Geography & Education Research Group

Reflective practice: a pedagogic tool for enhancing students' research design
2023-08-30 16:20 - 18:00 (Europe/London)
Please see https://event.fourwaves.com/rgs-ibgac2023/schedule/4c5f8922-9da1-4881-9a0f-327da7db9bae for the full list of speakers, titles and abstracts for the event.

For the full list of GeogEd RGS Annual International conference listings,please visit https://event.fourwaves.com/rgs-ibgac2023/schedule?trackIds=bb7c70fb-f09d-42d8-b13e-4de4ccc7ea3c&date=2023-08-30

Climate challenged Latin America: Reflections on pedagogies of freedom (1)
2023-08-30 14:10 - 15:50 (Europe/London)
Please see https://event.fourwaves.com/rgs-ibgac2023/schedule/14d6f366-3c56-4c54-8c33-1e4b5d61420f for the full list of speakers, titles and abstracts for the event.
Note: This is the first of a 2-part session. Details for the second part can be found here.

For the full list of GeogEd RGS Annual International conference listings,please visit https://event.fourwaves.com/rgs-ibgac2023/schedule?trackIds=bb7c70fb-f09d-42d8-b13e-4de4ccc7ea3c&date=2023-08-30

Contemporary student geographies: inequalities, injustices, and agency (2)
2023-08-30 11:10 - 12:50 (Europe/London)
Convenors: Matej Blazek (Newcastle University; matej.blazek@ncl.ac.uk) John McKendrick (Glasgow Caledonian University; j.mckendrick@gcu.ac.uk)

Without having fully recovered from Covid-19 disruptions, university education is being enveloped in a confluence of emergent crises, among others: (i) cost-of-living struggles, unaffordability of studies, and increasing debts that plunge students into poverty, (ii) colonial legacy and everyday manifestations of structural racism, (iii) gender-based violence, transphobia and abuse of power within institutions, and (iv) the rise of poor student mental health along with eroding support structures. At the same time, we witness a rise of student activism facing and challenging these issues, from campaigns to decolonise the curriculum, through student rent strikes, to efforts to root out misogyny and racism from campuses. In this session we invite papers that take stock of contemporary university student geographies, with a particular focus on three interrelated issues: – Structural inequalities and injustices, as experienced by students or manifested otherwise – Students’ own agency in facing, addressing, and challenging these issues – Critical reflections on the roles and responsibilities of academics in supporting students to challenge injustices within the Academy We are interested in research and insight from practice that explores the structural factors that underlie the uneven student experience of university education, and students’ capacities to act as agents of change. We welcome 15-minute contributions from a range of geographical, cultural and institutional contexts; papers that focus on undergraduate and/or postgraduate education; and also those that provide historical insight on contemporary student geographies.

Note: this is the second of a 2-part in-person session. Event details for the first part can be found here

You can find the full list of speakers, titles and abstracts for this event at https://event.fourwaves.com/rgs-ibgac2023/schedule/7bf1ca87-1727-45fb-8169-9bdd7bec0db9

For the full list of GeogEd RGS Annual International conference listings, please visit https://event.fourwaves.com/rgs-ibgac2023/schedule?trackIds=bb7c70fb-f09d-42d8-b13e-4de4ccc7ea3c&date=2023-08-30

Contemporary student geographies: inequalities, injustices, and agency (1)
2023-08-30 09:00 - 10:40 (Europe/London) | RGS-IBG Annual International Conference 2023, RGS & Imperial College, South Kensington, London, SW7 2AR, United Kingdom
Convenors: Matej Blazek (Newcastle University; matej.blazek@ncl.ac.uk) John McKendrick (Glasgow Caledonian University; j.mckendrick@gcu.ac.uk)

Without having fully recovered from Covid-19 disruptions, university education is being enveloped in a confluence of emergent crises, among others: (i) cost-of-living struggles, unaffordability of studies, and increasing debts that plunge students into poverty, (ii) colonial legacy and everyday manifestations of structural racism, (iii) gender-based violence, transphobia and abuse of power within institutions, and (iv) the rise of poor student mental health along with eroding support structures. At the same time, we witness a rise of student activism facing and challenging these issues, from campaigns to decolonise the curriculum, through student rent strikes, to efforts to root out misogyny and racism from campuses. In this session we invite papers that take stock of contemporary university student geographies, with a particular focus on three interrelated issues: – Structural inequalities and injustices, as experienced by students or manifested otherwise – Students’ own agency in facing, addressing, and challenging these issues – Critical reflections on the roles and responsibilities of academics in supporting students to challenge injustices within the Academy We are interested in research and insight from practice that explores the structural factors that underlie the uneven student experience of university education, and students’ capacities to act as agents of change. We welcome 15-minute contributions from a range of geographical, cultural and institutional contexts; papers that focus on undergraduate and/or postgraduate education; and also those that provide historical insight on contemporary student geographies.

