Author: SCGRG

Dear Colleagues:

Thanks to those of you who were able to respond to my earlier request for information regarding the ESRC’s current ‘benchmarking review’ of UK human geography, chaired by Professor David Ley at UBC and being undertaken in partnership with the AHRC and RGS-IBG.

I was commissioned to provide an overview of social and cultural geography, covering the last ten years and seeking to answer the following three questions:

1. How has research in social and cultural geography in the UK developed over the last ten years, and what are the major strengths and weaknesses of the field?
2. How does UK research in social and cultural geography compare with research produced by colleagues in other countries?
3. Can you suggest some examples of key academic outputs by UK scholars (books and other publications) that have made an important contribution to scholarship and/or have helped to set or move intellectual agendas in the field?

My draft report is attached here, with an invitation to provide any further comment by Monday 12 March.  The final report has to be submitted on 19 March

Please send your comments and suggestions to: p.a.jackson@sheffield.ac.uk

Your help will be very much appreciated and will contribute directly to the review process.

Thanks and best wishes

Peter Jackson

The Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) wishes to appoint an Editor to Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers. The current Editor, Professor Alison Blunt, Queen Mary, University of London, completes a normal five year term at the end of 2012. Transactions is one of the foremost international journals of geographical research, publishing the very best scholarship from around the world, across the whole range of the discipline. The new Editor will be an internationally renowned scholar who has excellent networks worldwide and a broad interest in, and support for, the full range of research work undertaken in geography.

More details are available at www.rgs.org/TransactionsEditor. Closing date for applications: 23 March 2012.

Forthcoming opportunities on the SCGRG committee

I want to start this news items with a note of thanks to everyone who has served on the SCGRG committee from 2006 to 2012, the six years for which I have been Secretary, then Chair of the group. I’d also like to thank all those SCGRG members, and others, who have ensured that doing these roles has been consistently interesting and enjoyable.  Many of the committee are also coming to the end either 3 or 6 years service.  So, summer 2012 is going to see significant changes for the group.

The SCGRG will be looking to elect a new Chair and Secretary at the AGM held during the RGS/IBG Conference in Edinburgh 3-5^th July 2012.  We will also have vacancies for a Dissertation Co-ordinator and a Communications Officer (web editing and twitter is currently done by me, with other media maintained by the wider committee).  We will also be welcoming new committee members who want to take on a more informal role in the first instance.

The RGS Handbook has more details on the roles for committee members and the election process.  According to the RGS, those looking for election to Chair and Secretary should be RGS members, and the majority of the Committee must be members of the RGS-IBG.

New officers and committee members will be elected by those present at the AGM.  The RGS handbook explains that nominations for Committee membership will be accepted up to the beginning of the AGM. Nominations must be in writing (email is fine) and include the names of the proposer and seconder.  You don’t have to pay to register for the conference to attend the AGM.  If you are interested in any of these roles but are not able to attend the AGM, you can be nominated in your absence.

If you are interested in any of these roles, please do get in touch with me, or with any other members of the committee. You can find their details here.  Many of us will be at the AAG conference in New York, so feel free to talk to us informally there.  We very much look forward to hearing from you.

With best wishes

Gail Davies (Chair SCGRG)

Nominations for RGS-IBG medals and awards

RGS-IBG medals and awards recognise excellence in geographical research and fieldwork, teaching and public engagement. Any Fellow or member of the Society may make a nomination, and Research Groups are also encouraged to support nominations.

Nominations should consist of a completed nomination form with a statement of 200-300 words outlining why the candidate should receive the award, a CV of the candidate and written support of approximately 200-300 words from two additional Fellows or members of the Society.

To download the nomination form, read the nomination criteria, or find out more about the medals and awards, please visit: http://www.rgs.org/AboutUs/Medals+and+Awards/Nominate+your+choice.htm

The deadline for making a nomination is 28 February 2012.

If you have any questions, please contact the Director’s Office, E: director@rgs.org.

Nominations for vacant positions on RGS-IBG Council

Positions on Council are nominated and elected by the Fellowship and bring with them the responsibilities of a Trustee of the Society. It is normally expected that Council members will also serve on (and chair in the case of Vice-Presidents and Honorary Treasurer) the Committee of Council relevant to the position to which they have been elected. Only Fellows of the Society may stand for positions on Council and only Fellows may propose candidates for election (this includes Postgraduate Fellows).

The deadline for making a nomination is 25 March 2012.

A list of vacant positions for election and more information about the responsibilities of Council members, can be found here: http://www.rgs.org/AboutUs/Governance/Nominations+for+Council.htm.  

Candidates may only stand for one position.  They must provide a short biographical note and the names of five Fellows of the Society supporting of their application (Proposing Fellows).  Proposing Fellows may only support one candidate for any single position and must provide a brief summary of why the candidate is suitable for the Council position along with their Fellowship number.

If you have any questions, please contact the Director’s Office, E: director@rgs.org.

CFP: RGS-IBG Postgraduate Mid-Term Conference 2012, University of Nottingham

Geographical Reflections

This is a call for papers for the RGS-IBG Postgraduate Forum Mid-term Conference, to be hosted over the weekend of 20th – 22nd April 2012 at the School of Geography, Nottingham University. The aim of the conference is to provide a welcoming, relaxed and supportive environment for postgraduates to present any aspect of their research to their peers.

Papers with any theme on any topic within geography or a related discipline are invited, and postgraduates should feel comfortable presenting their work at any stage of its development. We would also welcome any papers or posters which deal with this year’s conference theme: ‘Geographical Reflections’. This could include:

– How has postgraduate work furthered debates in geography?
– How have postgraduates developed new and innovative methodologies?
– How has postgraduate research challenged previous geographical work?
– How can reflecting on past debates inform our understanding of present and future geographies?

This broad theme is designed to appeal to postgraduates at any stage of their degree working in or on geographical topics, from both the physical and human domains of geography, and to all related disciplines.

As well as the paper sessions we will also run several interactive workshops covering a range of topics such as publishing during your PhD, practical tips for teaching and demonstrating, common methodological approaches and issues and securing post-PhD grant funding.

We are delighted to announce that Nick Clifford (Professor of Physical Geography, King’s College London) will present the pre-conference plenary to the conference theme of ‘Geographical Reflections’ on the evening of Friday 20th April.

The RGS-IBG Mid Term Conference event has been kindly sponsored by the University of Nottingham Graduate School, the School of Geography and the RGS-IBG Postgraduate Forum.

The guidelines for abstract submission are as follows:

Papers: Papers should be no more than 10 minutes in length with 5 additional minutes allocated for discussion afterwards. Abstracts of no more than 200 words should be submitted to RGSmidterm2012@nottingham.ac.uk

Posters: Posters should be A0 in size. They will be mounted on display boards throughout the day and presenters will be allocated a 15 minute slot in which to answer questions. Abstracts of no more than 200 words should be submitted to RGSmidterm2012@nottingham.ac.uk

The deadline for paper and poster abstract submissions is 5pm 3rd February 2012.

ALL DELEGATES MUST REGISTER BEFORE SUBMITTING AN ABSTRACT: please see http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/geography/research/rgs-ibg-postgraduate-conference/rgs-ibg-postgraduate-mid-term-conference-2012.aspx for registration forms and further details.