RGS-IBG Postgraduate Forum Mid-Term Conference 2014

Posted on 27 January 2014 by bdp.smith

Loughborough University, 14th-15th April 2014

This conference is a great opportunity to present your research to fellow postgraduates in a supportive environment and this year has been extended in length to enable more postgraduates to present and more time for informal discussion.

Loughborough University is pleased to host the RGS-IBG Postgraduate Forum Mid-term Conference on 14^th –15^thApril 2014. This is a supportive and friendly event for PhD students to present their work to the postgraduate community. We invite research ideas and findings from all geographical aspects, both physical and human, to be presented either orally or by poster. This meeting will provide a unique networking opportunity to facilitate interdisciplinary research. The two keynote speakers are confirmed to be Prof John Anderson and Dr Hilary Geoghegan.

The mid-term conference is open to all postgraduates, at any stage of their research. We particularly encourage first year students to attend, since the relaxed environment is perfect for those presenting for the first time.

Please go to http://store.lboro.ac.uk/browse/product.asp?compid=1&modid=2&catid=70 to register.

Registration closes Friday 22^nd February 2014. For any enquiries please email: rgsmidterm@lboro.ac.uk

LIVINGMAPS Seminar Series

Posted on 27 January 2014 by bdp.smith

During the past decade the development of open source digital technologies has for the first time put the means of mapping in the hands of ordinary citizens. They can now create maps that tell their own story; they can use GPS to plan their journeys by land or sea, they can go ‘geo-caching’ and adventure into new and unfamiliar environments in search of buried treasure…

In practice, however, the outcome has been far from empowering. These developments have occurred in the context of processes of globalization which have hollowed out the resources of locally-situated knowledge and marginalised many of its communities of interest and affiliation. As a result there is a growing tension between the enlarged scale of social networking through virtual media and the narrowing scope of social ambition and economic opportunity navigated within the urban public realm.

Against this background this series aims to bring together geographers and ethnographers, environmentalists and computer scientists, artists and writers, in a shared conversation around the possibilities of challenging panoptic and forensic cartographies which marginalize or pathologise populations perceived to be obstacles to ‘progress’,‘modernity’ or ‘public order’. It will also explore alternative strategies of ‘counter-mapping’. Each session combines theoretical and practical presentations around a specific theme. The series is organised by the Living Maps Network as part of a programme of initiatives designed to produce a re-mapping of East London’s past, present and future.

The next event is ‘Hidden Histories’ and will take place on Feb 11th at The Building Exploratory in Farringdon, London. For more details and the full programme of events please have a look at the flyer.

Job: RGS Managing Editor: Academic Publications

Posted on 24 January 2014 by bdp.smith

Would you like to manage the academic publications of a leading learned society in geography?

The Managing Editor oversees the publication of the Society’s academic journals and books (www.rgs.org/journals)- Area, The Geographical Journal, Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers and WIREs Climate Change, and the RGS-IBG Book Series, all published in partnership with Wiley. A new fully open access journal, GEO: Geography and Environment, is to be launched in 2014.

This is a permanent full-time appointment subject to successful completion of a four month probationary period. The post is salaried £25,920 to £27,828 per annum according to experience.

View the full job description (PDF) for detailed instructions on how to apply. Applications must be received by 5:00pm 29th January 2014. Interviews will be held on the 10th February. Only successful candidates will be notified.

Call for papers: Educational Transitions: Changes, Contexts and Geographies

Posted on 20 January 2014 by bdp.smith

2014 RGS-IBG Annual Conference 2014, London, 26-29 August 2014.

Sponsored by the Geographies of Children, Youth and Families Research Group (GCYFRG).

Session organisers: Dr Mark Holton (University of Brighton, UK), Dr Mark Riley (University of Liverpool, UK), Prof. Barbara Pini (Griffith University, Australia).

