Pre-conference activities
Find out more about activities taking place in the run-up to the conference.
Several activities will take place in the run-up to the conference on Tuesday 1 September, all of which are free to attend for fully registered conference delegates.
We will update this page with further details as they are announced.
Newcomers' welcome event
Tuesday 1 September
Join us for an introduction to the conference and to the conference venue. All are welcome: those who are new to the conference are particularly encouraged to attend. In-person only.
Registration details to be announced shortly.
Animal Geography Working Group pre-conference writing retreat
Further details to be announced.
Digital Geography Research Group pre-conference event
Further details to be announced.
Geography and Education Research Group (GeogEd) pre-conference event - Making geography matter in turbulent times
Tuesday 1 September 2.00pm–5.00pm
Royal Geographical Society (with IBG), and online
In a period marked by significant uncertainty and rapid change – whether arising from shifting geopolitical relations, the escalating climate emergency, the cost‑of‑living crisis, or the increasingly precarious position of higher education – we find ourselves working and teaching within profoundly turbulent times.
Geography, as a discipline centrally concerned with spatial relationships, power, environment, and society, is uniquely positioned to engage with these challenges. While there is broad consensus that geography matters, an enduring question remains: how do we effectively demonstrate its relevance and value to young people, policymakers, communities, and our own institutions?
This seminar, hosted by GeogEd, provides a timely opportunity to reflect on and critically discuss the ongoing and future relevance of geography in addressing contemporary global and local challenges.
The event will also mark the 50th anniversary of the Journal of Geography in Higher Education (JGHE), celebrating its longstanding contribution to advancing scholarship, pedagogy, and debate in geography education, and its role in shaping this agenda over the past five decades.
Bringing together colleagues from across the diverse spectrum of geographical research, teaching, and practice, the seminar will create space to explore how we are collectively working to make geography matter – intellectually, socially, and institutionally – both now and in the future.
The programme will combine a series of short presentations with a participatory workshop, encouraging dialogue, exchange of ideas, and collaborative reflection.
Participants are invited to submit an abstract for a 10‑minute Lightning Talk to contribute to the afternoon seminar on the theme Making geography matter in turbulent times. These Lightning Talks will form the basis for subsequent discussion and will be followed by a workshop facilitated by Professor David Higgitt, Editor‑in‑Chief of JGHE.
Colleagues who wish to contribute to the seminar are warmly encouraged to complete the online form by 8 June 2026.
Please join us for the conversations, even if you are not wishing to present. For catering purposes, please complete our booking form to let us know you are planning to attend.
If you have any questions, please contact Sonja Rewhorn, sonja.rewhorn@open.ac.uk
Geographies of Leisure and Tourism Research Group - Geographies of slowing down, rehumanising and challenging inequalities in the leisure and tourism academy
Location: University of Westminster
Further details to be announced.
Political Geography Research Group – Politicising political geography: bridges, dialogues, solidarity
Tuesday 1 September
As a Research Group, we want to create space for academics from across the field of political geography to take part in important conversations about the world and the discipline. PolGRG members are eager to build on ongoing conversations and see them translated into real-world outcomes.
Themes will cover academic responsibility, the place of research and higher education in a changing geopolitical conjuncture, the newly emboldened Islamophobias, racisms, and far-right politics in the UK and in a transnational context, and other urgent issues.
Rather than an extension of the conference’s predominant panel layout, this workshop will incorporate various formats, such as participatory exercises, roundtables, and article discussions.
There would also be space for conversations around professional development, navigating the discipline, and teaching political geography.
Registration details to be announced shortly.
