Sharing your news
We would like to expand this news page. RGRG members, including Postgraduates are welcome to email news to us on current topical issues such as the impact of Covid-19 on our rural communities, short articles, and up and coming events (virtual or postponed face2face)
RGRG AGM 2023
The AGM will be held in-person on Thursday 31st August, from 13:10 in Room 122, Sir Alexander Fleming Building.
Applications are now invited for the roles of Newsletter and Website Editor and Postgraduate Representative (x2). Please send your applications to Megan Palmer-Abbs for consideration.
RGS-IBG Annual Conference 2023
The conference programme has been released. The RGRG sessions are scheduled as follows:
| Session Title | Venue | Convenor | Date | Time |
| Emerging Rural Researchers – Rural areas and times of change | Imperial In-person 18 | Emanuele Amo & Theo Lenormand | 30/08/23 | 9:00-10:40 |
| Reimagining Rural Planning Approaches | Imperial In-person 11 | Andrew Grayson | 30/08/23 | 11:10 – 12:50 |
| Reassessing rural communities and social relations in turbulent times (1) | Imperial In-person 17 | Rhys Dafydd Jones | 30/08/23 | 14.10-15.50 |
| Reassessing rural communities and social relations in turbulent times (2) | Imperial In-person 17 | Rhys Dafydd Jones | 30/08/23 | 16:10-18:00 |
| Planetary Rural Geographies (1) | Imperial In-person 15 | Michael Woods | 31/08/23 | 9:00 – 10:40 |
| Planetary Rural Geographies (2) | Imperial In-person 15 | Michael Woods | 31/08/23 | 11:10 – 12:50 |
| The true cost of decarbonising rural spaces (1) | Imperial In-person 24 | Megan Palmer-Abbs | 01/09/23 | 9:00-10:40 |
| The true cost of decarbonising rural spaces (2) | Imperial In-person 24 | Megan Palmer-Abbs | 01/09/23 | 11.10-12:50 |
| Governing fire across spatial boundaries (1) | Imperial In-person 6 | Cathy Smith | 01/09/23 | 14:10 – 15:50 |
| Governing fire across spatial boundaries (2) | RGS-IBG Hybrid 2 | Cathy Smith | 01/09/23 | 16.20-18:00 |
You can find out more about each of the sessions HERE.
Dissertation Prize Announcement
We are delighted to announce the winners of the 2022/2023 RGRG dissertation prizes.
Undergraduate winners:
Highly commended – Adam Simmers, University of Manchester. Deer, Duthchas and Decommodification: Community identity, land, and the potential for change in Uist, Outer Hebrides.
Commended – Mia Oxer, University of Oxford ‘ The greatest threat to UK moorlands: the drivers and impacts of wildfire events across the Peak District National Park, since 1976’
Postgraduate winners:
Highly commended – Rieke Buckup, University of Oxford. ‘Farming Queers in Rural Spheres: Performing Queer Rural Temporalities in East Germany.‘
Undergraduate Dissertation Prize Announcement
We are delighted to announce the 2021/2022 RGRG undergraduate dissertation prize winners are:
HIGHLY COMMENDED
Establishing firewise communities: a foresight into public response and participation in South Wales (Madeleine Goodson, Birmingham)
COMMENDED
Rewilding and farming: opportunity or threat? An exploration of views from the landowning community in East Anglia (Poppy Airy, St Andrews)
Public transport, austerity, and community responses: a case study of Northamptonshire (Anna Souter, Durham)
RGS-IBG Annual International Conference 2022
Newcastle, Tuesday 30 August to Friday 2 September 2022
Geographies of Recovery
Rural Geography Research Group Sponsored Sessions
The majority of our sponsored sessions will take place in-person, with some offering a hybrid option. Specific details about the conference can be found on the RGS website HERE.
Please see the confirmed RGRG sponsored sessions for 2022 HERE.
