1999 on the death of Dr G. E. Smith, on 1 August 1999 on the early retirement of Dr D. E. Keeble, and on 1 September 1999 on the resignation of Dr L. M. McDowell. The General Board have accepted the Faculty Board's proposal, which has been supported by the Council of the School of the Physical Sciences, for the establishment of the new Professorships on this basis. They have accordingly agreed that, if the recommendations of this Report are approved, they will suppress the three University Lectureships mentioned above.

5. The Board are satisfied that appointments at this level will be likely to attract strong fields of well-qualified candidates. The Board accordingly propose that a Professorship of Physical Geography and a Professorship of Human Geography should be established in the University from 1 October 2000 and assigned to the Department of Geography. They have agreed to concur in the view of the Faculty Board of Earth Sciences and Geography that elections to each Professorship should be made by an ad hoc Board of Electors. They have also agreed (i) that in the case of the first election to the Professorship of Physical Geography, candidature should be limited to persons working in the field of environmental systems analysis, and (ii) that in the case of the first election to the Professorship of Human Geography, candidature should be restricted to persons working in either quantitative human geography or geographical information systems.

6. The General Board recommend:

I. That a Professorship of Physical Geography be established from 1 October 2000, placed in Schedule B of the Statutes, and assigned to the Department of Geography.

II. That a Professorship of Human Geography be established from 1 October 2000, placed in Schedule B of the Statutes, and assigned to the Department of Geography.

6 October 1999

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Cambridge University Reporter, 27 October 1999
Copyright © 1999 The Chancellor, Masters and Scholars of the University of Cambridge.