Geography

Since 2019, a colony of Tarāpuka|black-billed gulls  – not only critically endangered, but the most endangered gulls in the world -  have taken up residence in the broken remains of an Armagh St. building left to ruins in the Christchurch CBD post-earthquakes. Current plans for the site are to develop a new Catholic Cathedral, and as such, the gulls...

Each year during the wet season, the Amazon river rises to create an internationally significant wetland, that's nearly three times the size of New Zealand. Professor Matthew Wilson shares a view from the field while studying the flow dynamics of the largest river in the world..

While you might not know it, geography and health are closely linked! Where you are born, live, work or even go to school, directly influence your health through factors like the air you breathe or the health services you have access to in your neighbourhood. At the GeoHealth Laboratory, our research attempts to work out how various characteristics of local neighbourhoods...

The Southern Ocean south of the Antarctic Polar Front is managed by an international agreement analogous to the Antarctic Treaty, the Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR).  This area accounts for 10% of the world’s oceans and includes some of the most pristine marine habitats on Earth. CCAMLR allows fishing but aims to balance conservation with rational...

University of Canterbury geography technicians Nick Key and Justin Harrison, along with Newcastle University PhD candidate Ryan Dick have been conducting a detailed bathymetric survey of Lake Wanaka as part of a joint study between Newcastle and UC. The team managed to strike the weather lucky and get six continuous days of surveying on the lake, looking to see...

The discipline of town planning spans back to when humans first started to live in permanent settlements. As anyone who has been flatting will know, once more than about two people start living together some decisions need to be made. Who gets what bedroom? How should we allocate chores? In ancient Greece a guy called Hippodamus came through to...

In an inspiring talk on International Women’s Day 2020, University of Canterbury (UC) Associate Professor Ann Brower shared some lessons she’s learnt on driving positive change in the world. Dr Brower shared statistics from a groundbreaking recent study she co-authored with UC Associate Professor Alex James, which revealed a significant gender pay gap for female academics at NZ universities -...

Geospatial technician, Paul Bealing, has spent countless hours constructing, calibrating, testing and fine tuning these customised drones in preparation for an epic trip to Antarctic waters. Paul will be joining Dr Wolfgang Rack as they participate in a fully funded, multinational voyage departing from South Africa in December in hopes of finding the Endurance, Ernest Shackleton’s legendary ship, crushed...

Dr Matthew Hobbs, a researcher in the GeoHealth Laboratory at the University of Canterbury, was awarded by The European Association for the Study of Obesity (EASO) the New Investigator Public Health Award, which marks out rising stars of obesity and public health in Europe. He received the award at the EASO 2019 Annual Congress on 2nd May 2019. Dr...

At the University of Canterbury​’s GeoHealth Lab, Geography Professor Simon Kingham and his team study interesting connections between geography and health: how where you live and the characteristics of the nearby environment can influence health outcomes.