Innovative Geography Teaching Grants

About the Award

Two grants, each of £1,000, will be awarded annually to each teacher-higher education team.

The aim is to serve both geography pupils and the wider teaching community through the creation of teaching materials. The materials produced will be published on the Society’s website.

Deadline: 15 February

Apply now

All prospective grant applicants should read our Advice and Resources pages, which include more information about the grants programme, its conditions, and what is expected if your application is successful. Please read this information carefully and send your application, or any enquiries, by email to grants@rgs.org.

Two supporting statements are required. One referee statement must be signed by the Head of Department, Head Teacher or Employer of the lead applicant. References should be sent by email directly to grants@rgs.org by the application deadline. Applications will be jeopardised if referee statements are not received on time.
 

Previous recipients

2025: Smriti Safaya (University of York). Geo-environmental Citizen Science Toolkit: co-created and curriculum-aligned resources to use citizen science for geography fieldwork

While general participation in citizen science projects has bloomed, the use of the citizen science approach in schools has been impeded by the lack of accessible teaching resources. Our project addresses this obstacle by co-creating curriculum-aligned teaching resources which support incorporating citizen science in investigative enquiry and fieldwork in geography. Perspectives and feedback from current school teachers and PGCE students will guide the development of these resources in the form of scaffolded activities suitable for the secondary English and International Baccalaureate curricula. This adaptable toolkit nurtures teachers' skills to enhance student engagement in fieldwork by integrating innovative geo-environmental citizen science. 

 

2024: Professor Nina Laurie (University of St Andrews) and Ana Teresa
Haustein (Markham College). 'Valuing the Peruvian Amazon: indigenous knowledge and scientific exploration past and present'

The Peruvian Amazon has a significant place in efforts to tackle global health and conservation development challenges. Understanding the complex interface between western scientific and indigenous knowledges in the past and present is an important step towards the sustainable management of Amazonian biodiversity and Indigenous livelihoods. As these issues are of global concern this project targets the development of educational resources for a global audience focusing on the subject areas of Geography and Theory of Knowledge in the International Baccalaureate curriculum. It works with Peruvian teachers and scientists to ensure resources are generated collaboratively from Peru. 

 

2024: Dr David Anderson (Eton College) and Dr Shane McGuinness (University College Dublin). 'Discovering Wetlands'

This project involves the creation of online teaching resources about wetlands aimed primarily at students studying geography in the UK (GCSE and A Level), but with content also of wider value for environmental education, beyond the UK. Drawing on the WaterLANDS network of experts working on conservation and restoration of various coastal and freshwater wetlands in Europe, the resource will contain up-to-date case studies describing different wetland types, explaining their value in terms of natural capital/ecosystem services (e.g. carbon sequestration, water, culture). The resource will contain an interactive combination of digital content spanning video, audio, text, imagery and StoryMaps.

 

2024: Joseph Boyle (University of Oxford), Kate Hooper and Joanna Jones (Sanday Community School). 'Sanday's Seagrass and SDGs: co-design from beach to classroom'

This project will co-design a lesson plan on seagrass and United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) with classes at Sanday Community School. This builds on Kate's co-produced film and Joe's prize-winning MSc project (transdisciplinary seagrass mapping in Sanday) and previous educational co-design work with Scottish island communities. Visiting beaches among the UK's most extensive for seagrass and with significant maritime cultural links, the project will co-develop curriculum-aligned educational resources on how seagrasses and their conservation support 16 of 17 SDGs globally, through a local case study. Spanning marine and terrestrial ecology, conservation, and human geography, this topic holds many valuable lessons across Scotland.

 

2024: Samantha Hadley (Mill Hill School) and Dr David Mitchell (University College London). 'The Young People’s Climate Project'

Climate change in arguably the most pressing issue of our time. However, it is one which can provoke a sense of anxiety and despair, particularly amongst young people. Furthermore, it is an issue that due its enormity, lack of knowledge and understanding and lack of personal experience of the impacts for most young people, can lead to disengagement.  This project will seek to build young people’s sense of being a global citizen through developing connections in the mind with people in distant places, exploring not only obvious differences but the many similarities that may exist between them, thus helping to foster a sense of solidarity and hope amongst young people. Likewise, through learning from each other, there is an opportunity for young people to engage with alternative perspectives promoting them to question their own and the assumptions and world view upon which they are based.  