There has been a burgeoning of research, in recent years, seeking to articulate how geographical insights might inform educational research. Geographers have approached education from a number of perspectives, including a discussion of changing educational policies and their underlying ideologies, the internationalization and transnationalisation of education, as well as socio-cultural analyses of the rising importance of alternative spaces of education, education experiences and the emotional geographies of education. Running through these discussions have been calls for an ‘outward looking’ and ‘de-centered’ geography of education (Hanson Theim, 2009; Holloway et al, 2010) which reaches out to wider conceptual debates within geography and beyond. This session hopes to bring together various strands of work on the geographies of education, encourage further critical exploration of future agendas for this work, and explore various educational transitions.

These might include, but are not limited to:

· New and alternative spaces of education

· The [re]placing and transitioning of educational institutions

· Multiple scales and sites of educational experiences

· Educational identities

· Retheorising ‘education’

· Educational futures.

Please email a 250 word abstract to one of the convenors:

M.Holton@brighton.ac.uk

Mark.riley@liverpool.ac.uk

b.pini@griffith.edu.au

Deadline for submission Monday 10th February 2014.

For further inquiries or if you would like to discuss your papers before submitting, please contact any of the convenors.

CFP: Postgraduate Snapshots: Engagements in Social and Cultural Geography

Posted on 20 January 2014 by bdp.smith

CFP: Postgraduate Snapshots: Engagements in Social and Cultural Geography

RGS-IBG Annual International Conference 2014.

Session convenors: Emma Spence (Cardiff University) and Richard Scriven (University College Cork, Ireland)

Sponsored by the Social and Cultural Geography Research Group and the Postgraduate Forum

The aim of this session is to explore the different ways in which postgraduates are (co)producing social and cultural geographies through their research, collaborations, methods, and encounters. Postgraduate research is frequently at the forefront of changes and challenges in the discipline, with large research projects, funding agendas, and national and institutional policies fundamentally shaping the work undertaken by postgraduates, but this is largely unrecognized or lacks serious reflection and discussion. This session allows for considerations and explorations of how ‘co-production’ is manifest in this arena by engaging with the diversity of postgraduate research.

We are seeking postgraduates to present a ‘snapshot’ of their research and co-productions. In line with the title of the session, we seek contributions that focus on one element, such as new fields of inquiry, theoretical emphasis, emerging methods, collaborations, and innovations. We ask applicants to provide a snapshot (whether a photograph, a quotation, a field diary entry, an image of an object, or mini-video clip, for example) complete with an abstract (of max 150 words) that explains how the snapshot showcases both contemporary social and cultural geography research and elements of co-production.

It is envisaged that the ‘snapshot’ will be the main artifact around which each contribution is orientated. In order to facilitate discussion, we encourage participants to consider presenting in innovative and engaging ways by fully utilizing their snapshots.

Please email prospective contributions to both session organisers Emma Spence (spenceee@cardiff.ac.uk) and Richard Scriven (r.scriven@umail.ucc.ie). The deadline for submissions is Friday 14th February 2014. Please include:

A title for your ‘Snapshot’
The Snapshot
An abstract (max 150 words)
A short description of how your presentation will use your Snapshot (max 100 words)
Your name, affiliation and contact details (email address)

BBC Radio New Generation Thinkers

Posted on 17 January 2014 by bdp.smith

The AHRC and BBC Radio 3 are looking for applications for the New Generation Thinkers of 2014.

Up to sixty successful applicants will have a chance to develop their programme-making ideas with experienced BBC producers at a series of dedicated workshops and, of these up to ten will become Radio 3’s resident New Generation Thinkers. They will benefit from a unique opportunity to develop their own programmes for BBC Radio 3 and a chance to regularly appear on air.

BBC Radio 3 and its programmes Free Thinking (opens in new window) (previously known as Night Waves), the Verb, the Essay and the Sunday Feature have provided a platform for debate and commentary from scholars across the world. You could now join them on air. The New Generation Thinkers scheme also works with BBC TV Arts who will be looking to develop New Generation Thinkers and their ideas into arts television.

