Staff Profile

I’m a proud Mackem! Born in Sunderland, I’ve been a season ticket holder at the Stadium of Light since the 1990s (before that at Roker Park). That said, in all other ways I consider myself an honorary Geordie. I first entered the Geography Department at Newcastle University as an undergraduate student in 1994 and I'm incredibly lucky to work in the same department today as Professor of Higher Education.

I am a Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (PFHEA); a National Teaching Fellow (NTF); and a recipient of Newcastle University's Vice Chancellor's Education Excellence Award. Currently, I am serving as an elected member of Newcastle University's Senate, which is the supreme governing and executive body of the University in all academic matters. From 2016-2021, I was Director of Education for the School of Geography, Politics and Sociology at Newcastle University.

Nationally, from 2021-2022 I was member of the QAA panel that re-wrote the Subject Benchmark Statements for Geography. From 2016-2021 I served as a founding member of the Royal Geographical Society's Accreditation Panel for Undergraduate Degrees. From 2016-2022 I delivered the Royal Geographical Society's annual New to Teaching workshops, and in 2021 I co-authored the Royal Geographical Society's guide to support those new to teaching geography in higher education. I was also a corresponding member of the A-level Content Advisory Board (ALCAB), which was established by the Department for Education to advise on the reform of A-level Geography.

My latest textbook "Studying Geography at University: How to Succeed in the First Year of Your New Degree" was co-written with Prof Peter Hopkins and published by Routledge in 2021.

Teaching at Newcastle University 

I have been nominated by students five times for the Newcastle University Student Union’s Teaching Excellence Awards (TEAs). My innovative approach to teaching can be evidenced by the fact that I have been awarded four Newcastle University Teaching Innovation Fund Awards. During the last couple of years, I have led or taught on the following Geography modules at Newcastle University:

• Geographical Skills (Geo1096): module leader, and lectures.
• Geographical Analysis (Geo1018): lectures. 
• Coasts and Communities (Geo1024): fieldtrip.
• Doing Geographical Research (Geo2111): module leader, lectures and dissertation preparation seminars.
• Research Design and Planning for Human Geographers (Geo2140): seminars.
• Dissertations (Geo3099): module leader, lectures and one-to-one dissertation mentoring.
• Geopolitics (Geo3102): lectures.

In addition, I lead Geography's subject strand of the PARTNERS Assessed Summer School for widening participation students.

National education leadership roles

• From 2021-2022, I was member of the QAA panel that re-wrote the Subject Benchmark Statements for Geography.
• From 2016-2021, I was a founding member of the Royal Geographical Society's Accreditation Panel for Undergraduate Degrees.
• From 2011-2013, I was a founding member of the HEA Special Interest Group on Transitions in GEES Disciplines. As part of this role, I co-authored a HEA report on student transitions to studying Geography at university.
• From 2012-2014 I was a corresponding member of the A-level Content Advisory Board (ALCAB), which was established by the Department for Education to advise on the reform of A-level Geography.

Education leadership roles at Newcastle University 

• Since 2024 I have been an elected member of Newcastle University's Senate, which is the supreme governing and executive body of the University in all academic matters.
• Since September 2019 I have been Newcastle University's Academic Lead for Peer Mentoring - a programme which offers peer support to all first-year undergraduate students. I chair the Peer Mentoring Leads Management Group, which sets the strategic direction for the scheme. This group includes representation from Student Health and Wellbeing, University Library, Student Accommodation, the Student Hub, and Newcastle University's Students’ Union.
• From 2016-2021 I was appointed by the PVC for Education as Newcastle University's Deputy Student Appeals Convenor.
• From 2016-2021 I was Director of Education for the School of GPS. As member of the Schools' Executive Board I supported the Head of School and provided academic leadership on all matters related to teaching, learning and the student experience.
• From 2008-2015 I was Undergraduate Senior Tutor for Geography, overseeing the pastoral care of all Geography undergraduate students at Newcastle University. I resumed, and have continued in, this role since September 2021.
• From 2008-2017 I co-convened Geography's Staff-Student Committee, alongside a student chair.

Supporting the development of other educators 

I am committed to supporting the teaching and scholarship of other educators. From 2016-2021 I mentored new staff through Newcastle University's Educational Practice Scheme (NEPS) and observed their teaching. I also mentored staff who were in the process of applying for Fellowship or Senior Fellowship of Advance HE (formally the HEA). In addition, I was a founder member of the HASS Faculty's Pedagogies of Scholarship and Teaching (PoST) Group. Funded by the HASS Faculty, the group's aim is to improve the quality and quantity of teaching-related publications produced by the Faculty's teaching-focused staff. From 2016-2022 I delivered the Royal Geographical Society's annual New to Teaching workshops, and in 2021 I co-authored the Royal Geographical Society's guide to support those new to teaching geography in higher education.

I specialise in two (completely unrelated) things.

