Earth Sciences and Geography

I grew up in a leafy suburb of Birmingham in the 1960s and 70s, and studied Geography at the Universities of Oxford (BA Hons, 1980-1983) and Aberdeen (PhD, 1984-1987) before coming to Keele as a lecturer in 1987. I am currently Course Director for Physical Geography, and I Chair the University’s Appeals Committee. I won Keele’s “Individual Award for Excellence in Learning and Teaching” in 2007 and was awarded a National Teaching Fellowship by the Higher Education Academy in 2008. I am a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and a Chartered Geographer.

See also my personal website.

I am a Geographer with a particular interest in Glaciology and Geomorphology, and I combine field research in areas such as Greenland and Iceland with experimental work in Keele’s low-temperature laboratory. My work focuses on how glaciers entrain debris into their basal layers and how that “basal ice” affects glacier behaviour and glacial landforms. The work has received funding from The Royal Society, The Leverhulme Trust and the Natural Environment Research Council, and has been published in major international journals including Nature, Quaternary Science Reviews, and Geology. 

I have written textbooks for both undergraduate and A-level students, contributed chapters to several Earth Science encyclopaedias, and edited a major research volume called “Glacier Science and Environmental Change”. As a Geographer I am particularly interested in evidence that can be drawn from the spatial distributions of phenomena to help us understand the world around us, and in the complex links that bind together different aspects of our physical environment.

I am also interested in relationships between the physical environment and cultural media such as film, music and literature, and in exploring the boundaries between art and science in Geography. I am a member of Keele’s EPSAM Research Institute.

See also:

• See personal web for more information
• Subglacial and Ice Marginal Processes, Landforms and Environments (SIMPLE)

Full List: http://www.petergknight.com/work/publications.htm

• Knight, P.G. and Cook, S.J. (2008) Glaciohydraulic Supercooling. Progress in Physical Geography 32 (1), 65-71.
• Knight, P.G., Jennings, C.E., Waller, R.I. and Robinson, Z.P. (2007) Changes in ice-margin processes and sediment routing during ice-sheet advance across a marginal moraine. Geografiska Annaler  (A) 89 (3) 203-215.
• Knight, P.G. (ed.) (2006) Glacier Science and Environmental Change. (Blackwell, Oxford. 512p.)  isbn: 1405100184
• Knight P.G. (2005) Glaciers and Glacial Landscapes. (Geographical Association, Sheffield) isbn: 1 84377 097 0
• Knight, P.G. (2004) Glaciers: art and history, science and uncertainty. Interdisciplinary Science Reviews 29 (4), 385-393.

Physical Geography Programme : Course Director

Complementary studies programme
ESC-10032 Global Warming or a new Ice Age? (Module Leader)

Year one

• ESC-10017 Geographical Skills I
• ESC-10039 Fundamentals of Physical Geography (Module Leader)
• ESC-10038 The Practice of Physical Geography (Module Leader)
• GEG-10006 Geographical Skills II  

Year Two

• ESC-20004 Advanced Systematic Geography (Geomorphology)
• ESC-20029 Practical Physical Geography
• ESC-20030 Regional Landsystems
• GEG-20009 Geographical Research Training

Year Three

• ESC-30006 Glaciers and Glacial Geomorphology (Module Leader)
• ESC-30018 Global Environmental Change
• GEG-30006 Geography Double Dissertation (Module Leader)
• GEG-30008 Geography Single Dissertation (Module Leader)
• GEG-30014 Inspirational Landscapes (Module Leader)