Applicants do not have to be funded by the AHRC to apply; the scheme is open to all early career researchers based in a UK Research Organisation. We also encourage those people who have previously applied unsuccessfully to the scheme, even if they made it to the workshop.

We welcome applications from researchers working in all areas of the arts and humanities. This year we are extending the call for researchers who work in areas of social sciences and medical science whose work intersects with the arts and humanities. There are a series of interfaces, and many areas of common ground between. This can be seen in both cross-council programmes, Connected Communities and Life Long Health and Wellbeing.

More information can be found here.

RGS Medals and Awards

Posted on 17 January 2014 by bdp.smith

Any Fellow or member of the Society may make a nomination, and Research Groups are welcome to support nominations. A full list of medals and awards can be found here. The deadline for nomination is the end of February.

Full details and nomination forms at: http://www.rgs.org/AboutUs/Medals+and+awards/Medals+and+awards.htm

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 (ideally from different institutions/departments). Membership numbers of the proposer and supporters should be included in all correspondence.

Co-production and Postgraduate Research: Call for Posters

Posted on 8 January 2014 by bdp.smith

RGS-IBG ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE 2014 London, 27 – 29 August 2014

The Postgraduate Forum invites poster contributions from postgraduate and early-career researchers interested in presenting any aspect of their research in progress in a visual and interactive way. This session provides a friendly and supportive space to present and explore the innovative and exciting geographical research being done by postgraduates and early career researchers. It also provides participants with a rapid and intensive update and overview of emerging postgraduate geographical research. A specific session within the Conference will be provided for participants to explain and discuss their poster.

Posters may be individually or co-authored, but at least one poster author is expected to attend the conference on the day that their poster is exhibited (a session will be allocated in the conference timetable for this purpose), in order to explain their poster to, and discuss their research with, other delegates.

The conference is able to accept posters up to the following sizes: size A1 in portrait or landscape format, or size A0 in portrait format only. Contributors are advised to consider the design of their posters carefully — prepare the best material (visually appealing and succinct) that effectively communicates your research problem, techniques, results, and what is novel and important about your work. Further guidance will be provided to authors of accepted posters.

To propose a poster for this session, please send the following information to the session organiser Richard Scriven (r.scriven@umail.ucc.ie) before Friday 14th February 2014:

A title for your poster
An abstract for your poster’s research (max 150 words)
A short description of how you will make your poster visually interesting, and who the target audience is (max 100 words)
Your name, affiliation and contact details (email address)

Co-production and Postgraduate Research: RGS-IBG Conference CFP

Posted on 7 January 2014 by bdp.smith

Presentation and Discussion Session

RGS-IBG ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE 2014 London, 27 – 29 August 2014

Final CFP: How do we do research on climate change?

Posted on 3 December 2013 by bdp.smith

How do we do research on climate change?
Wednesday 29 January 2014, King’s College London

You are cordially invited to the 2014 Open Meeting of the Climate Change Research Group (CCRG), to be hosted by King’s College London on Wednesday 29 January 2014.
The meeting is open to all academics working within the field of climate and climate change, but is particularly aimed at PhD students, and covers all disciplines within the context of climate change, including social, political and physical science.

The title of the meeting is “How do we do research on climate change?” and will cover issues such as whether our research addresses the same goals and tackles the same climate change agenda. The meeting will include short presentations from postgraduates (focusing on methods used rather than actual findings), as well as a number of short talks and a roundtable discussion with leading academics.

In the first instance, please email Charlie Williams (C.J.R.Williams@reading.ac.uk) for a registration form. You are also warmly invited (and indeed encouraged) to submit an abstract for a short presentation along the above themes. There will be a limited amount of funding for PhD students, to cover registration and travel expenses. If you would like to apply for this, please state your reasons along on your registration form.

Please note that spaces are still available, so the deadline for registrations has been extended to 1 January 2014