The Society
The Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) is the UK’s learned society for geography and professional body for geographers. We are also a membership organisation and a registered charity in the UK (No 208791).
The Society was founded in 1830 to advance geographical science and this remains our core purpose. We achieve this through supporting geographical research, education, and fieldwork and expeditions, as well as by advocating on behalf of the discipline, supporting geographers in professional practice, and promoting geography to public audiences.
Our vision
For geography and geographers to be at the heart of developing a world that is more environmentally, socially, and economically sustainable.
Our mission
The Society is dedicated to the advancement of geographical science and its application to the challenges facing the world’s people, places and environments.
Our principles
The Society:
- Seeks to reduce the environmental impact of its activities and encourages others to do likewise.
- Works towards greater equality, diversity and inclusion within its practices and activities as well as across the wider geographical community.
- Recognises the breadth of geographical interests that people bring to the Society and reflects these in its governance and activities.
- Demonstrates professionalism in its work and encourages the wider geographical community to do likewise.
- Seeks partnerships that enhance the impact of geography, and its own work.
- Strives for high quality, and welcomes constructive feedback.
- Is innovative, responsive, agile, efficient and transparent.
The strategy is informed by these principles and is structured around four key aims: to empower, amplify, engage and sustain, geography and geographers.
From the President
Nigel Clifford
It is my great pleasure to write this foreword as President of our extraordinary Society. My first year as President has given me a privileged position from which to appreciate the breadth of influence that we have as an organisation, and the positive impacts that our wide range of work achieves.
After yet another exceptional and unprecedented year for us all, I would like to thank our members for their continued support of the Society and our dedicated staff for keeping the Society in good order. Alongside our roles as a learned society, a professional body and a charity, the Society is a membership organisation with an extremely engaged membership. This core of support throughout the second year of a global pandemic has enabled the Society’s staff to not only keep going, but to also innovate and develop their projects and initiatives to advance geographical education, research, professions, expeditions, and fieldwork.
I would also like to thank the Society’s Trustees who, during 2021 in addition to their usual tasks, started the process of modernising the Society’s Bye Laws. Fellows voted at the Special General Meeting held in September 2021 overwhelmingly in favour of updates to introduce a new membership category (Associate Fellowship), remove age-related eligibility criteria for membership and update procedural information. This work continues into 2022, with Trustees thinking through how best the Society’s Council can be configured to ensure efficient and effective governance continues into the future.
I believe geography brings with it valuable life skills: insatiable curiosity about how our world is constructed and evolving, a collaborative mindset, an appreciation of ‘connectedness’, and a desire to make a real-world difference. This last year has seen the Society embody these skills while navigating national lockdowns, remote working, and ever-changing restrictions and relaxations.
I am proud of how the Society’s team built on what they learnt in 2020 about online events, remote learning and keeping audiences engaged to deliver the biggest ever Annual Conference with 2,500 delegates, Monday night lectures that were COVID-secure for members attending in person and accessible to those not able to travel to central London, and engagement with young people with over 12,000 entries to the Young Geographer of the Year competition.
We can look forward to yet another interesting year to come and I am delighted to be continuing to work with Professor Joe Smith, the Society’s staff team, Council, Fellows and Members, corporate sponsors and other stakeholders to spread the word, strengthen the Society and serve the discipline that we all love.
Image credit: Nigel Clifford © Ray Amoah
Director’s report
Professor Joe Smith
Three themes are at the front of my mind as I reflect on 2021 at the Society: resilience, support and inspiration.
The Society’s team, volunteers and partners that enable our work, and of course our membership, have all had to show great resilience in order to weather the immensely demanding conditions of this tough year. Everyone showed great spirit, and we worked behind the scenes to continue our work to professionalise and modernise the Society’s processes. This saw developments in our computing and communications that helped to make hybrid working more secure and efficient. The appointment of the Society’s first Human Resources Officer reflects the increasing importance we place on supporting performance and wellbeing among the team. And to create a more resilient foundation for our charity we continued with the governance review process, which saw us update the Bye Laws and create more intuitive and inviting membership categories.
