UFRJ’s Department of Geography is an academic community committed to high standards for teaching and research, and with a variety of geographical approaches. The institution offers Bachelor’s and Teacher degrees in Geography.
The Department of Geography originated in the old National Philosophy College of the University of Brazil, where several pioneer initiatives towards researcher geographers’ training allowed the establishment of the institution. Get to know the Department.
Graduate Program
UFRJ’s Graduate Program in Geography is a center of teaching and research excellence, receiving top scores from funding agencies during three decades of existence. Get to know the Department.
The program was created in March 1972 with the goal of improving geographers’ qualifications for teaching and research practices in this field of scientific knowledge. The Graduate Program (GPG) grants the title of Master of Science: Geography since then, and that of Doctor of Science: Geography since 1992. Get to know the Program.
History
Created in 1935, UFRJ’s Department of Geography is one of the oldest within the University and the second oldest Department of Geography in Brazil. From its creation until today, it is considered one of the main educational centers for Geographers, Geography teachers, and geographic production in the country.
The Faculty of the Department of Geography has high qualification and significant presence within the organizations for funding and scientific production, with several level 1 researchers at the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) and being — or have been — part of the Committees for Geoscience and for Human Geography on the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES) and CNPq.
The past and the present of the Department of Geography are defined by an attentive concern of its Faculty in meeting the multiple education and research demands and interests of the Society, the University, and the State in its different levels. To do so, the Department finds itself in a continuously changing process, promoting curriculum reviewing, the conception of new courses, events, and activities that integrate the education of Geography professionals. The concern with the improvement of teaching and professional practice has brought Graduate programs’ formal teaching closer to researching, having a significant number of undergraduate students involved in research projects within the department or externally.
The Department grants about 80 research scholarships to undergraduates of different categories, be it of Scientific Initiation, Teacher Degree, or Extension, offered by several funding agencies (UFRJ, CNPq, and FAPERJ).
Structure
The Department has 16 laboratories where Faculty develops works together with the students on the following research fields: Culture, Information, and Citizenship; Environment and Territory; Urban-regional Space and Dynamics; Geopolitics and Territoriality; Hydroclimatic Dynamics; Geoprocessing; Biodiversity and Geo-ecological Interactions; Geomorphological Processes and Landscape Evolution.