AGM – Social and Cultural Geography Research Group

Upcoming Committee Vacancies

Our next AGM takes place on Wednesday September 3rd, at 9am. We have exciting opportunities for new committee members to join our activities – if you are thinking of joining the research group, see details of committee roles below.

Social Media & Website Officer (two-year post)

The Social Media & Website Officer of SCGRG will:

Take the lead in posting content promoting SCGRG activities on the group’s social media channels.
Maintain the SCGRG website, ensuring key content (e.g. committee roles, annual conference information) is kept up to date.
Post content (on either social media and/or the website, as appropriate) generated by other committee members to promote group activities.
Support wider research group activities

Treasurer (three-year term)

The Treasurer is a member of the executive committee of the Research Group, alongside the Chair and Secretary. The main duties of the Treasurer are:

Keeps the accounts for the group
Ensures payments are made on behalf of the group
Compiles and submits the group’s annual financial reporting
Decision-making on committee activities as part of the Executive
Support and, where appropriate, co-lead research group activities

The Treasurer is expected to be a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG). Those who are interested in taking on a Research Group executive committee role (Chair, Secretary, Treasurer), but whose circumstances prevent them from taking up Society Fellowship, are invited to submit an expression of interest for a bursary to support Fellowship using the form available here: https://www.rgs.org/research/research-groups/resources-for-research-group-committees#executive-role-bursaries

There has been one internal expression of interest in this role.

Dissertation Prize Officer (two-year term)

The research group receives nominations for best undergraduate dissertation in the UK each summer, awarding a prize of £50 to the winner, and a one-year subscription to the journal Social and Cultural Geography to the winner and runner-up. The role of the dissertation prize officer is to:

Coordinate the judging and awarding of prizes for dissertations in line with the Research Group’s policy.
Update the RGS with details of winners
Liaise with the Treasurer to award prize money
Support wider research group activities

Conference Officer (two-year term)

The conference officer:

Coordinates the group’s activities at the RGS annual conference, including preparing the call for session sponsorship, organising sponsorship of sessions, leading the publicity of sponsored sessions, and managing Research Group Guest registration applications
Ensures conference information is made available on the research group website and social media
May also co-organise other events (e.g. workshops, seminars) for the group
Support wider research group activities

How to Apply

If you are interested in any of the roles above, please fill in the MS Form here: https://forms.office.com/e/w8Ex1jWXzQ

The deadline for applications is 12pm, Tuesday 2nd September.

Our committee secretary will contact you with the Teams link in advance of the AGM, where nominations will take place.

Our AGM takes place on MS Teams on Wednesday September 3rd at 9am. Candidates are normally expected to attend. If this presents difficulty, please contact the Group Secretary, Sinéad O’Connor (sio13@aber.ac.uk).

Upcoming events: AGM and 50th Anniversary Celebration

The SCGRG has two upcoming events that they would like to share. We are especially excited about a special event to celebrate and reflect on 50 years of the study group, to which all members past, present and future are warmly invited:

50^th Anniversary Celebration

Wednesday 6^th November 2024, 10am-4.30pm
University of Nottingham

2024 marks 50 years since the formation of what is now the Social and Cultural Geography Research Group (SCGRG), beginning life as the Social Geography Study Group of the Institute of British Geographers. To mark this milestone in our sub-discipline and reflect on its evolution over five decades, the SCGRG Committee warmly invites you to join us for a day of discussion, debate and celebration in Nottingham. All are welcome!

More details and sign up here: https://forms.gle/hExKnWdVn76uHtZG9

Annual General Meeting

Wednesday 4^th September, 2pm-3pm
Online – MS Teams (register for link)

The group’s AGM will take place online the Wednesday after the RGS-IBG Annual Conference. All welcome! The AGM is an opportunity to hear about what the research group has been up to this year, as well as contribute to plans for 2024-25, including events to celebrate our 50^th anniversary.

We also have two committee positions to fill: Digital Communications Officer and Memberships Officer. For more information, or to nominate for a position, contact SCGRG Chair, Rebecca Collins rebecca.collins@chester.ac.uk.

SCGRG AGM online

Our online AGM will be held on Wednesday 24th August.

Anyone interested in social and cultural geography is welcome, but will need to register in advance via Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/royal-geographical-societys-social-and-cultural-research-group-agm-tickets-388110919207?aff=ebdssbonlinesearch

The event will be held on Zoom. A link to the online meeting will be emailed to all registered attendees prior to the event.

From 09.00-10.00 we’ll have an informal coffee and chat session for anyone interested in meeting others working within social and cultural geography.

From 10.00-12.00 will conduct our usual AGM business. An agenda and list of committee vacancies will follow.

People are welcome to attend both the informal and formal sessions, or just one.

SCGRG Committee vacancies – posts still available

The 2020 AGM of the Social and Cultural Geography Research Group (SCGRG) took place online on Friday 4th September. Thank you to everyone who joined us!

