RGS / GA Festival of Geography

Do you like festivals? Course you do...

Like geography? Of course - love it!

How about a Festival of Geography! Yes please!

The Festival of Geography brings together colleagues from the Royal Geographical Society and Geographical Association (GA) for a joint celebration of geographical knowledge and understanding.

This special event is an opportunity for teachers at all stages to come together and share their passion for geography. Over a full day, attend sessions on creative and practical ideas for the classroom and get subject updates from experts in the field.

The day is bookended with sessions from the GA and RGS-IBG on the future of geography teaching and its value as a subject for students of all ages.

The festival consists of a full day of talks and workshops held live at the RGS-IBG in London on 16 June 2025.

Programme

• 10.00 - Welcome
• 10.15 - Geography: the Big Picture (Steve Brace, GA Chief Executive)
• 10.45 - Keynote lecture: Mark Maslin (University College London)
• 11.30 - Tea and coffee
• 11.45 - Creative curriculum ideas (Fiona Sheriff)
• 12.45 - Lunch
• 13.30 - Practical fieldwork ideas (Chloë Searl)
• 14.30 - Tea and coffee
• 14.45 - Subject knowledge sessions (Anjana Khatwa and guest)
• 15.45 - Choose Geography: embedding careers education into your teaching (Alan Parkinson, VP Education Royal Geographical Society)
• 16.15 - Close

Full details and a booking link can be found on this link.

I hope to see many of you down at the 'Home of Geography' for this special event...

It's really good to have a joint event again. 

I was part of the Action Plan for Geography team - at a time when we used to work more closely together. 

GA Conference 1988

At the LSE...

As previously posted, one of the speakers was Michael Palin.

The Teaching of Geography (1974)

A report on a gathering of Polytechnic geographers. 

Speakers included Professor Richard Lawton and Rex Walford (both GA Presidents). Rex talked about the use of gaming as a teaching method and had most of the attendees "hopelessly in debt to him" apparently. 

Source:

Cooper, A. D. “Report: The Teaching of Geography.” Area, vol. 7, no. 2, 1975, pp. 95–95. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/20000969. Accessed 16 Sept. 2023.

GA Conference 2023 - booking now open

The 2023 Conference will be held at Sheffield Hallam University and have an updated structure from previous years.

Day one will begin at 12.00 on Thursday 13 April with a welcome from our President Alastair Owens and include your choice of a range of field visits, a place at one of our networking events, and the Conference Dinner, as well as the annual GA awards ceremony, Public Lecture and drinks reception.

Days two and three will feature the usual diverse range of lectures, workshops, Teacher-to-Teacher and research paper sessions, as well as our usual exhibition and social events.

The conference will draw to a close at 16.00 on Saturday 15 April.

We are continuing to offer a hybrid conference, with full face-to-face Conference supplemented by a slimmed-down online version streamed via our dedicated platform.

The face to face Conference at Sheffield Hallam University will include a programme of over 100 lectures, workshops, teacher-to-teacher sessions, research papers and field visits with social events in the evening and the opportunity to network with other delegates and exhibitors.

It's a highlight of the academic year.

The online version will include a combination of lectures and workshops but the programme will be smaller than the face to face version with roughly half the sessions available.

Visit this page here to find out more or book your place.

If you have put in a proposal for a session as the lead presenter you may want to delay a little to see whether it has been accepted as you will get free day's delegates fees on the day that you are presenting.

A booking portal will open shortly, but there are many hotel options in the city of Sheffield and the venue is very close to the train station.

Free registration is available to students who are members of the GA. 

Student registration does not include lunch, however there are several outlets where you can purchase food. Students who are not members of the GA should join to recieve free entry or book as a student non-member.

More details will emerge over the coming months as the programme begins to take shape. Thanks to all those who took the time to propose a lecture or workshop, or field visit.

GA Conference 2022 - Session 101-125 now previewed on LivingGeography

I'm going to share a little preview of all of the sessions at the 2022 GA Conference in the coming weeks, and will also update them after the event with links through to the conference resources that are shared. I'm now on sessions numbered 101-125 in order of their appearance in the conference programme. 

It will be lovely to have my hand on a physical copy of this.

You can book to see them here. 

Here are the people involved in the next set of 25 sessions in the programme, which have now been added to the blog:

• Julia Tanner and members of the GA's EYPPC
• Sarah Khan
• Alistair Hamill
• Simon Catling
• Rebecca Butler
• Catriona Poh
• Rachael Robinson
• Andy Owen
• Denise Freeman
• Susan Pike
• Hannah Steel
• Andrew Jack and others
• Ilan Kelman
• Dan Boatright
• Dawn Thomas
• Martin Gibson
• Shelley Monk
• Joe Usher
• Jo Payne
• Charlotte Foster
• Richard Thompson
• Sandra Patterson
• Charlene McKeown
• David Alcock
• Briley Habib
• Daryl Sinclair
• Matt Podbury
• Catherine Brooks
• Ellie Barker