Biographies of all the Presidents of the Geographical Association since the founding of the Association in 1893. Researched by Alan Parkinson (GA President 2021-22), with contributions from others, including the former Presidents themselves where possible.
A high-quality geography education is essential for future generations, as geography has a critical role in solving many of the global challenges we face. The Geographical Association is looking for two new Elected Trustees to join its Board of Trustees from 1 September 2026.
The Board of Trustees meets three times a year in Sheffield, London and online. It comprises 14 Trustees and has responsibility for providing strategic direction and sound governance for the Association.
Elected Trustees serve an initial four-year term with the possibility of continuing for a second term if supported by the Board. GA Trustee positions are not remunerated but travel and subsistence expenses are reimbursed. Nominees for the role of Elected Trustee must be members of the GA and will be asked to show that they actively uphold and support the aims, values and mission of the Association.
Trustees welcome the nominations of colleagues from a wide range of backgrounds and experiences that can strengthen and complement the existing Board of Trustees.
For example, this might include those in their early/mid teaching career stage, school leaders, primary colleagues and/or those with experience of leading the geography programme of a MAT.
The deadline for the current round of nominations is Monday 4 May 2026.
If you have any questions about being a GA trustee, please contact the current Chair of Trustees, Alastair Owens via a.j.owens@qmul.ac.uk.
After four years as a trustee as part of my Presidential journey through the GA, my term in office comes to an end at the end of August 2023.
At the same time, there is also the end of a term of office for several other GA colleagues who I have worked with for the last four years. This means that there some vacancies on the GA's Governing Body, which is of course a good training ground for those who may have ambitions to become more involved with the Association and give back to the association and perhaps ultimately put themselves forward for Election for GA President.
There are actually four vacancies to be filled, which carry different responsibilities.
The GA Conference 2023 was a great success and I am blogging my experiences over at LivingGeography.
One of the events that happens at the GA Conference is the big reveal of who will be the GA President in two years time, and begin as Vice President in September of that year.
Hina is already an elected trustee and has also been involved with several GA events in the past. She has also presented at the GA Conference a number of times, and last year brought her students to an event at my conference in Guildford. She is the Chair of Governors of a Primary school and co-chair of the GA's working group which has been exploring inclusion and diversity.
She teaches at Southend High School for Girls, where she is also Diversity Lead.
You can see her in action on this GERECO page where she was part of an event exploring teaching about the anthropocene along with a range of speakers and contributors. If you haven't seen this before it's well worth a watch by the way.
June is the final major month of the school year - for me at least - there are others who have to go on for quite a long way into July, or who have perhaps largely finished by then depending on which country they teach in, and the relative importance of the exam season to their timetable.
The first part of the month was during my half term, which included the Jubilee weekend, but it was certainly back with a bang to the final half term of the year.
National Fieldwork Week ran from 6th-10th of June. We hope it may be back next year.
The latest GeogPod was released on the 4th of June, and features Paula Richardson and I talking about the GA's National Research Report and how that fed into the development of the National Fieldwork Week.
Thanks to John Lyon for hosting - see if you can spot the question I wasn't expecting... :)
Day by Day
6th of June
The RGS-IBG AGM, followed by the Awards Ceremony was on my original agenda, but the tube strike led me to have to cancel these plans unfortunately.
And then the weather on Monday morning was torrential rain followed by a lull when I managed to get outside with one group.
Colleagues in other years also got involved.
7th of June
The sun shone and I went outside with all of my groups.
8th of June
The weather changed back to rain, which started to clear by mid morning. This time I was able to get out with a group and explore changes in Ely.
9th of June
Three groups went out today.
I went on a Cambridge GA Branch Walk through the CB1 redevelopment in the evening.
This was organised by the Cambridge GA Branch and led by former GA President Chris Kington - it was very entertaining and informative. Also attended by another former GA President: Keith Grimwade.
