Geography, Planning, and Spatial Sciences Research
Banner Image: Hobart. Credit: Tourism Tasmania and Luke Tscharke.
Our research is world-leading, building on decades of pioneering research in Geography, Environment and Spatial Sciences. We undertake research addressing problems of direct societal significance by harnessing the value of spatial data and integrating with human geography, physical geography, and environmental studies.
Our ideas, and the new knowledge that flows from them, influence scientists, industry and policymakers globally and makes a difference locally. Our past and present scholars have helped establish the global permaculture movement, the world’s first green political party, the scientific basis for establishing Tasmania’s World Heritage Areas, novel drone technology for understanding our changing planet, and the first agreed estimate of Greenland and Antarctica’s contribution to sea-level change.
National and global research rankings point to the quality of what we do. Our research in Geography and Environmental Studies is ranked in the top 200 in the world, while our Spatial Sciences research is within the global top 50. Our discipline contributes heavily to nation-leading rankings in Environmental Science and Management, Geomatic Engineering (Surveying and Spatial Sciences) and Geophysics.
Our research themes
Within Geography, Planning, and Spatial Sciences our four research themes align to our focus on geospatial analysis, environmental values, place, governance, social and institutional change, policy, management, planning and decision-making.
Study with us
Take your research degree with us at Geography, Planning, and Spatial Sciences. Our expertise covers earth observation and spatial analysis techniques, human geography, physical geography, and environmental studies. Within these fields, you can join our existing projects or propose your explorations, whether creative, theoretical or industry/practice-focused. Your thesis may be based on the rich environmental culture of our island laboratory of Tasmania or other regions, drawing on our global experience and expertise. You’ll be joining researchers who are constantly developing theoretical, design-based, collaborative and participatory models of research practice to answer problems of direct societal significance.
Available Research Degree Projects
A research degree candidate may develop their own research project in collaboration with their supervisor or apply for one of our currently available projects.
Applicants who are interested a specific project should first contact the supervisor listed and then find out more about our Entry Requirements, Scholarships and Fees if relevant, and then Apply Now.
Partner with us
Geography, Planning, and Spatial Sciences seeks to broaden our impact by partnering with government agencies, not-for-profits and industry.
There are many ways to engage with us. We excel in industry collaborative research focused on risk associated with climate change, remote sensing (including sensor calibration), geodetic positioning (e.g., offshore platforms), and insurance issues associated with natural disasters. We are eager to engage with local and regional councils and planning authorities to help make regional cities better places to live and work.
You’ll have access to our expertise across all our domains of research – spatial sciences, planning, and physical, environmental and human geography - and especially our expertise in complex problems that defy simple reduction.
