History of the Annual International Conference
The origins of the conference can be traced back to January 1933 and the inaugural meeting of the then newly founded Institute of British Geographers (IBG).
In 1949, the conference was held outside of London for the first time, in Oxford, beginning a tradition of holding the conference at a different UK higher education institution each year. This continued during the early years of the then newly merged RGS-IBG.
From 2004, the conference has taken place outside of London every three years, most recently in Manchester (2009), Edinburgh (2012), Exeter (2015), Cardiff (2018), Newcastle (2022), and Birmingham (2025).
Find out more about previous conferences, including details of previous Chairs and conference themes, on Koha.
You can also browse the archive of recent past conference programmes on OSF.
Governance
From the very beginning, the Annual International Conference has been chaired by a leading academic who also serves on our Research and Higher Education Committee (and until 2023, also on Council). They are elected by the Fellowship of the Society through our annual cycle of nominations, which close in March each year. They, along with all new Trustees and committee members, are announced at our Annual General Meeting (AGM) in June.
Once elected, the Chair of Conference selects a conference theme, which shapes their plenary lectures and panels as well as many of the sessions and other events at the conference. The theme is generally announced at the preceding Annual International Conference, which always takes place immediately after the last Monday in August (which is a public holiday in the UK).
Over the course of the next few months the chair then convenes their plenary lectures and panels, inviting high-profile speakers who can speak to key issues within the wider theme.
Around this time, a number of journals also convene high-profile lectures and panels. These and other programme highlights, including pre-conference events, field trips, workshops and exhibitions, are announced in the March before the conference.
In addition to the ‘top-down’ content developed by the Chair of Conference and Journal Editors, the overwhelming majority of sessions for the conference are developed by our Research Groups and members of the geographical and related communities. In addition to those engaging with the chair’s conference theme, these also include sessions presenting the latest research from all areas of geography.