Education
Joy Tivy was born in Carlow, Ireland in 1924 and she commenced studies at the University College Dublin in 1942 where she studied geography as her primary subject with botany and geology as her secondary areas.
Joy Tivy was born in Carlow, Ireland in 1924 and she commenced studies at the University College Dublin in 1942 where she studied geography as her primary subject with botany and geology as her secondary areas.
She specialised in biogeography and has been credited for having helped raise the profile of biogeography as a distinct sub-discipline of geography. She published over 40 papers, books and reports and she was often asked to advise government agencies and other organisations. She was a strong advocate of the importance of field studies for providing essential skills for geography graduates.
She excelled as an undergraduate most notably scoring highest in highly competitive exams in 1944, which granted her status as a Scholar.
She graduated with first class honours in 1946 and after a brief period of teaching at the University of Leeds she accepted a position at the University of Edinburgh where she completed her doctorate. Her Doctor of Philosophy thesis was entitled, “A study of the effect of physical factors on the vegetation of hill grazings in selected areas of southern Scotland", p.
55. In 1956 she moved to the University of Glasgow where we stayed for the rest of her career (she retired in 1989).
She was the second female to be awarded at professorship at the University of Glasgow in 1976 and was head of the Department of Geography and Topographic Science. The RSGS has established a medal in her honour: The Joy Tivy Education Medal which is awarded annually for “In recognition of an outstanding contribution to geographical education”.
She was actively involved in the Scottish Field Studies Association, with 10 years as chairperson and served as the editor of Scottish Geographical Magazine for a decade.