Current PGF Committee for 2009-10
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Chair (2008-09)
Rosa Mas Giralt
Rosa Mas Giralt is a PhD candidate at the School of Geography, University of Leeds. Her project aims to explore the migration and settlement experiences of Latin Americans and their families living in the north of England, placing special emphasis on the accounts of children and young people within these families. She arrived at her present studies through a journey of self-discovery and after obtaining MAs in Communication Studies and Gender Studies (Research), both at the University of Leeds. This interdisciplinary background has expanded her research interests to areas such nationalism in nations without state, citizenship and belonging, gender equality, social identities, experiences of refugee and migrant children and international migration and transnationalism. She was born in a small town on the coast north of Barcelona but has spent the last few years in Leeds where she has worked as a research assistant on several projects before starting her PhD. Rosa loves travelling both in the literal sense and in her imagination and is completely addicted to reading and watching far too many films.
E-mail: r.masgiralt06@leeds.ac.uk
Chair Elect (2009-10)
Emily Measures
Emily Measures is a PhD student at the Countryside and Community Research Institute, University of Gloucestershire. Her project aims to assess the potential impacts of plant diseases on land use and the UK rural economy. Before starting her studies, she spent four years working with the Food and Agriculture Organization in Uganda, Tanzania and Gambia. Her work focused primarily on analysing vulnerability and the impact of diseases on rural livelihoods. She received both her BA and MA in Political Science from the University of Toronto. Her research interests include: biosecurity, biopower, biopolitics, global environmental change, local knowledge systems, and impact assessments. She grew up in Toronto but has spent the last five years traversing the world. Aside from travelling and finding ways to minimise her carbon footprint, Emily loves all the things she has yet to master (good cooking, surfing, and scrabble).
E-mail: emeasures@glos.ac.uk
Mid-term Conference Organisers
Aberystwyth University conference team
Details to follow
Social Co-ordinator
Sally Murrall
Sally Murrall is a PhD candidate in Geography at the University of Plymouth (UoP). She gained a BSc in Environmental Science from Nottingham Trent University and an MSc in Sustainable Environmental Management also from UoP. Her research into UK Renewable Energy Policy focuses on the concept of ‘policy learning’ and its role in policy development. Her work is interdisciplinary combining both human geography and political science. Other areas of interest to Sally are sustainable development, climate change and climate policy. Sally was founder member and chair of the University of Plymouth’s Student Union Society, the Cli‘mate’ Society, in 2007. She loves high adrenalin sports and is currently learning to kite surf. She is also a keen long distance runner, horse-rider, diver and skier.
E-mail: sally.murrall@plymouth.ac.uk
RGS-IBG Annual Conference Postgraduate Sessions Organiser (2010)
Wendy Miller
Details to follow
RGS-IBG Annual Conference Postgraduate Sessions Organiser (2008 & 2009)
Heather Smith
Heather Smith took over the management of the Postgraduate Sessions for the 2008 RGS-IBG Conference and will be responsible for the Postgraduate Sessions for the 2009 RGS-IBG Annual Conference. She is a PhD candidate at the University of Aberdeen, working in the Socio-economics Research Group at the Macaulay Institute. Heather has an undergraduate background in environmental science. Her general research interests include studying the links between emerging science and the development of environmental policy, with a particular focus on water resources management. As a researcher at Canadian NGO, she was involved in a multi- stakeholder process for implementing watershed (catchment) planning in Ontario. She also holds an MSc from the University of Oxford in Water Science, Policy and Management, for which she studied how a growing understanding of glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs) could help mountain communities in Nepal reduce their vulnerability to these catastrophic events. Her current research project involves studying how the land use planning system in Scotland can both inform and help deliver river basin management planning, as required under the European Water Framework Directive.
Email: h.smith@macaulay.ac.uk
Webmaster
Martin Jones
Martin Jones is a PhD candidate at the Institute of Geography and Earth Sciences at Aberystwyth University. His Ph.D research, funded by the Sports Council for Wales to evaluate the Let's Walk Cymru scheme, looks at the social barriers to walking, and focuses on the embodied, organisational and Political practices linked to 'sustainable' social participation. Martin received both his BA in Human Geography and MA in Practising Human Geography from Aberystwyth.
Unsurprisingly Martin is a keen walker, hiker, rambler, ambler and saunterer, but when not walking or thinking about walking he also likes to sail other peoples' yachts. Also unsurprisingly, Martin is somewhat of a nerd, and a keen advocate, and user, of open-source software.
E-mail: mdj07@aber.ac.uk
Treasurer
Kirstie O'Neill
Kirstie O'Neill is a PhD candidate in the Geography department at the University of Hull. She has a BA in Geography from the University of Newcastle and a postgraduate certificate from the Open University in Environment, Policy and Society. Her current research is examining local food policy making and how organisations like local authorities can improve their support for local food businesses. Kirstie has previously worked for local authorities and charities on rural development in the UK - her research interests stem from this experience and personal interests in sustainability and the environment. In her spare time, Kirstie loves everything cycling related, her German shorthaired Pointer, and generally being outdoors.
Equal Opportunity Officer
Carl Lewis
Carl Lewis is a PhD candidate in Geography at the University of Hull, investigating flood risk mitigation and sustainable economic development in the Humber Estuary region. His PhD research has allowed him to combine the more exciting aspects from his MA in Local and Regional Economic Development and his BA in French and (mainly earth science) Geography, both from the University of Wales, Aberystwyth. Carl’s PhD research addresses the unbalanced governance of flood risk policy, focussing on how private businesses perceive and communicate flood risk with public bodies. The project also involves creating a ‘local business flood risk’ GIS map for the Environment Agency, to analyse the effectiveness of their flood risk awareness publicity. Rather appropriately, Carl loves all things do with water, especially swimming, water polo, surfing, water-skiing and snorkelling. He is also a volunteer at the local swimming club where he helps teach technique to young swimmers.
Email: C.A.Lewis@2007.hull.ac.uk