RGS International Conference (with IBG) and the RGRG AGM 2021
We were delighted to see such a busy conference this year with many topical sessions and presentations for rural geographers. The Conference ran from 31 August 2021 – 3 September 2021. You can read more in our newsletter.
RGS MEDALS AND AWARDS 2021 ANNOUNCED
We are delighted to announce that Professor Terry Marsden has been awarded the RGS (with ibg) Back Award for outstanding contribution to the development of national and international rural planning and development public policy and that Professor Chris Philo the Victoria Medal for his promotion and contribution to research in health, social and cultural geographies. We would like to offer our appreciation and congratulations on behalf of the RGRG committee, our members and the contribution this makes towards more sustainable societies.
UNDER GRADUATE DISSERTATION WINNERS ANNOUNCED
We are delighted to announce the winners of this years undergraduate dissertation award for geographers. Our thanks goes to Fiona Williams and RGRG committee members for their valued support yet again. We are particularly proud of our up and coming geographers and hope they have a long career in this field. Winners as follows:
2020/21: Winning dissertation: Dylan Inglis, Durham University
Language and relational values: a Q analysis of relations with forests in the Basque Pyrenees
2nd Nicholas Partridge, Queen Mary University of London
Angling in the British Countryside: An investigation of Class, Gender and Rurality in the changing spaces and societies of British leisure angling
3rd Grace Molly Evans, Aberystwyth University
The socio-economic impact of poor digital connectivity on rural communities; A case study of Llangwm, Monmouthshire
BORDERS, BORDERLANDS AND BOUNDARIES.
RGRG Sponsored sessions for RGS with IBG Annual International Conference, London 31 August -3 September 2021 are out.
We continue with the organisation of the Conference for 2021 with many sessions online and some in person. The RGS will confirm in June how the final conference will be run in terms of in person guidelines. Specific registration guidance, timelines and advice will be available from the RGS website HERE
For more on RGRG Sponsored session please see the RGS website HERE
Please see the confirmed RGRG sponsored sessions 2021 HERE
PGR Blogs
More new blogs from our PhD candidates, this weeks is from Niamh McHugh (holding a joint studentship at Loughborough University and the University of Leicester) on The Digital Marketing of Rural Real Estate – Even More Important Post-Covid? see here. For more information on how to submit a short article click here
Geography Directions – Covid 19 & sustainable resources
See Damian Maye’ s Geography Directions blog which summarises key themes from the COVID-19 sustainable resources page (relationality, food insecurity and relocalisation of food systems) https://blog.geographydirections.com/2020/06/10/covid-19-and-food-systems-relational-geographies-food-insecurity-and-relocalisation/
To see the presentations from the PGR/ECR mini symposium at the RGRG AGM & associated events follow associated links
1. The latest driving force of rural gentrification? How Digital Marketing is Influencing Processes of Rural Gentrification in England – Niamh McHugh, University of Leicester
2. Toward an integrative framework for the governance of sustainable agricultural innovation – Auvikki de Boon, University of Reading here
3. ‘Agro-ecology and organic agriculture as a counterforce to (super-) productivist farming in Brazil: innovative strategies in a time of crisis‘ – Dr Felipe da Silva Machado (University of Plymouth) here
4. Politics and the Rural: (New) Spaces for Contentious Politics beyond the Urban – Viktoria Noka (University of Glasgow) here
Covid 19 – routes to recovery for rural communities
COVID 19 and the impacts of rural communities: CCRI website here & A Centre for Rural Economy rapid assessment of the effect of Covid-19 on rural economies here & Scottish Universities here
New PGR Blog
Support for students from the RGS
Many geography students complete a dissertation, or other substantial research project, in their final year of study. The Society is compiling a selection of resources to help students plan projects, collect and analyse appropriate data, draw conclusions and present work well. These resources are accessible remotely and focus on secondary data, acknowledging that primary data collection may be problematic at present. This list of online resources to aid online student research is dynamic and will be updated over time.
Under Graduate Prize Winners 2019-2020
This years Undergraduate Dissertation Prize Winners announced ……..here