Congratulations to the joint winners of the overall Geography in Government Award 2022:
Digital Exclusion Risk Index by Digital inclusion, Digital & Research at Greater Manchester Combined Authority and Modelling the geography of land use change by Spatial Data Science, Systems Innovation and Futures, and Land Use Policy teams at Defra.
The winners were announced at an awards ceremony held at Geovation, and will be recognised at the Society’s Medal and Awards ceremony on 6 June.
The projects show the variety of work undertaken by members of the Government Geography Profession. The project team from the Greater Manchester Combined Authority researches and analyses the spatial distribution of digital exclusion across England, aiming to reduce the effort for the public sector to understand and map digital exclusion risk. The Defra teams' work demonstrates how modelling the geography of land use change can provide evidence for land use policy for the future.
The award ceremony also recognised winners across six Award categories:
Making a difference in Geography
GGP members contribution to Women+ in Geospatial (joint)
Alistair Calder, Office for National Statistics (retired) (joint)
Excellence in geo-visualisation
Green Infrastructure Standards Mapping team, Natural England - Green Infrastructure Mapping Database (Beta Version 1.1)
Excellence in local and regional public sector
Strategy and Intelligence Team, Westminster City Council - Know Your Audience: Segmenting Westminster’s Communities
Contribution to policy development
Spatial Data Science, Systems, Innovation and Futures, and Land Use Policy teams, Defra - Modelling the geography of land use change (joint)
Digital inclusion, Digital & Research, Greater Manchester Combined Authority- Digital Exclusion Risk Index (joint)
Advancing geospatial data science
Geography Data Products and Operations, Office for National Statistics, Automation of the updates to the Statistical Geographies for 2021 Census
Operational Delivery
Mapping Domain, Registers of Scotland, Using mapping data to transform Scotland’s Land Register
The Geography in Government awards, which are offered by the Government Geography Profession, celebrate excellence in geography across the public sector and recognise the breadth of work carried out by geographers in government.
David Wood, Head of the Government Geography Profession said "every year the members of the Government Geography Profession demonstrate their expertise and professionalism, showing how geographers are crucial to policy decisions and local delivery. These awards showcase this impact and always makes judging very competitive."
Find out more about the Government Geography Profession and, if you are a crown, civil or public servant, join here.