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Course structure and content

Course structure and content

The MPhil in Polar Studies was established in 1980. It provides an advanced training in research to improve the understanding of natural processes at work in polar environments, and of human activity in the Arctic and Antarctic regions, together with the research methods and techniques for investigating them.

From 2024, the degree course has a core interdisciplinary element giving students a broad grounding in current research issues concerning polar regions. After this, students will normally specialise and follow either the Social Sciences and Humanities strand or the Natural Sciences strand although it may be possible to take components from each with the permission of the MPhil Course Director if a student's research topic has strong interdisciplinary elements.

The core and specialist modules are taught in term one. The core module consists of 10 hours of formal teaching, plus guided reading. The specialist modules each consist of 14 hours of lectures, seminars or practical classes. The teaching within each module is complemented by supervisions with a member of the institute who will guide the students' work. In terms two and three, students work towards their dissertations. Students will be assigned a specialist supervisor for their dissertations, who will provide guidance and training in appropriate research skills, methodologies and techniques to enable the student to undertake their dissertation. Students also have the opportunity to attend relevant research group seminars (e.g. in Polar Physical Sciences or Polar Social Sciences and Humanities) held in the Institute.

In addition, the course provides additional training on making effective use of electronic resources for polar research, accessing archival and other material, and presentation skills.

Applicants should note that the precise content of the course and teaching schedule may vary slightly from year to year, depending on staff availability.

1. Core Interdisciplinary Module

This will include topics such as: polar environmental changes; how these are investigated; how they are impacting indigenous and non-indigenous peoples who live and work there; as well as issues surrounding polar law, geopolitics, and governance.

2. Social Sciences and Humanities Module:

Recent topics have included:

Polar Histories

  1. Blank Space? Histories of Arctic Science and Exploration
  2. The Taking of Northern Lands and Counter Narratives
  3. Northern Rights? Geographies of Self-Determination
  4. Arctic Governance and Geopolitics

Polar Transitions

  1. Technology, Infrastructure: Political and Emotional Enchantments?
  2. Climate Change, Environmental Protection and Public Policy Discourse
  3. Ethnographies of Polar Science
  4. Economies of the Past, Present and Future

Phenomenology and Orientation in the Polar Regions

  1. The Language of Encounter in Arctic Science and Exploration
  2. Phenomenology, Temporality and Perception in Polar Regions
  3. Senses and Emotions in the Polar World
  4. Disorientation and Rapid Environmental Change

Polar Dwelling: Rights and Representations

  1. Dwelling in/on the North
  2. Colonialism and Indigenous Self-Governance in the Arctic
  3. Arctic Religions and Antarctic Rights of Nature
  4. The visual arts and the (re)envisioning of Antarctica

3. Polar Natural Sciences Strand:

Recent topics have included:

Glaciers and Ice Sheets: Present and Past

  1. Mass Balance and Stability of Antarctica Ice Shelves
  2. Past Glacial Activity - the Record in Glacimarine Sediments
  3. Modelling the Flow of Glaciers and Ice Sheets
  4. Dynamics of fast flowing glaciers and ice streams

Polar Remote Sensing

  1. Introduction to Remote Sensing
  2. Optical Remote Sensing I
  3. Optical Remote Sensing II
  4. Radar Remote Sensing

Topics in 2024 will include those in the broad area of Polar Ecology and Biogeography.

The First (Michaelmas) Term runs from October to December, and is followed by the Christmas Vacation. The Second (Lent) Term runs from January to March and is followed by the Easter Vacation. The Third (Easter) Term runs from April to June and is followed by the Long Vacation.

Further information

Enquiries about this course should be addressed to:

Postgraduate Office Administrator,
Department of Geography,
Downing Place,
Cambridge CB2 3EN
United Kingdom

Telephone: +44 (0)1223 333375
Fax: +44 (0)1223 333392

Email: graduate.enquiries@geog.cam.ac.uk

Postgraduate Enquiries contact form