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Profile

The Department of Geography at the SAI is engaged in research on human-environment interactions and development studies with a regional emphasis on high mountain areas of South Asia.

Research foci include land use systems, political ecology, utilisation of and access to natural resources, health issues, food security, conflict and migration studies. To achieve a comprehensive understanding of human-environment interactions at the interface between local and global processes, our research topics and projects are based on an integrative perspective. Methodological approaches include a variety of techniques such as social research methods as well as Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and remote sensing.

The Department of Geography contributes courses and modules to the different study programmes in Geography as well as to the BA South Asian Studies and M.A. Development, Environment, Societies, and History in South Asia.