We still have three committee vacancies available, which are as follows:

Dissertation Officer:

This post is a three-year term (in the first instance) and the role involves coordination of the dissertation prizes. The role involves advertising the Group’s dissertation prize through appropriate media, arranging the judging, liaising with the Treasurer and any sponsors in arranging the prize, conducting interviews with winner(s) and liaising with the website officer to display examples of winning entries from previous years. The role also involves sitting on the panel of the dissertation prize. The dissertation prize coordinator will usually be involved in SCGRG’s wider committee activities.

Postgraduate Representative:

This post is a one-year term (in the first instance) and the role involves liaising with the RGS-IBG Postgraduate Forum, engaging with postgraduate issues through our SCGRG postgraduate blog and working with our other postgraduate representative(s) on related events and activities. The PG representative would usually be involved in SCGRG’s wider committee activities, i.e. part of the judging panel for our undergraduate dissertation prize.

Conference officer:

This post is a key and important role for the group. The conference officer leads the coordination the group’s sponsorship and organisation of sessions at the RGS-IBG Annual Conference each year and other events and activities. The role involves compiling call for sessions proposals, liaising with session proposers, and organising the vote on the proposals by the committee. The conference officer would usually be involved in SCGRG’s wider committee activities i.e. part of the judging panel for our undergraduate dissertation prize.

If you have any questions about any of the above posts or about SCGRG more broadly, please email Tara and Will.

2020 Social and Cultural Geography Research Group AGM

The 2020 AGM of the Social and Cultural Geography Research Group (SCGRG) will take place online on Friday 4th Sept 1100-1300 (BST). This year’s AGM will take place virtually, all are welcome to attend. Please encourage people who are not currently involved with the group to join us.

In accordance with RGS-IBG guidelines for digital security, anyone wishing to attend this year’s virtual AGM will need to register through Eventbrite prior to the event. The Zoom link for the AGM will be shared with you once you have registered.

We have six vacancies for Committee positions as current post-holders complete their terms of office:

* Secretary: This post is a three-year term (in the first instance) and the role involves coordination of the group’s administration. Each October the secretary prepares the annual report with the Chair and the Treasurer; the secretary also prepares agenda and notices for the AGM in July/August/September, and takes minutes of this (and any other) meeting(s). The secretary may attend the RGS-IBG Research Groups Committee at the RGS, normally in October and March. The secretary will usually be involved in SCGRG’s wider committee activities i.e. part of the judging panel for our undergraduate dissertation prize.

* Dissertation Officer: This post is a three-year term (in the first instance) and the role involves coordination of the dissertation prizes. The role involves advertising the Group’s dissertation prize through appropriate media, arranging the judging, liaising with the Treasurer and any sponsors in arranging the prize, conducting interviews with winner(s) and liaising with the website officer to display examples of winning entries from previous years. The role also involves sitting on the panel of the dissertation prize. The dissertation prize coordinator will usually be involved in SCGRG’s wider committee activities.

* Early career and Mentoring Officer: This post is a three-year term (in the first instance) and the role involves leading the research group’s mentoring and early-career related activities. The early career and mentoring officer will liaise with the education officer, the RHED officer of the RGS-IBG, and other research groups where appropriate, to coordinate the development of events and resources to support members. The early career and mentoring officer would usually be involved in SCGRG’s wider committee activities i.e. part of the judging panel for our undergraduate dissertation prize.

* Ordinary Committee Member (x 1): This post is a three-year term (in the first instance). Ordinary committee members would usually be involved in the SCGRG’s wider committee activities i.e. contribution to committee meetings and AGMs, being part of the judging panel for our undergraduate dissertation prize, reviewing conference session proposals, and contribution to research grant applications, medals and awards nominations, and research group events. Ordinary committee members may also be asked to provide support for named committee roles.

* Postgraduate Representatives (x 2): This post is a one-year term (in the first instance) and the role involves liaising with the RGS-IBG Postgraduate Forum, engaging with postgraduate issues through our SCGRG postgraduate blog and working with our other postgraduate representative(s) on related events and activities. The PG representative would usually be involved in SCGRG’s wider committee activities, i.e. part of the judging panel for our undergraduate dissertation prize.

Nominations for successors (who must normally be a Fellow or Postgraduate Fellow of the RGS-IBG) are now open. Nominations must be in writing to the Chair (Dr Tara Woodyer tara.woodyer@port.ac.uk) and Secretary (Dr Richard Scriven – r.scriven@umail.ucc.ie) with the name of two nominators (these need not be Fellows of the RGS-IBG or existing committee members). The deadline for nominations is Friday 28^th August 2020. The elections will be conducted at the AGM itself, where details of nominations will be shared.

Further opportunities to be elected to a named role or as an ordinary committee member may become available during the AGM itself. We’ll also be discussing different ways that our wider membership can get involved with SCGRG.

If you have any questions about any of the above posts or about SCGRG more broadly, please email Tara and Richard.