Rachel Hunt

I am fundamentally interested in the self-landscape encounter and thus seek to ask, and answer, questions of how the world is made known. In doing this my work sits at the interface between cultural geography, historical geography and geographies of wellbeing and is driven by in-depth qualitative research methods. 

My more focused research interests fall into three areas: cultural landscapes (land, leisure, care, climate heritage); pedagogies of inclusion (belonging, H.E.); and the links between landscape experience and well-being. My active research projects attend to socioecological care in the Scottish Highlands, the links between climate heritage and a seasonal understanding of regionality through a consideration of ‘Lost Winters’, and the practices and experiences of vehicular dwelling. There is, in my current work, a geographical focus on Scotland more broadly, and the Cairngorms in particular, although I will enthusiastically engage with landscape related work conducted in all sites, topics and disciplines.

I am also interested in architectural geographies (particularly those of the vernacular), geohumanities approaches, geographies of print and literary geographies, heritage geographies, land-politics, skillscapes, rural lives, walking, emotional geographies and ideas of dwelling and estrangement. The list could go on.

Undergraduate:

I teach onto the second year course Critical Approaches to Landscape, Power and Society and the second year fieldcourse Scotland's Futures. For honours pupils I run an option course titled Land and Landscape. This course introduces students to the various ways geographers have worked with the term landscape and how these various understandings have impacts on how the world is experienced, governed and understood.  

Postgraduate:

I am programme director of the Environment, Culture and Society Msc. This programme enables students to acquire new skills to address urgent environmental challenges across environmental policy, conservation, education, public consultation and the arts. I teach into one of the core courses - Values and the Environment. 

Teaching is also one of my passions. I am committed to, and enthusiastic about, pedagogy and have a keen interest in developing new materials and exploring fresh ways to engage with students. I am a founding member of ScotGEESE (a national network of Educators teaching in Geography, Geology, Earth Sciences and Environmental Studies), a senior fellow of the Higher Education Academy and co-run an inclusive reading group – Talking about Teaching for staff and students in GeoSciences.

2012-2016: PhD in Geography, University of Glasgow, UK

• Huts, bothies and buildings out-of-doors: an exploration of the practice, heritage and culture of ‘out-dwellings’ in rural Scotland’.

2011-2012: MRes Human Geography. University of Glasgow.

2007-2011: MA History and Geography. University of Glasgow.

2020: Senior Fellow of Higher Education Academy

- Adele Kramber

- Manasa Gade

- Puravi Kumar

- Georgia Haynes