Geography Department

The department of Geography is one of the oldest and internationally recognized departments established in the year 1951 as a part of DSB Government Post Graduate College, and since 1973 it is functioning as one of the premier departments of the University. The Department has the honour of organizing Scientific Symposium of 21st International Geography Congress [IGC] of the International Geographical Union [IGU] in 1968; and hosting the first International Summer School on Land Use Studies in association with Aligarh Muslim University in 1965. The Department is equipped with state of art Remote Sensing and Geographic Information System [GIS] Lab. The Department has been playing a very significant role in the creation and dissemination of state-of-art new knowledge in various emerging issues of global to local significance, such as the implementation of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals [SDGs]; Climate Change Impact, Adaptation and Mitigation; Water, Health, Livelihood and Food Security; Disaster Risk Reduction; Gender Mainstreaming; Natural Resource Management, Green and Resilient Urban Growth, Institutions and Governance with a specific focus on Sustainable Mountain Development in context of the Indian Himalayan Region [IHR]. The Department is promoting wider applications of the emerging and frontier areas of science and technology, particularly Remote Sensing, Geographic Information System [GIS] and Global Positioning System [GPS] both in teaching-learning and research. Department is collaborating with a large number of Universities and Institutions of excellences across the world in the above-mentioned thrust areas through international projects supported by the Australian Agency for International Development [AUSAID]; Ministry of Education, Japan; Federal Ministry of Education and Research, Germany; The Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation [NORAD]; Indo-US 21st Century Knowledge Initiative; French Ministry of Research; Ganges Water and Land Ecosystem [WLE] Programme of Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research [CGIAR]; International Water Security Network [ISWN]; Indian Himalaya Climate Change Adaptation Programme [IHCAP] of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation [SDC]; UK India Education and Research Initiative [UKIERI] of the British Council; International Urban Climate Change Research Network [UCCRN)]; International City Management Association [ICMA]; United States Agency for International Development [USAID]; the Finland Research Council; and Asia Pacific Network for Global Change Research [APN], Japan. The Department of Geography is one of the Lead Partner institutions of the multi-institutional collaborative Educational and Research Capacity Building Project on 'Sustainable Natural Resource Use in Arctic and High Mountain Areas' [SUNRAISE] along-with nine Universities of excellence in Europe, funded by the European Union [EU]. The Department is also one of the partners of international collaborative project on 'Urban Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment Across Hindu Kush Himalaya' with Yale University, USA; International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development [ICIMOD], Nepal; and University of British Columbia, Canada, funded by National Aeronautics and Space Administration [NASA], USA. Besides, the Department is also implementing joint field-based Educational and Research Programme with the University of Bergen, Norway supported by the Norwegian Centre for International Cooperation in Education [SIU]. The Department is also participating in International Multi-stakeholder 'Global Challenges Programme' with Newcastle University, the United Kingdom sponsored by the Royal Society, UK. Besides, the Department is also contributing towards the dissemination of the state of art recent knowledge created through international collaboration to a range of stakeholders including higher education faculty, researchers, policy planners and community-based institutions through organizing conferences, seminars, dissemination workshops, training courses, capacity building programmes and other outreach events from time to time. The Department has some of the best faculty members and researchers of the country who are not only involved as Member of Steering Committee of various international organizations, such as different Commissions of the International Geographical Union [IGU] and Global Mountain Commission [GMC], but also serve as Resource Pool of Experts and Consultants for a large number of National Training and Research Institutions and Government Agencies. The Faculty members of the Department have been making a remarkable contribution towards building the new generation of enthusiastic researchers, and many Doctoral Students of the Department have had the opportunity of participating in a number of International Training Programmes and Summer Schools in the institutions of repute in Taiwan, Switzerland and Austria during the recent years. The Department has organized a number of International Conferences, Seminars and Workshop during the recent past sponsored by the apex international and national agencies, and attended by the leading experts of the world. The Department is also the headquarters of the Himalayan Geographical Association which publishes the Journal of 'Regional Science and Development'.