 

2023: Dr Liam Saddington (University of Cambridge) and Gerard Reilly (Marriotts School, Stevenage). 'Climate Justice and Young People: Bringing Fieldwork into the 21st Century'

Climate change is one of the most pressing issues facing young people today. This project is a collaboration between Dr Liam Saddington (University of Cambridge) and Mr Gerard Reilly (Marriotts School, Stevenage) to develop a scheme of work focusing on the human geographies of climate change for Year 9 pupils. Within these 6-8 lessons, pupils will be introduced to ideas of climate mobility, climate justice and sustainability with a local fieldwork component. This project will facilitate the development, trialling, and dissemination of materials, and ensure contemporary research is accessible to KS3 pupils.

 

2021: Dr Tristram Irvine-Fynn and Graham Goldup (Aberystwyth University and Cardinal Newman Catholic School, Hove). 'Immersive teaching toolkit: landscapes of West Wales'

Geography teachers have faced immense challenges during 2020-2021, through school closures, restrictions to ‘normal’ classroom or fieldwork practice, and curriculum content gaps. Teaching has had to adapt quickly and flexibly to new, increasingly digital, online methods, but often with limited resources. Establishing a new teacher-university partnership, this project will deliver a free, accessible, online teaching toolkit targeted at Key Stages 3-5. The teaching toolkit will comprise 10 evaluated ‘virtual tours’ of curricula-relevant environments with focus on water and carbon cycles, changing geomorphology and anthropogenically-affected landscapes. Access to these complementary teaching resources will be facilitated by the Society's website.

 

2020: Daniel Parsons (University of Hull). 'Cliff-quakes: monitoring climate change impacts on rapid sea-cliff erosion with seismometers' (subject to final approval)

The Holderness has some of the most rapidly eroding coastline in the world, with sections of cliff retreating >10m per year. These rates are due, in large part, to the soft composition of the boulder clay cliffs, but rates are accelerating rapidly in response to climate drivers, particularly storminess and sea-level rise, which is increasing wave loading and impacts across tidal cycles.

A local school community, Withernsea High-School, situated close to the eroding cliffs, will be engaged with measuring active geomorphological processes in the coastal zone. We will install a seismometer in the cliff top which will measure broadband vibrations in the landscape. Essentially applying technology used to record earthquakes in order to study cliff erosion processes. The data obtained will engage the students in new and active ways, allowing the detection of waves crashing on the beach, and allow delineation of when, and over what time periods, waves impact the cliff, along with the frequency and magnitude of cliff failures. These data will be combined with a suite of resources and activities (e.g. drone and TLS surveys) to aid interpreting the data and exploring how changes in climate driven forcing will alter these rates of erosion into the future.

 

2019: Dr Lisa Ficklin (Manchester Metropolitan University). 'Hazard toolkit for secondary geography teachers'

Working with Dr Billy Haworth, a lecturer in Disaster Management at the University of Manchester, a toolkit will be developed that focuses on the simulation of a disaster event from different actor perspectives in real time. Students will analyse data from images, GIS data and policy documents to produce a dynamic response strategy that responds to changes in the simulation. The aim is integration of physical and human geography through enquiry based learning and contextualised problem solving.

 

2019: Grace Healy (Hewett Academy). 'Geographies of Sustainable Development: what does Bolivia teach us?'

The 2015 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) set out a global agenda for people and planet, responding to the increasing urgency of climate change by balancing agendas for economic development, social development and environmental wellbeing. In this teaching resource, developed with Dr Jessica Hope (University of Bristol), we ask what Bolivia teaches us about sustainable development, focusing on the environmental remit of the SDGs and thinking about what it means to protect life on land and nature.