Note: this is the first of a 2-part in-person session. Event details for the second part can be found here.

You can find the full list of speakers, titles and abstracts for this event at https://event.fourwaves.com/rgs-ibgac2023/schedule/e8539db3-8965-4ac3-9860-4220d0c20d3e

For the full list of GeogEd RGS Annual International conference listings, please visit https://event.fourwaves.com/rgs-ibgac2023/schedule?trackIds=bb7c70fb-f09d-42d8-b13e-4de4ccc7ea3c&date=2023-08-30

GeogEd: Building Research Capacity - Parvati Raghuram (Spring 2023)
2023-02-08 14:00 - 15:00 (Europe/London)
Our next speaker is Parvati Raghuram, Professor of Geography and Migration at the Open University. She won the prestigious Murchison Award from the RGS-IBG in 2016, making her the first non-white woman to win this in its’ 120 year history.

Parvati’s research interests focus on the ways in which the mobility, of individuals, goods and of ideas is reshaping the world. She has written for policy audiences having co-authored research papers for several think-tanks and UN organisations, and published widely on gender, migration, and development and on postcolonial theory.

Currently she is working on an AHRC funded project – Decolonising Peace Education in Africa (DPEA). The project addresses the question: What are the different knowledges and values underpinning peace and how can these practices be connected and compared across countries to create curriculum content and mode of delivery in informal and formal, secondary and Higher Education, in order to decolonise peace education?

Parvati will reflect on her focus on teaching through her broad experience.

Please sign up to our mailing list to receive the Zoom link when publicised.

About GeogEd: Building Research Capacity sessions

GeogEd: Building Research Capacity is a series of informal online gatherings, once a term, to hear from a Geography and Education researcher. We think about building research capacity in these areas and might explore:

Equity in research partnerships and collaborations;

Benefits of working across academic communities, and/or;

Opportunities and challenges in securing research funding

A distinctive discipline? Exploring the Geography benchmarks
2023-01-18 14:00 - 15:00 (Europe/London)
Our first TeaS session of the New Year is going to be a participatory discussion, focused on exploring and engaging with the Subject Benchmark Statements for Geography. Whether you already use them in your teaching or they are completely new to you, and not forgetting they have been recently revised, come along to share good practice, perhaps get some new ideas, or just join the conversation.

Please signup to our mailing list or contact us to receive the Zoom meeting link.

GeogEd TeaS: End of Year Catch-up
2022-12-14 14:00 - 15:00 UTC
In the final TeaS forum of 2022 we invite you to take a well-earned short break from marking, grab a hot drink and mince pie (or similar) and come along to share your teaching and scholarship interests with the group. You may want to reflect on your T&S activity from 2022 or look forward to what you hope to do in 2023; wherever you are at in your geography teaching and scholarship journey it would be great to hear from you. Contributions would be informal and we’d aim for around 2-3 mins per person.

Free workshop: Geography education and student mental health
2022-12-13 10:00 - 16:00 UTC | Newcastle University
Geography and Education Research Group of the RGS-IBG (GeogEd https://geogedrg.org/) is hosting a workshop for academic Geography educators facing challenges in supporting student mental health.

The in-person workshop will take place in parallel in three locations (University of Exeter, University of Chester, Newcastle University), linked at the beginning and end of the day through online plenary talks and online summative discussion. The aim of the workshop is to initiate a network of colleagues interested in student mental health in the context of Geography education, as well as to produce an initial set of practical resources. Workshop themes include the structural factors surrounding Geography student mental health, academics’ role in supporting student mental health through curriculum and pastoral care, and the impact of such work on academics’ own wellbeing and careers.

The plenary speakers include:

Nicola Frampton (Student Minds)

Faith Tucker and John Horton (University of Northampton)

The workshop is intended for academics of all career-stages involved in Geography education (rather than University mental health professionals). It is free to attend, and we have a small number of bursaries to support travel costs. Please note that catering is not provided aside from hot drinks, but there will be ample opportunities to access food and other refreshments in all three sites.

We ask that all participants adhere to the RGS-IBG Code of Conduct (https://www.rgs.org/about/the-society/governance/code-of-conduct), particularly with regards to matters of harassment, discrimination and bullying.

To register, please complete application form by Friday 2nd December and indicate which site you will attend: https://forms.office.com/r/jSZZ8D2CDw

Details of the venue and travel instructions will be sent to the participants after the registration.

We encourage all participants to use public transport access the workshop locations as there is exceedingly limited parking at each site. If you need to drive, please contact workshop organisers about parking opportunities.

If possible, we ask participants to bring a laptop or a similar device.

