Final Year Geography: A Week in the Life

Introduction

I am Naomi Duncan-Todd, a geography student at Queen’s University, Belfast (QUB). I have recently returned to university for the final year of my undergraduate degree in geography. In this article, I bring you along with me for the first week back at university.

Monday: Shaping a Better Transport System for the Future 

This week started off with an interesting extra-curricular experience. The Planning Department at QUB held a workshop, which took the form of a public consultation. The purpose of this consultation was for the Department for Infrastructure (DfI) to find out students’ views on the working draft of the DfI Transport Strategy 2035 (DfI, 2025) (Figure 1). This document describes a new vision for Northern Ireland (NI’s) transport system by outlining a list of priorities that DfI hope to deliver by 2035 (Figure 2). 

Figure 1. Student consultation session on Monday the 15^th of September 2025 at Queen’s University, Belfast, regarding the Department for Infrastructure’s Transport Strategy 2035 Draft.

Figure 2. The strategic priorities, outlined in the Department for Infrastructure's Transport Strategy 2035 Draft. Source: DfI, 2025.

DfI gave us a quick overview of the Transport Strategy and the need for change in NI during the consultation (Figure 3). They then asked us about our views on the Transport Strategy through verbal discussion and an online poll via mentimeter. Figure 4 illustrates some of the key questions, discussion points, and feedback that emerged.

Figure 3. The need for change in Northern Ireland in relation to transport, according to the Department for Infrastructure’s Transport Strategy 2035 Draft.

Figure 4. The discussions that arose during the consultation session between the Department for Infrastructure and students from Queen’s University Belfast.  

The feedback that students gave during this consultation will be integrated into the Transport Strategy, allowing them help shape a better transport system for the future (DfI, 2025).

There is another transport-related event happening on the 15^th of October 2025 within the Planning Department at QUB. Professor Ian Walker from Swansea University is giving a talk on how psychology can address traffic and transport issues. You can register for this event via the link below.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSds322KLpgZqk-QPR0U9Kd5yeJ0nVjCV5x_tz33FTGYN6DvBA/viewform

Tuesday: Archival Research & Seminar Readings

I spent Tuesday, studying in the McClay Library at QUB. Firstly, I did some work for my dissertation, an independent research project that geography students can complete during the final year of their undergraduate degree (QUB, n.d.). For my dissertation, I am focusing on flooding within Omagh, Co. Tyrone, NI.

When I was in the McClay, I carried out archival research. I looked through photocopies I had taken of newspaper clippings from Omagh Library, that focused on historical flood events within Omagh, at the time of their occurrence (Figure 5). This allowed me to identify specific areas in Omagh that have flooded in the recent past, which is one of the objectives of my research project.

Figure 5. A newspaper article from the Tyrone Constitution, published on Thursday the 9^th of December 1999, describing a flood event that occurred in Omagh the weekend prior.

I then did some work for the Geographies of Outer Space module. Geographies of outer space is an area of research that explores how concepts within human geography can inform understandings of outer space, and its connection to humankind (Dunnet, 2021). I started preparing for the first seminar of this module by completing the assigned reading and questions (Figure 6).

Figure 6. The assigned reading and questions for the first seminar of the geographies of outer space module this semester.

Wednesday: Environmental Catastrophes and Library Session

The first lecture for the environmental catastrophes module took place on Wednesday morning (Figure 7). Professor Graeme Swindles gave an overview of the module and introduced key factors that help shape environmental catastrophes. This was a fascinating lecture, that came along with a reading list, that I explored in the McClay Library afterwards (Figure 8). My good friend and fellow geography student, Hannah Hall, joined me in the McClay, so that she could focus on applying for her Postgraduate Certificate in Education (Figure 8).

Figure 7. The opening slide of the first lecture for the environmental catastrophes module this semester.

Figure 8. Hannah Hall (seocond photo) and I (first photo) in the McClay Library, Queen's University, Belfast.

Thursday: Geographies of Outer Space

The first lecture for the geographies of outer space module was on Thursday morning. Dr. Oliver Dunnet introduced the module and discussed some key theoretical approaches within human geography that relate to geographies of outer space (Figure 9). Oliver then encouraged us to think about outer space as a cultural, territorial and environmental space. Finally, we watched a segment of the film, ‘In the Shadow of The Moon’, which demonstrated the cultural, political and environmental dimensions of the US Apollo space programme.

Figure 9. A presentation slide from the first geographies of outer space lecture this semester.

Friday: Literature Reviews and Ethics Approval

The first lecture for the geography dissertation module took place on Friday afternoon. Dr. Diarmid Finnegan, started off the lecture by showing us the wide variety of research topics our year group have decided to focus on (Figure 10). He then gave us some guidance on how to complete a literature review for the dissertation. Finally, Diarmid talked to us about ethics approval, something we will need for our dissertations if our research will involve talking to members of the public or the use of sensitive data (QUB, n.d.).

Figure 10. Word cloud, showing all the topics and places that final year geography students are focusing on for their dissertations this academic year.

Conclusion

I really enjoyed the first week back at university. Thank you for coming along with me for it! I hope this article has given first and second year geography students at QUB an insight into what final year is like, and prospective students an idea of what it’s like to study geography at QUB.

Reference List

Department for Infrastructure (DfI) (2025) The Transport Strategy 2035 | Department for Infrastructure,  Available at: https://www.infrastructure-ni.gov.uk/consultations/transport-strategy-2035 (Accessed: 22/09/2025).

Dunnet, O. (2021) ’Geographies of Outer Space’, in Richardson, D. et al.  (editors) International Encyclopaedia of Geography: People, the Earth, Environment and Technology (Wiley): 1-5 [Online] Available at : https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118786352.wbieg2100 (Accessed: 22/09/2025).

QUB (n.d.) Ethics | Research | Queen’s University, Belfast, Available at: https://www.qub.ac.uk/Research/Governance-ethics-and-integrity/Ethics/ (Accessed: 22/09/2025).  

QUB (n.d.) Geography | Courses | Queen’s University, Belfast, Available at: https://www.qub.ac.uk/courses/undergraduate/geography-bsc-f800/#modules (Accessed: 22/09/2025).