Linking teaching and research in undergraduate physical geography papers: The role of fieldwork

Undergraduate teaching should be informed by research. The extent to which this is the case and how this is best practised is the subject of this paper. Learning strategies that seek to embed research within the undergraduate programme from an introductory level are discussed. The degree of success in these strategies is informed by input from postgraduate students who have ‘come through the ranks’. Their views, obtained via a focus group, suggest that research is rigorously embedded at every level of the programme and is most clearly linked to teaching in research-based third-year papers with a strong fieldwork component.