Former GA President Chris Kington led a superb @CambGA tour last week giving geography teachers the inside scoop on redevelopment in the CB1 area. Want to be more involved with your local GA? Get in touch. We'd love to hear from you 😊 #geography#geographyteacherpic.twitter.com/hOJvOgdNRE
— Cambridge Geographical Association (@CambGA) June 13, 2022
10th of June
Southwold
Chris Webster has run the Southwold-based Geography Fieldwork Academyfor a number of years, although he returned to the classroom during the lockdown and mothballed the operation. It is now back up and running and offering NEA and other sessions for students.
They have also created the GeogIt app.
I visited them for the day.
This included a quick tour of Southwold with Chris where I ended up seeing a few new developments in the town and talking to the Mayor as well as seeing the classroom spaces which Chris makes use of when he has groups of varying sizes.
At the end of the day, we had a picture taken with the group he was helping that day. It turned out to be the college where my own children went! (although they didn't do Geography...)
In between this I also found time to have a lovely lunch and a pint of Adnams (of course) in the Sole Bay Inn.
There were many other Presidential bits and pieces that happened in the middle part of the month. I'm missing out all the usual tweets
On the 17th of June it was the start of the planning for Conference 2023 with the first Conference Planning Board meeting for 2023. This lasted for two hours, and as President I chaired this particular meeting. The next meeting will be chaired by Alastair Owens as he will have started his Presidential term by then. Next year's conference will take place in Sheffield between the 13th and 15th of April. The theme is 'Collaborative Geographies'.
GA Governing Body meeting was next up.
This took place at Queen Mary University, London
I travelled down to London on the train on the hottest day of the year so far and ended up (after a detour to Hammersmith) at my hotel in Brick Lane. The evening before was a meeting followed by a curry and drinks at Aladin restuarant on Brick Lane itself.
Can I recommend the Premier Inn Hub hotels if you are staying in the area for an evening.
This was followed by a Governing Body meeting with a very full agenda on a very hot day. There are three GB meetings a year. It was the final meeting for several trustees, including Susan Pike, whose term as Past President is also coming to an end at the same time as my Presidency will. I have three more GB meetings to attend in that capacity before ending my term. There are also co-opted and named trustees and I could also put myself forward for election. We heard the results of the recent Trustee election, which will be revealed later in the year.
I also spent an afternoon talking to the PGCE colleagues at Homerton College.
This was a useful taster of my Prince's Teaching Institute session, which also includes my colleague Claire Kyndt. Booking details were here.
Events continued to appear in my calendar:
- GI Pedagogy meeting where we discussed the progress made so far and planned for the next phase of the project - this also culminated in planning for an event next month in Madrid which took a great deal of my time
- Additional meeting at Homerton College for mentors as well as students to look at fieldwork - this was sadly disrupted by the train strike, so I had to do it virtually for an hour which was a little more stilted as a consequence than a face to face event but I'm told by a few people there that it was well received and very useful for their future roles
- Consultancy over a new resource on the theme of disasters, with an educator currently based in Australia - this follows an earlier resource based on Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico.
- Discussions over a new Primary resource coming in 2024 which I will work on over the summer, along with a new GIS resource
- Edits for an article that is going to appear in the next issue of the British Cartographical Society's magazine Maplines
- Small input to GeogLive!9 on the topic of fieldwork - mostly to thank everyone who had put together some inputs and who had contributed to the Fieldwork Week itself. It's been great to see the support of the EYPPC in particular for this event.
- Reading minutes of the various phase committees and other groups who meet several times a year to discuss how they can support the Association and fellow members - it's important as President to try to keep across all this activity, and there is a lot of it.
I was going to say hello in person, but instead I had to record a hello message to the student presenters.
- Travelled down to London to see Pat Metheny at the Eventim Apollo - the first time I've seen him since a trip to Hull City Hall before lockdown during the city's time as City of Culture - it was a remarkable concert - I also took the opportunity to wander a bit of West London that I hadn't been to before (or at least for a while) It was a superb concert as well.
We also had a whole late flurry of activity:
- discussions on the ongoing work on the GA website
- ideas for further support for members as the year progresses
- planning for further strategy meetings
The final bit of good news for the month arrived on the last day of the month. We had been waiting for the final report from EPOS: the Belgian agency for ERASMUS projects, on our D3 Project.