Please contact the organisers if you wish to discuss access needs or have any other questions. All venues are fully accessible, but we are keen to provide support as needed.

Contacts:

For University of Chester venue:

Ruth Healey (r.healey@chester.ac.uk)

For University of Exeter venue:

Matt Finn (m.d.finn@exeter.ac.uk)

Harry West (harry.west@uwe.ac.uk)

For Newcastle University venue:

Matej Blazek (matej.blazek@ncl.ac.uk)

Lauren Hammond (lauren.e.hammond@ed.ac.uk)

GeogEd: Building Research Capacity - Dr Sarah Mills (Autumn 2022)
2022-11-02 14:00 - 15:00 (Europe/London)
Our next speaker is Dr Sarah Mills, a Reader in Human Geography at Loughborough University. A previous chair of the Geographies of Children, Youth and Families Research Group, and winner of the RGS Gill Memorial Award for outstanding early career research in human geography, Sarah has been a leading figure working across the geographies of youth citizenship, informal education and volunteering across contemporary and historical contexts. Sarah collaborations and partnerships span diverse groups – from voluntary organisations and charities, formal and informal education settings, and expert panel work with a national government.

Sarah will reflect on working across academic communities and questions of equity and ethics in partnerships and collaborations.

Following a presentation there will be an opportunity for Q&A and discussion.

Please sign up to our mailing list to receive the Zoom link when publicised.

About GeogEd: Building Research Capacity sessions

GeogEd: Building Research Capacity is a series of informal online gatherings, once a term, to hear from a Geography and Education researcher. We think about building research capacity in these areas and might explore:

Equity in research partnerships and collaborations;

Benefits of working across academic communities, and/or;

Opportunities and challenges in securing research funding

GeogEd TeaS: New Year, New Outlooks
2022-10-19 14:00 - 15:00 UTC
An informal welcome at the start of the new academic year. A chance to chat with colleagues and discuss plans and ideas you have for the coming year.

TeaS and Coffee drop-in @ RGS-IBG Annual Conference (2/2)
2022-09-01 08:00 - 17:00 UTC | Newcastle University
Drop-in and chat with us at the RGS Annual International Conference 2022! Details to follow nearer to the conference.

RGS-IBG International Conference 2022
2022-08-30 09:00 - 2022-09-02 17:00 UTC | Newcastle University, Old Library Building, Claremont Rd, Newcastle, NE1 7RG, United Kingdom
We will be attending the Royal Geographical Society’s Annual International Conference 2022, where we were hosting a number of sessions.

Details to follow nearer to the conference.

TeaS and Coffee drop-in @ RGS-IBG Annual Conference (1/2)
2022-08-30 09:00 - 11:00 UTC | Newcastle University, Old Library Building, Claremont Rd, Newcastle, NE1 7RG, United Kingdom

Building Research Capacity: Spring 2022
2022-04-27 14:00 - 15:00 UTC
Our first guest is Johanna Waters, a Professor of Human Geography at the UCL, London. Her research has made significant contributions – in books, journal articles, teaching and mentorship – to the geographies of education particularly in the area of mobilities in education. Johanna has worked individually and through long-term collaborations with colleagues such as Professor Rachel Brooks and Professor Maggi Leung. Following a presentation there will be an opportunity for Q&A and discussion.

Building Collaborative Clusters
2022-02-16 14:00 - 15:00 UTC
Discussing key themes of interest to the community, including Professional Recognition (HEA Fellowships), Mentoring, Promotion on the T&L Pathway, etc.

Professional Recognition
2022-01-19 14:00 - 15:00 UTC
Prof. Nicola Thomas (PFHEA) and Dr. Naomi Holmes (SFHEA) share their journeys on gaining their Principle and Senior Fellowships respectively.

Scholarship and me
2021-12-15 14:00 - 15:00 UTC
Dr Hannah Mather, Dr Matt Finn, and Dr Lynda Yorke share their scholarly activities and thoughts on scholarship.

Promotion Pathways
2021-11-17 14:00 - 15:00 UTC
Prof. Jenny Hill shares her experience of achieving promotion on the teaching and scholarship pathway.

Courage and compassion in the pedagogic borderlands
2021-09-03 11:00 - 12:00 UTC
Convenors:

Helen Walkington (Oxforrd Brookes University)Jenny Hill (University of the West of England, Bristol)Sarah Dyer (University of Exeter)

Abstract:

This workshop on courageous and compassionate pedagogy is designed to link some of the papers in the ‘Teaching and Learning in Geography: inspiring courage and compassion in the pedagogic borderlands’ to your own practice and department. It offers an opportunity to reflect on your own context and teaching practices and to learn from others.

