School of Geography - Faculty of Environment

"A BA in geography from the University of Leeds presented me with exciting and challenging opportunities, from studying transport systems in Helsinki to the Olympic legacy left in Athens, as well as geographical issues closer to home, such as retailing in Yorkshire and fertility rates among ethnic minorities in the UK.

During the course I was able to develop specialist skills which are highly sought after by employers such as statistical analysis and mapping of spatial data using GIS packages.

I spent an industrial placement year at one of the Big Four accountancy firms which saw me relocate to Birmingham. This year gave me the opportunity to apply all I had learned in my first and second year of the geography course and taught me a wide range of skills I was able to apply on return to Leeds for my final year and beyond.

Following graduation from Leeds, I completed a masters course in Planning and Development at the University of Sheffield, and worked in a specialist planning and environmental consultancy in Manchester.

When the opportunity of returning to Leeds to undertake a PhD appeared and I couldn’t wait to get started. My project is a collaboration with the Office for National Statistics looking at ways to improve internal and international migration estimates in the UK using administrative data sources. It is exciting to be involved in research in the School of Geography and gives me the chance to apply my geographical skills at a whole new level."