The objectives of the D3 project were to: 1. Promote the use digital technologies and open data tools in learning and teaching. 2. Increase the capacity of learning and teaching to integrate democratic engagement considerations into educational plans and strategies. 3. Establish suitable styles of learning to access and integrate open data into schools and 4. Improve educational stakeholders’ response to the need for data and information literacy in schools and teacher training.
We had a very positive final report on the project, and I was particularly pleased to have written a series of lesson blueprints which were featured here, and animated by Greg Donert.
Ending with the usual Twitter stats for the month - a lot of National Fieldwork Week tweeting has upped the number again, and also the impressions - I had almost 100 000 impressions of my tweets during that week alone.
Looking at my stats in the last ten months, it's clear that being President of the GA increases your followers. Since I opened up my tweets from their previous private status at the start of my Presidential year, I've added over 2000 new followers.
I'll be closing my tweets again on August the 31st and weeding out any accounts that aren't authentic.
Just two months to go now. Next month looks just as busy as this one to be fair.
May can be a bit of an anti-climax after the GA Conference which is held in April, but it also marks the start of the final third of the Presidential term, when thoughts turn towards legacy and also transition for the incoming President as well.
I started the final third of my GA Presidency this month. The work continues though for all GA Presidents (and also the Vice and Past President)
I started the month by checking 2nd proofs of an article I had been asked to contribute to one of the GA's Journals: Teaching Geography, which began in 1975 with Patrick Bailey as the Editor. This will be published in the Summer 2022 edition.
The GA's Governance Working Group meets ahead of the GA Governing Body, to set the Agenda and also consider some strategic decisions and thinking. We decided on a date for meetings later in the month and year.
The Geographers Gaze project moved on with web pages being built and captions added from the work I completed with Peter Fox.
I had a CPD meeting with Guy Nunnerley - the Head of Geography at Wisbech Grammar School - regarding my own PDR (Professional Development Review) - an annual or biannual obligation for many teachers - focussing on KS2-3 transition. Thanks to Guy, who I used to work with when he started out in his career - for giving up the time to meet with me and share what he and his department are doing, and their plans for next year. It's important as teachers that we get to see what other schools are doing and I've been very fortunate to visit hundreds of schools over the years in various roles.
Open Day was held on the 7th of May at school - we welcomed visitors and parents who were thinking of joining the school. I then headed home to join the Charney Online Conference.
This was an excellent one-day event with good conversations. I used the presentation here:
Thanks for the kind words. I also learned a lot from the other presenters and have access to their presentations as well.
The following week was a D3 Multiplier Event.
The GI Pedagogy project had been presented at the EuroGeo Conference in Mytiline in Greece the weekend before but I was unable to be there. We heard that the British Council had approved an extension due to COVID preventing a lot of our work, which was good news, so thanks to them. Another ERASMUS project involving my school: Rise the Life was also able to carry out its long delayed residential mobility to Turkey as well.
The ESRI UK User Conference returned to a face-to-face format, and I had permission to make my way down there. Sophie Wilson and Brendan Conway from the GI Pedagogy team were there. I also had the chance to meet up with the ESRI Education folks, Steve Brace from the RGS, Shanique Harris (who is leading a new RGS project called Geography for All) and Francisca Rockey from the Black Geographers group.
There was also a meeting of the GI Pedagogy project the following week.
Other things that I did this month:
- Completed some consultancy for a VR firm who are building scenes for students to explore with additional educational content.
- A day working at the Forum library in Norwich
- Attending part of a meeting of the GA's Post 16 and HE Committee - one of several who support the work of the GA and give up time to meet at weekends and also complete work according to a Work Plan which is then reported to Education Group.
- Discussions with Alastair Owens: the GA Vice President, about the format of the GA's Awards and preparations of papers for Governing Body
- Working on some resources for TeachIt Geography
- Working on a forthcoming book project which I can't mention
- Consultancy with a design agency
- Worked on some materials for the BBC to accompany a film made by De'Graft Mensah, which is part of a series on Empire and Ghana (where his family is from).
