Robbie Curtis Memorial Prize (human geography)
In 2019, Robbie achieved a first class honours degree in human geography from the University of Nottingham and his dissertation Urban Immersion in Edinburgh and Copenhagen: Re-imagining the Tourist’s ‘Sense of Place’ was also awarded a distinction. Robbie’s dissertation.
To commemorate Robbie’s contribution to geography, in 2020 the Robbie Curtis memorial prize for the best dissertation in human geography was created. This year (2023) we have our fourth and fifth prize recipients: Alfred Greenwood and Stephanie Barter (both with a mark of 88%).
Stephanie’s Dissertation: Women’s Geographies of Fear: Has COVID-19 Affected Women’s Perceptions of Safety in Southwest London Urban Green Spaces
I chose the topic of ‘women’s geographies of fear in urban green spaces post-COVID-19’ as being from SW London near to where attacks on women have infamously occurred, such as Sarah Everard, Millie Dowler, and Emili de la grange, these relevant and pressing issues hit home. While I was at school, girls were warned of talking to strangers, suggested to carry personal alarms, and taught defence mechanisms like holding our keys between our fingers to use in case we were attacked.
Green spaces are particularly perceived as fearful spaces by women, viewing them as dangerous, often causing women to avoiding using these spaces, and changing their geographies.
Yet, during COVID-19, people used green spaces more frequently than ever before. This dissertation therefore aimed to determine whether COVID-19 affected women’s perceptions of urban green spaces, giving voice to women’s everyday worries and responses to particular geographies, exploding their uses, emotions, experiences and behaviours in space.
Alfred’s Dissertation: The ‘Pingdemic’: Everyday Surveillance and the Carceral Geographies of the UK’s COVID-19 Landscape
My dissertation, ”The ‘Pingdemic’: Everyday surveillance and the carceral geographies of the UK’s COVID-19 landscape‘ draws together different aspects of carceral geography to unpack some of the repercussions of COVID-19 which impacted everyone, everywhere in completely disparate ways.
As an advocate for mental health, being the welfare officer for GeogSoc this last academic year, and as a young male who has struggled significantly with his mental health throughout his life, I echo the goals of the RWorld foundation which is dedicated to improving the world through targeting mental health. The foundation uses Robbie’s story as an opportunity to make positive change and shed light on the importance of opening up and removing the associated stigmas with this, and I feel as though I have worked strongly in concurrence with this the past year and will continue to do so as my life progresses. If anything, and in line with my dissertation, COVID-19 and its aftermath has made us realise the sheer importance of mental health, which certainly should be spoken about on par with physical health.
I will now move on to my next steps, sharing Robbie’s concern for environmental issues and ambitions for positive change, completing a masters in Global Sustainable Development at the University of Warwick.
2022 winners of the Robbie Curtis memorial prize for human geography
Katherine Rutherford and Sarah Ellenby both with a mark of 82%
Title of Dissertation : An exploration into the contribution of sonic geographies to the study of health inequality on the Wirral
Title of Dissertation : Popular geopolitics: a quantitative visual content analysis of the Televised British media’s narrative of the Iraq War
2021 Winner of the Robbie Curtis memorial prize for human geography
Jane Astbury was awarded a mark of 87% for her dissertation
Here is a message from Jane :
My name is Jane Astbury, a Geography graduate from the University of Nottingham and I am honoured to have received the Robbie Curtis Memorial Prize this year in Robbie’s memory. My dissertation, which explored a different theoretical perspective for looking at meat-eating, was inspired by my personal emotional investment in the topic as a vegan and an advocate for people making a conscious effort to reduce their meat consumption for the benefit of our environment. Having received my degree from Nottingham, I have gone on to study a Masters in Health Humanities at University College London, with the hopes of being able to put my interests in population and environmental health to use in the future with a career in the public health policy sphere. Receiving the dissertation award was an incredibly meaningful way to conclude my time at Nottingham and undoubtedly boosted my confidence in continuing my academic career.
2022 winners of the Robbie Curtis memorial prize for human geography
Katherine Rutherford and Sarah Ellenby both with a mark of 82%
Title of Dissertation : An exploration into the contribution of sonic geographies to the study of health inequality on the Wirral
Title of Dissertation : Popular geopolitics: a quantitative visual content analysis of the Televised British media’s narrative of the Iraq War
2025 Award – William Fricker – dissertation “Investigating Narratives of the Dover-Calais Migrant Crisis from Positions of Authority and Power” has just won a national award from the Royal Geographical Society so it really was a fantastic piece of work!
2026 Award – Scarlett Crampton – dissertation – Sustainable Development and Climate Action in Tanzania: Localising SDG 13 through NGO and Community Responses.
Message of thanks from Scarlett – Since receiving the award, I’ve spent some time learning more about R World, including watching the video about Robbie. Hearing his story, particularly his experience with mental health, gave me a deeper appreciation of the values behind the award and the work R World continues to carry forward in his memory. I believe Nick may have already shared my dissertation with you, but I wanted to explain why the award feels particularly meaningful to me, especially given the strong connection between my research and R World’s international development work.
My research, ‘Sustainable Development and Climate Action in Tanzania: Localising SDG 13 through NGO and Community Responses’, took me to Tanzania last summer, a country a part of my heritage. While staying with family, I worked alongside three NGOs to explore how climate change is experienced by local communities and young people, and how global commitments such as the Sustainable Development Goals are translated into local action.
Through interviews and participatory work, I explored how climate change intersects with wider inequalities, particularly around gender and socio-economic circumstances. This connected closely with your partnership with the Brown Munthali Foundation, particularly its focus on education and opportunities for children and vulnerable communities. Seeing this alongside my own research gave me a greater appreciation of how education and access to opportunity can play such an important role in international development. It was also one of the aspects of R World’s work that stood out to me most; the focus on creating opportunities that can have a lasting impact rather than simply providing short-term support.
Thank you so much again for the award. What will really stay with me the most is seeing how you have turned loss into something that continues to support others and create opportunities for those who need them. I hope you and the R World team continue to see the impact of that work! And I’ll certainly be following it going forward.
2025 Winner Also : George Crusher – Dissertation Title: The geographies of climate vulnerability in Nottingham.