We run an annual dissertation prize open to any undergraduate dissertation that displays an aptitude for quantitative methods within Human and Physical Geography, including other disciplines where work engages with geographical problems and phenomena from a quantitative perspective. Check out our Twitter or blog for latest calls (occurring roughly summer time each year).
Here is a list of past winners of the prize.
2023
Matthew Lam, University College London won the prize in Human Geography - “Exploring the casual impact of mobile vaccination units in southwest London”.
Jacobus Petersen, University of Oxford won the prize in Physical Geography - “Tropical pollination networks in their physical environment: a study into the influence of plant functional traits on the resilience of a crucial ecosystem service”.
2022
Joint winner: Melissa McAlpine, University of Edinburgh - “Detecting the Spatial and Temporal Patterns of Mangrove Damage and Recovery from Satellite Imagery Following Hurricane Irma in Cuba”.
Joint winner: Hollie Parry, University College London - “Projections of thermally induced coral bleaching across Caribbean reefs, using a marine heatwave algorithm”.
2021
Joint winner: Brittany Pugh, University of Nottingham - “Partitioning taxonomic and functional beta-diversity into their relative turnover and nestedness components between disturbed engineered and undisturbed towpath plant communities on the Basingstoke Canal, UK”.
Joint winner: Jay Chang, University College London - “A detailed assessment of the current and future spatial distribution of Loxodonta cyclotis in Central Africa: An application of ensemble species distribution model.”
2020
Winner: Christiane Spring, University of Bristol - “The Polluted Brain: Logistic regression analysis of the association between atmospheric pollution and Alzheimer’s disease in the South West of England”.
Runner up: Philip Cowing, University of York - “Comparing the effects of turbine arrays and climate change on future marine species distributions”.
2019
Winner: David Verry, University of Bristol - “The influence of hostile destination attitudes on migration in Europe: a gravity model analysis”.
2018
Winner: Simon Herd, University of Manchester – “Reef island stability under rising sea levels? Assessing the eco-morphodynamics of a lagoonal platform island in the South Maldives”.
2017
Winner: Laurence Day, University of St Andrews – “The relationship between forest cover and malaria incidence in Bangladesh: A spatio-statistical analysis”.
2016
Human Geography Winner: Emily Ellis, University of St Andrews – ‘A Geographically Weighted Regression of Domestic Heat Demand in Glasgow’
Physical Geography Winner: James Kirkham, Durham University – “Magnitude-frequency relations of iceberg disintegration in Vaigat, West Greenland”
2015
Human Geography Winner: Chris Moore, University of Bristol – “The Economic Impact of the Naxalite Insurgency on Indian States, 1982-2007: Evidence from a Synthetic Control Approach”
Physical Geography Winner: Fergus McClean, University of Dundee – “A New Approach to Index Flood Estimation for Ungauged Catchments”
2014
Winner: Gareth Griffith, University of Bristol – “Behind the aggregate curtain: developing an advanced modelling approach to investigating health segregation”
Runner up: James Brennan, University College London – “Validation of a spectrally invariant model of canopy radiative transfer with MODIS data and its application to canopy dynamics in Amazon Forests”
Runner up: Benno Simmons, Oxford University – “Geodiversity and biodiversity: evaluating the predictive power and surrogacy performance of abiotic heterogeneity in the United Kingdom”
2011
Winner: Tadas Nikonovas, Swansea University – “Dynamics of night time emissions in Europe”
2010
Winner: Laura Steele, University of Bristol – “A Multilevel Modelling Approach to Ethnic Residential Segregation in Urban England, 1991-2001″
Runners up: Tim Foster and Robin Wilson’s entries, from University College London and the University of Southampton respectively.