COBRIG is the Council of British Geography and has been in existence for many years.
The Council seeks to include representatives of all major geographical organisations in the UK. It invites representatives from the following organisations:
Alan Kinder was unable to attend and asked me to stand in for him. We had several papers which were included in the agenda and I gave an update on activity largely based on the National Research Report.
Image: Alan Parkinson, shared under CC license
The final week brought some more projects:
- an article for a cartography magazine, which looks good
- some consultancy with a design agency and others
- preparing for the next Governing Body meeting in June by writing some papers
- many personal emails and DMs on social media to share resources and ideas
- discussions around GIS use in the profession
GeogPod is the GA's Podcast, which is hosted by John Lyon. There have been over 50 episodes of the podcast so far, and remarkably I hadn't been asked to do one until now.
The month ended with the start of half term holiday. Just another half term to go before a much needed summer break, when I hope to progress some projects but also decompress as we approach the end of my Presidential term, and support those stepping up to the next stage: Alastair Owens and Denise Freeman.
I was also interviewed on the morning show on BBC Radio Guernsey.
The usual Twitter stats at the end of the month. Quite a lot down on the previous month which had all the tweets relating to the GA Conference which were all amplified.
That's three quarters of my Presidential year done.
In it, Iain reflects on his career and involvement with the committee and the GA:
This piece is one for looking back, remembering those members of the committee who contributed so much and whose efforts should not be forgotten. Over the years we have been so well supported by people like George Metcalf, the NATFHE rep and the committee Treasurer in the days when we had a delegated budget.
One meeting a year was always at the Victory Club at Marble Arch as he was able to stay at a reduced rate having made the journey down from Dunfermline.
Other members of our illustrious team have included Brian Harris from Thames Valley, Alan Marriott, Andrew Powell from Kingston, Tim Foster from FSC Blencathra, Antony Allchin, Mick Dawson, Dave Turton, Julia Jones, Helen Hore, Simon Oakes, Bob Digby, and others too numerous to mention.
Secretaries, Treasurers, Saturday fieldwork organisers, Travel and Tourism specialists, Geography Matters Editors [Dave T had a couple of blokes out at “the airfield” who printed it very cheaply, and we gave away huge numbers of copies at conference]. Those were the days!
I have been chairman for long enough and could not have done the job without the support of my wife and the committee members, particularly Antony and then Helen, to whom I owe a huge debt of gratitude. To Gill for taking on the editing of GM in the face of a number of difficulties and her own personal workload. And to all the committee members that I have not mentioned – thank you for your support and contributions to the work we have undertaken.
I am now what Catherine Owen reminded me of as we gossiped at the back of a conference session, an OLD, some would say very old, WHITE MAN - and the time is right for change.
The committee will be co-chaired by Laura-Jayne Ward and Ellie Barker and I wish them all the success for the future. I am confident that they will do a great job in the tradition of the P16/HE PC. They are looking for someone to fill the gap left by my leaving, to add new skills and greater diversity to the committee. I am only sorry that I will not have the opportunity to work with Servel Miller from Chester whom I am certain will add greatly to the deliberations of the committee.
Thank you all for your friendship, help and support over the past 40+ years of my GA membership. I shall miss being involved and hope to see some of you at conference this and in future years. Post-16/HE Phase Committee.
One of the groups of people that operates to 'create' the GA and its day to day decision making and operations is the Governing Body. Members includs the Presidents during their period of office, Named Trustees and co-opted members as well as elected Trustees.
I've now completed the first month of my year as President of the GA, and it's been an interesting and very busy one, along with the return to school for another academic year with new groups and a new timetable to get used to along the way. I can see why it's been a while since we had a teacher as GA President, but that's not to say we shouldn't have another one asap, following on from the tenure of Alastair Owens for 2022-23.
I plan to post an update here at the end of each of the 12 months so you can see what I get up to, and the range of activity that a President is involved in.
Given my theme of everyday geographies there's certainly been something to do everyday: emails to answer, queries to answer and conversations with many of the GA's staff at Solly Street - the HQ in Sheffield. I've had messages and some lovely messages via Twitter DMs, email, Facebook, WhatsApp and various other means.