The arguments about the challenges we face as educators, working in massified and marketised higher education systems, are well rehearsed. Equally so are the challenges facing our students as they navigate higher education and contemplate their lives in an uncertain world beset by environmental dynamism and social inequality. In this session, we are interested in exploring courageous (Gibbs, 2017) and compassionate (Vandeyar, 2013) pedagogies. These pedagogies both invite and support students to enter pedagogic borderlands (Hill et al., 2016), unfamiliar physical or metaphorical spaces whose novelty and ambiguity challenge faculty and students to disrupt taken for granted ways of knowing, acknowledge new perspectives, and disrupt dynamics of power and authority. Courageous and compassionate pedagogies undertaken in borderland spaces of learning acknowledge students and faculty as whole people with lived embodied experiences and emotional, moral, as well as cognitive agendas. These pedagogies link to the notion of slow scholarship (Mountz et al., 2015), which acknowledges the quality of relationships, thinking through ideas and recognising the importance of subjectivities. Working in this way provides opportunities for learning and teaching that is meaningful for students, faculty, and external partners. Acknowledging ourselves as ‘whole’ people requires a willingness to explore and share excitement, insight and passion, alongside vulnerability and fear.

In the workshop we will share our moral ‘compasses’ in exploring the values we bring to our pedagogy and facilitate our ‘mapping’ of the pedagogic borders. We wholeheartedly believe in the importance of collegiality and taking time to reflect and strategise. We will be doing all three. Our hope is that we all leave the workshop with a renewed sense of possibility and an expanded network of colleagues.

Re-naming and re-framing: Evolving the ‘Higher Education Research Group’ to the ‘Geography & Education Research Group’
2021-09-02 15:00 - 16:00 UTC
Convenors:

Ruth Healey (University of Chester)Harry West (University of the West of England, Bristol)

Abstract:

At the Higher Education Research Group (HERG) AGM on the 29th August 2018 it was proposed that the Research Group might consider broadening its remit to consider a wider context of geography education and formally include the geographies of education. On the back of this proposal a working group was formed which led to the proposal to re-frame the work of the Research Group around two key areas, which were subsequently used as the basis for the new constitutional aims of the group:

1. Pedagogic research and evidence-based practice in geography education

2. Research and inquiry into the geographies of education

In order to be inclusive of these two different themes it was decided that the group would also need to be re-named. After some discussion the name ‘Geography & Education Research Group’ was decided upon. A proposal was shared with the existing HERG membership and in May 2019 the membership voted in favour of the change. The constitution was subsequently changed to reflect this outcome and formally ratified at the HERG AGM on 28th August 2019 (just under one year from the initial proposal) and received final sign-off by the Royal Geographical Society on 7th October 2019.

To re-launch the Research Group’s focus we held a conference on 16th December 2019 to discuss the overlap and distinctions between these two different themes. We followed this by facilitating a writing workshop on the 17th December 2019 focused on writing a series of short comment/discussion articles narrating the Research Group changes to a wider disciplinary audience and to provide a long term record of the discussion and decision to expand the focus of the Research Group. This session will showcase the articles that came out of that process. Each article contributes to a narrative charting where the Higher Education Research Group (HERG) has come from, and where it is going as the Geography & Education Research Group (GeogEd).

Writing Successfully for the Journal of Geography in Higher Education
2021-09-02 09:00 - 22:00 UTC
Convenors:

Derek France (University of Chester)Sonja Rewhorn (University of Chester)Jenny Hill (University of the West of England, Bristol)

Abstract:

The Journal of Geography in Higher Education (JGHE) was founded upon the conviction that the development of learning and teaching was vitally important to higher education. It is committed to promote, enhance and share geography learning and teaching in all institutions of higher education throughout the world, and provides a forum for geographers and others, regardless of their specialisms, to discuss common educational interests, to present the results of educational research, and to advocate new ideas. This session is designed to encourage and enable new academics/postgraduates that have undertaken pedagogic research to get their work published and disseminated to the rest of the geographic community. After discussing the mission of JGHE, the co-editor will explain the submission, review, and publication processes of the JGHE. Topics will include the nature of material appropriate for submission, the types and level of evidence necessary to support findings, the recommended length of manuscripts, advice about writing for an international readership, and JGHE’s citation index. JGHE welcomes seven types of papers which include, the traditional research paper, editorials, directions, which are written for students to help them in their scholarship skills, symposia which are a series of linked papers, pedagogic resources which consider methodological approaches to research, resources papers which review teaching resources for higher education geography and review papers which give an overview of a contemporary topic in learning and teaching in Geography in higher education. All the papers are subject to a peer review process and the Editorial Board welcome conversations with potential authors. In this interactive session participants can discuss issues specific to manuscripts they are planning or writing. Practical guidance and advice will be provided to potential authors. The session will end with a wider consideration around the demands of getting published. It should be noted that the proposed running order of the session needs to be flexible to accommodate the needs and level of response from prospective.