1. The transition from school / college to university Geography 

Firstly, as a former school teacher, I’m very interested in the social and academic transition from school to university geography - particularly how these are experienced by widening participation students. Most recently I have been a member of the QAA panel reviewing the Subject Benchmark Statements for Geography. I was also a corresponding member of Geography's A-level Content Advisory Board (ALCAB), a body established by the government to lead the reform of A-levels, and an advisor to several A-level exam boards on this issue. I have written multiple transitions related research articles, textbooks, and a report on transitions for the Higher Education Academy. My latest textbook "Studying Geography at University: How to Succeed in the First Year of your New Degree"  was co-written with Prof Peter Hopkins and published by Routledge in 2020.

2. British foreign policy, especially the Anglo-American 'special relationship'

My second area of interest lies in political geography – particularly British foreign policy and the so-called 'special Relationship' between the UK and the USA.  I seem to spend a lot of time in darkened rooms in the Public Records Office in Kew, looking at old government documents and thinking about how Britain's past geopolitical strategy influences current British foreign policy.  In 2012 my single authored monograph “A Special Relationship? British Foreign Policy in the Era of American Hegemony” was published by Manchester University Press.

• Articles

  • Copeland A, Tate S. Anthropogenic emissions or just a lot of hot air? Using air pollution to teach quantitative methods to “mathophobic” first-year geography students. Journal of Geography in Higher Education 2023, 47(3), 369-380.
  • Tate S, Swords J. Please mind the gap: students' perspectives of the transition in academic skills between A-level and degree level geography. Journal of Geography in Higher Education 2013, 37(2), 230-240.
  • Richardson MJ, Tate S. Improving the transition to university: introducing student voices into the formal induction process for new geography undergraduates. Journal of Geography in Higher Education 2013, 37(4), 611-618.
  • Richardson MJ, Tate S. University is not as easy as A, B, C...: How an extended induction can improve the transition to university for new undergraduates. Emerge 2012, (4), 11-25.
  • Barnes L, Buckley A, Hopkins P, Tate S. The transition to and through university for non-traditional local students: some observations for teachers. Teaching Geography 2011, 70-71.
  • Tate S. The high wire act: A comparison of British transatlantic foreign policies in the Second World War and the war in Iraq, 2001-2003. Area 2009, 41(2), 207-218.
  • Tate S. Whose occident? Methodological Parochialism in research on the west. Scottish Geographical Journal 2005, 121(4), 339-354.

• Authored Books

  • Tate S, Hopkins P. Studying Geography at University: How to Succeed in the First Year of Your New Degree. London: Routledge, 2021.
  • Tate S. A Special Relationship? British Foreign Policy in the Era of American Hegemony. Manchester: Manchester Unversity Press, 2012.

• Book Chapters

  • Biddulph M, Hopkins P, Tate S. Connecting children's and young people's geographies and geography education: why this matters to and for children, education, and society. In: Biddulph M; Catling S; Hammond L; McKendrick JH, ed. Children, education and society: rethinking intersections. London: Routledge, 2022, pp.69-82.
  • Tate S, Hopkins P. Student perspectives on the importance of both academic and social transitions to and through their undergraduate geography degree. In: Walkington, H; Hill, J; Dyer, S, ed. Handbook for Teaching and Learning in Geography. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 2019, pp.16-30.

• Conference Proceedings (inc. Abstract)

  • Tate S. Hegemony, Caesarism and Transformismo: Exploring the role of the British Government in the International Community during the War in Iraq, 2002-2004. In: Symposium Commenorating the 70th Anniversaty of the Death of Antonio Gramsci. 2007, Meiji University, Japan.

• Edited Books

  • Hopkins P, Newcastle Social Geographies Collective, Pain R, Shaw R, Gao Q, Bonnett A, Jones C, Richardson M, Rzedzian S, Benwell MC, Lin W, McAreavey R, Stenning A, Blazek M, Pande R, Najib K, Finlay R, Nayak A, Ridley G, Mearns G, Bonner-Thompson C, McLaughlin J, Boussalem A, Iqbal N, Heslop J, Jarvis H, Burrows R, Bambra C, Copeland A, Tate S, Campbell E, Thompson M, James A, Raynor R, Cunningham N, Powells G, Herbert J, Hocknell S, ed. Social Geographies: An Introduction. London, UK: Rowman and Littlefield, 2021.
  • Tate S, ed. Geographical Study Skills. Harlow: Pearson, 2012.

• Online Publication

  • Yorke L, Tate S, Davis M. New to Teaching Geography: A Practical Guide for Teaching Assistants, Teaching Fellows and Demonstrators. London: Royal Geographical Society (with IBG), 2021. Available at: https://www.rgs.org/research/higher-education-resources/newtoteaching/.

• Report

  • Tate S, Hopkins P. Re-thinking undergraduate students' transitions to, through and out of university: examples of good practice in GEES disciplines. York: Higher Education Academy, 2013.