The first week involved a field trip with Year 4 students to the Norfolk coast - a great day and a reminder of the value of fieldwork. 2022 will see our planned National Fieldwork Week which I am involved in. Look out for more on this in the GA News for Autumn 2021.
There was also the hosting of a one hour session on COP26 with a range of guest speakers - see earlier on LivingGeography for all the links to the presentations. Thanks to all those who presented, including former GA colleague Paula Owens who closed the event.
The second week started with the release of the results of the moderation of applications for a number of funding opportunities that the GA offers. Some of these are for members of our volunteer groups, others are for everyone.
There have been discussions and emails and Zooms around a number of projects and areas:
- the GA's Governance Working Group and smaller groups
- the Geographers' Gaze project to open up the archives a little, with former President Peter Fox involved
- a publication I'm working on for release in 2022 which has been much changed from the original format and now requires a little reworking
- items for GA journals now and in future issues - my Webwatch column for January 2022 is already underway, for example along with a piece for Primary Geography
- National Fieldwork Week planning and thinking
In the third week, focus moved to Conference Planning, and Conference 2022. This is a huge undertaking and there were lengthy meetings with the whole Planning Board to look at the sessions which had been submitted - well over 100 - along with those who I had personally invited. It was the first look at the overall possible format, and some planning ahead for the hybrid conference. Isabel and Becky are pulling things together for another chat in a week's time.
I'm really looking forward to letting people know some of the exciting people we have presenting at the event.
I also completed a presentation slide deck for an education conference in Turkey at which I am an invited speaker, so that it could be sent for translating ahead of the event - the theme is 'Everyday Geographies' and I'm also mentioning my book 'Why Study Geography?' which has been reviewed in RIGEO recently and also elsewhere. I also continued to work on my slide deck for the Scottish Association of Geography Teachers' Conference next month on the theme of 'rewilding'.
We traditionally exchange fraternal greetings at our respective conferences and I've been attending regularly since 2004.
Alongside that I also planned a 3 days ERASMUS+ meeting to take place at my school and worked on some of the resources that are required for it. This will be a chance to welcome international colleagues for the first time in over two years. We had Zoom meetings for the 2 projects. Plenty about those on LivingGeography.
There was also a meeting of the GA's Education Group. This is the main group that supports the Governing Body and staff at HQ with key thinking. It is chaired by the President and this involved rather a lot of preparation and reading and knowledge of the ByLaws and other aspects of the GA's operation. I know almost every member having visited their groups or worked with them in some way.
The final week included further discussions over conference and funding, and follow ups from the EG meeting. There was also a chat with Olwen Lintern-Smyth: Chair of the GA's Trustees.
I ended today by submitting an exciting proposal form for an international conference in 2022, connected with an important GA initiative that is currently underway.
Preparations are also being made for our next meeting of the GA's Governing Body. This will occupy some time in tomorrow's meeting, which I shall tell you all about at the end of October when I share my month 2 update. The full list of the Governing Body is in GA Magazine.
I'll also start the 2nd month by hosting and presenting at an eConference for Early Career Teachers all day on Saturday, and re-recording a bit of audio for my involvement in a well known Geography podcast to be released next month.
If you think that the Presidential for 2023-4 might be you, check out the opportunity here and in the latest GA News. Also feel free to get in touch - I've had a few conversations in that area too.
An important part of the GA is the opportunity for members to get involved in different ways. Key roles include the trustees who form the Governing Body. There are also elections when there is more than one candidate for the role of Vice President, who eventually becomes President and Past President (this has now become a 3-year rather than a 4-year cycle).
GA members have until the end of February to vote for a place on the Governing Body. There are two candidates: Charlotte Milner, and Hina Robinson.
Follow the link in the tweet here to read their statements, and cast your vote - another important element of GA membership: to have a voice in decisions like this.
We are currently holding a a ballot for the GA Trustee Election - make sure you cast your ballot! https://t.co/qUfnuAFEi5