To do this, we listen to the ideas and voices of Bolivian indigenous leaders (interviewed on film in 2019), whose ideas of sustainability and development are grounded in long-running struggles for land and territory and challenged by global demand for natural resources (including fossil fuels). We draw from indigenous territorial politics, conservation and resource conflicts to assist students to think about what it takes to create a sustainable future. 

This resource (and teachers guide) problematises sustainable development from and by Bolivia (and within students’ geographical education). It engages students with geographical questions that illuminate how interpretations of sustainable development vary and that the United Nations 2015 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are just one (particularly powerful) iteration. The resource enables students to engage with related local, national and global debates and provides them with an opportunity to make connections to their everyday lives. In particular, it highlights the unsustainability of both fossil fuel dependence and contemporary patterns of global resource consumption.

 

2017: Alan Parkinson (King's Ely Junior). 'Inspirational Places: Changing Places'

Working in partnership with Dr Peter Knight (Keele University), online resources will be created that support teachers in their understanding of key themes in the 'Changing Places' topic - the section of the A Level geography specification focusing on people's engagement with places and their experience of them. The resources will provide teachers with practical strategies for teaching and a bibliography of additional reading for exploration and research.

 

2016: Catherine Owen (King Alfred School, Somerset). 'Interactive tour of Kampala'

In partnership with Dr Kevin Cook (University of Northampton) the aim of this project is to develop an interactive tour of Kampala using GoPro footage, video and photographs to create a unique point of view tour. Exploring an interactive map of Kampala will enable students to evaluate the extent to which the Millennium Development Goals have been achieved. Students will be able to interact with the tour as a continuous transect of Kampala or interact with key moments.

 

2015: Raphael Heath (The Royal High School, Bath). 'Investigating the geography of crime'

The purpose of these resources are to provide teachers and students with the information and skills required to be able to conduct a sophisticated investigation into UK crime patterns using GIS mapping techniques using primary and secondary data. An interactive online version of this resource is available here.

 

2014: Alan Parkinson (King's Ely School) and Dr Benjamin Hennig (University of Oxford). 'LondonMapper: exploring a World city through Census Data'

By focusing on London, this project provides a context which has national relevance, but is on a more manageable scale. A framework has been produced for using Census data and a range of visually stunning maps to support imaginative enquiry work, which will also extend students’ critical thinking as they explore the sprawling city of London.

The materials produced are hosted on the London Mapper website, and a teaching guide to using them can be found on the Society's GIS Educational Resources pages.

 

2014: Paul Turner (Sevenoaks School) and Dr Adam Dennett (University College London). 'CENTRISt (CENsus teaching ThRough gIS)'

A scheme of work will be developed for sixth form students, which will allow them to learn new quantitative analysis and GIS skills through exploring the 2011 Census data, while also engaging with wider substantive and increasingly important themes such as the North/South Divide in the UK or widening inequalities between London/the South East and the rest of the UK at a variety of spatial scales.

 

Prior to 2014, the grant scheme offered different opportunities to individual teachers. Recipients included:

Rachel Atkins (Bristol Grammar School). 'Interactive Whiteboard (IWB) Templates - Interactive Geographers'

This project aimed to inspire teachers to use easily-adaptable IWB techniques for excellent teacher and student interaction.

Jo Debens (Priory School). 'International link between Priory School, UK and the Cape Fear Centre for Enquiry, USA'

This project formed a link with the Cape Fear Centre for Enquiry in the USA, enabling students to explore and compare their personal geographies and explore how living near the coast affects their lives.

James Mutton (Featherstone High School). 'I-Pod Touch'. 'Using mobile technology inside and outside the classroom to enhance the delivery of geographical education'

Samantha Coulson: (William Farr CE School). 'Geography of Film - Scheme of Work'

This project explored geographical issues through the medium of film by giving context to theory. Using a variety of film clips pupils will investigate how film instils a sense of place, culture and change over time.