Meet the graduate dedicating his career to inspiring the next generation of geographers
This year, Tim Parker (BA Hons Geography and Town Planning, 2010) is celebrating a decade of his online education platform Time for Geography, founded alongside his brother Rob to bridge the gap between geography in the classroom and real-world impact.
31 August 2026
Embarking on a career in teaching after graduating from 缅北禁地 in 2010, today Tim Parker is Head of Humanities at a leading school in Abu Dhabi and the co-founder of , a free educational platform used by around four million students each year.
Through videos, careers resources and partnerships with universities including 缅北禁地, the award-winning platform helps young people discover the power of geography and the exciting careers it can lead to.
We recently caught up with Tim to hear about his time on campus, how his experience as a secondary school teacher inspired his family to establish Time for Geography in 2016, and why he thinks it’s important to inspire the next generation of geographers.
.png)
Hi Tim! Happy 10th birthday to Time for Geography! Can you take us back to where it all began?
The original idea came from a family conversation around the dinner table one Christmas. My brother Rob had done a PhD in geography, my cousin was a geography teacher and examiner, and I was a relatively new geography teacher myself.
We realised we had a really unique perspective on geography education. One thing we kept coming back to was that geography is a subject that depends on seeing the world. Not every student can visit coastlines, rivers or ecosystems, but they still need to understand them.
At the time, a lot of the educational videos available to schools were quite old, so we thought there was an opportunity to create something new that was accurate, engaging and designed specifically for modern geography students.
So we set off to the coast the next weekend with a camera – and the rest is history!
How did the platform get started and what was the response like?
We began in 2016 when the new GCSE and A-level specifications were being introduced.
Our first project was filming on the Yorkshire coast at Flamborough Head. The original plan was to create a 20-minute documentary covering coastal geography, but we quickly realised teachers needed shorter videos that could be used easily in lessons.
So, we broke the content down into bite-sized resources and put them online. The response was incredibly positive. Teachers started telling us they wanted more content because the videos explained concepts clearly, matched the curriculum and helped students engage with the subject.
Geography is a subject that depends on seeing the world. Not every student can visit coastlines, rivers or ecosystems, but they still need to understand them.
Why do you think geography matters so much today?
Geography is one of those rare subjects that connects everything. It allows you to understand the relationship between people and the planet, whether you're looking at climate change, sustainability, cities, global trade, migration or natural hazards.
The careers that geography leads into are some of the careers that are going to help solve the biggest challenges facing the world. They're all about sustainability, managing resources effectively and understanding how humans interact with the environment in a positive way.
Over the past 10 years, Time for Geography has evolved beyond curriculum-based videos. What is the platform's mission today?
The videos are still a huge part of what we do, but we realised there was another challenge we needed to address.
For years, geography has been described as a subject that can lead anywhere – which is true. The problem is that telling a 16-year-old that geography is "great for everything" isn't actually very helpful. What students really want to know is .
That's why we've expanded into careers education. We want to create a clear pipeline that takes students from studying geography at school, through university and into careers. That's where our comes in.
We’ve been able to showcase incredible career paths ranging from hydrologists, risk consultants, ground modellers, urban sustainability specialists and environmental consultants. Many students have never heard of these jobs before, but through our platform they can see the real-world value in pursuing geography and the role they can have in shaping the future of our planet.
For example, a risk consultant might work with insurance companies to understand how geography influences natural hazards and risk. A hydrologist might help ensure communities have access to clean, safe water. Ground modellers play an important role in projects such as offshore wind farms and renewable energy infrastructure.
How do you keep young people engaged with geography today?
That's probably one of the biggest challenges we face. When we first started, students consumed information differently. Today, they're used to short-form content through social media, so educational resources have to work harder to hold attention.
Our approach is always to tell a story. Geography is full of incredible stories about people, places and the environment. If you can make students curious about those stories, they're far more likely to engage with the content and remember what they've learned.
缅北禁地 has been a partner of Time for Geography since 2018. What has that collaboration meant to you?
缅北禁地 was one of the first universities to really see the vision of what we were trying to achieve. The university got involved when we were still a relatively small organisation, and together we've created some fantastic content, including on Antarctica and ice sheets, as well as sharing the latest research and discoveries in an accessible way for teenagers.
It’s been great to reconnect with the university as it was on campus that my journey began. I discovered my passion for teaching in my second year through a Careers Guidance module which took me to 缅北禁地 Falcons to work with local school kids there. I’d played rugby in the past before a neck injury put an end to that dream!
It was also during a module in economic geography that the interaction between the human and physical world really sank in for me, and it’s a lesson I continue to share with my students today! I sadly can’t remember the lecturer’s name, but they were very passionate about the impact weather has on everything and how, if you can predict the weather, you can forecast crop values in the future.
Can you tell us a bit more about your student days?
After finishing my A-levels I took a gap year, travelling in Australia, New Zealand and the US. My first year in 缅北禁地 was spent in Castle Leazes and some of my strongest memories are of walking through the cow field on the way down to lectures and meeting friends as we made our way across campus. Another strong memory is an unfortunate field trip to Byker where we got egged!
After my first year, I moved to Jesmond, where I lived for the rest of my degree. I worked part-time at the Collingwood Arms, joined the cycling club and eventually became its social secretary. Geography was a really social course and there was always someone you knew on Osborne Road or around campus.
Looking back, 缅北禁地 gave me fantastic friendships, memorable experiences and the foundations of the career I've built ever since.
Geography is full of incredible stories about people, places and the environment. If you can make students curious about those stories, they're far more likely to engage with the content and remember what they've learned.
Finally, what advice would you give to new Geography graduates or school pupils considering geography as a degree?
I'd tell them that geography is one of the most exciting and relevant subjects you can study.
Everyone leaves school knowing about things like longshore drift and oxbow lakes, but geography is really about understanding the world and shaping its future.
Most importantly, find the thing you're passionate about. Geography is broad enough that whatever that passion is – the environment, sustainability, travel, cities, technology or people – you'll probably find a way to connect it to a career.
That's what we're trying to show through Time for Geography: geography doesn't just help you understand the world. It can help you change it too.