She was the first Education Officer of the Royal Geographical Society. She authored materials which are still available on the website to this day. She was involved in the creation of the Discovering Antarctica and Discovering the Arctic websites - the former was recently given a fresh relaunch at an event at the RGS.
She also worked on the Unlocking the Archives project - a major undertaking which received a large sum of National Lottery Funding.
She also helped with the creation of the Geography Ambassadors Scheme.
She held the post from 1999 to 2010, working latterly with Steve Brace.
Prior to that she taught geography at Bishop's Hatfield Girls School for 11 years, having been educated at Harrow County Girls School.
She was on the project team for the Digital Learning for Key Stage 4 project which happened during the Action Plan for Geography, and was also a Trustee of the GA for some time. This was a joint project between the RGS and the GA and she was one of the people to work to support both organisations, something I think is really important at this time. She was also involved in the Young People's Geographies project in an advisory role, and contributed to the GA's journals as well, as well as TES.
Prior to that she taught geography at Bishop's Hatfield Girls School for 11 years, having been educated at Harrow County Girls School.
She was on the project team for the Digital Learning for Key Stage 4 project which happened during the Action Plan for Geography, and was also a Trustee of the GA for some time. This was a joint project between the RGS and the GA and she was one of the people to work to support both organisations, something I think is really important at this time. She was also involved in the Young People's Geographies project in an advisory role, and contributed to the GA's journals as well, as well as TES.
She contributed to many conferences and CPD sessions during her time with both organisations, and also on committees of the AGI.
In Jeremy Krause's GA Presidential biography he talks about her contribution below:
Membership and Professional Development Committee (M&PD)
Prior to becoming Junior Vice President in 1999 I served as Hon Secretary to the GA’s M&PD Committee Chaired by Judy Mansell. This Committee no longer exists, but at this time it played the role described in its title. It carried overall responsibility for Membership and Professional Development activities such as Conference. It also held an overview of Local GA Branches. Each of these areas had a Hon Officer such as Paul McDermott for the GA’s Annual Conference. When it was decided to close down the Committee its activities moved either to Education Standing Committee (Education Group) or to paid staff at GA HQ.
In Jeremy Krause's GA Presidential biography he talks about her contribution below:
Membership and Professional Development Committee (M&PD)
Prior to becoming Junior Vice President in 1999 I served as Hon Secretary to the GA’s M&PD Committee Chaired by Judy Mansell. This Committee no longer exists, but at this time it played the role described in its title. It carried overall responsibility for Membership and Professional Development activities such as Conference. It also held an overview of Local GA Branches. Each of these areas had a Hon Officer such as Paul McDermott for the GA’s Annual Conference. When it was decided to close down the Committee its activities moved either to Education Standing Committee (Education Group) or to paid staff at GA HQ.
She also wrote an obituary for David Wright - who contributed a great deal to Norfolk geography during his time at UEA.
From the GA Magazine, 2018 - talking about her work as the GA Branches Officer.
Update
Thanks to Claire Brown, who worked with Judy when she started out at the RGS. She says:
Judy was the Society's first Education Officer and the work that she started in that role has shaped our education programme today. Judy started our CPD programme for teachers, A Level study days, the first Young Geographer of the Year competition, and so much more.
And here's an appreciation of Judy by Steve Brace from the GA Magazine's Autumn 2025 issue.