The Society benefits from great support that takes many forms. Membership subscriptions are a vital foundation for our charitable work. Alongside these, individual donations and the steadfast and longstanding backing we enjoy from our group of Corporate Benefactors greatly increase the reach of our work. The contributions made by the volunteers on our Council, Sub Committees and Advisory Groups felt particularly significant and generous in the demanding context of 2021. Everyone had plenty on their minds in their own lives, yet so many people found the time and energy to help to progress the Society’s work. For example, the relatively new Collections Advisory Group, generated insight and observations that enabled well balanced decisions regarding our globally significant and unique Collections. We ran a competitive and open process to make new appointments to the Finance and Investment Sub Committees, and the Enterprise Board. This has brought fresh eyes to the management of our financial interests, complementing the exceptional experience we already enjoy access to. The regional committees are another important example of the vital role of enthusiastic voluntary support that comes bundled with diverse and high-level professional experience. They sustained a distributed programme of activities throughout the year working deftly, with the support of the Society’s in-house team, to cope with swings in and out of lockdown.
Inspiration has come in many forms, and the regional programme has been just one highlight in an astonishingly rich events programme that included a return to in-person events alongside livestreaming of the Annual Conference, the celebrated Monday night lectures, public events programme, and CPD for teachers and other professional geographers. We also had public impact at scale. A prominent example is the Society’s close partnership with the landmark BBC Radio 4 series 39 ways to save the planet, inspiring millions of listeners with ideas that can really make a difference on climate change. Our network of specialists supplied advice and ideas at the drawing board stage, were present on air, and the Society’s team supplied digital content for schools and the general public to support them as they extend their journey in pursuit of a better future.
Image credit: Joe Smith © Nando Machado
Report of Trustees
The Trustees of the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) present their annual report for the year ended 31 December 2021. The report presents the Society’s activities, significant achievements and successes in 2021 against plans derived from the current strategy and is set out under the four key strategic aims:
- Empowering and supporting geographers in the development and sharing of geographical knowledge.
- Amplifying the contribution that geography makes to understanding the world and how it makes a difference to everyone’s lives.
- Engaging, serving and developing the Society’s membership.
- Sustaining the reputational, financial and institutional future of the Society.
Working for the public benefit
We deliver public benefit through a wide range of activities that support the professional development of geographers and those using geographical skills, knowledge and understanding in their work, the production and dissemination of geographical knowledge, and the demonstration of the relevance and value of geography to society. The Trustees confirm that they have paid due regard to the guidance issued by the Charity Commission on public benefit, and further confirm that the activities of the Society are carried out for public benefit.
Our activities reinforce our strategic aims and demonstrate our commitment to our charitable objective, as set out in our Royal Charter, to advance geographical science. Membership is open to everyone with an interest in geography. The Society actively pursues the involvement of the public in debates and discussions – through events, publications and resources – on geographical issues that help us understand the world’s people, places and environments and the connections between them. Members of the public can also access our historic geographical Collections, which contain over two million items covering 500 years of geographical discovery and research.
Aim 1
Empower and support geographers, and those applying geographical expertise and approaches, in the development and sharing of geographical knowledge.
To advance the creation, interpretation, and dissemination of geographical knowledge, it is important that pupils, students, teachers, academics, professionals, and expeditioners have access to high quality resources, are well supported in their professional development and are able to achieve their full potential.
To achieve this, the Society will:
1. Advocate for geography to ensure it remains a vibrant discipline in school and at university, and that the value of its research findings and its importance to supporting positive change in society, the economy, the environment and in policy decision making are fully recognised.
2. Support the teaching and learning of geography and its uptake in schools by providing high-quality resources, professional support to geography teachers, and demonstrating geography’s value to further study and careers, with additional support for underrepresented and underserved groups and schools.
3. Convene and support the academic community to advance, interpret and share geographical knowledge fully, to ensure geography students have access to high quality courses that facilitate their development, and to ensure higher education institutions are able to meet the challenges of an ever-changing policy environment.
4. Work with employers to ensure recognition for the subject-specific skills, insights and knowledge of geographers, and those applying geographical approaches and expertise, in the workplace, and increase the number of Chartered Geographers to ensure high professional standards.
5. Demonstrate the many ways in which geographical skills and knowledge are embedded in decision making at all levels of civil society, government, business, and industry, and further promote their use.
6. Support those undertaking geographical field research and expeditions in order to facilitate safe, ethical and purposeful fieldwork.
Our key achievements in 2021
Supporting geography in schools
With UK schools closed for the majority of the first three months of 2021, our online teaching and learning resources were in high demand from home-schooling parents as well as teachers. Over the course of the year, we produced many new teaching and learning resources, including ones that supplied bitesize facts on climate change in the run up to COP26; provided an insight into bike crime in partnership with Thames Valley Police; and introduced a series of lesson plans on a carbon calculator developed by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and which featured Sir Patrick Vallance, Government Chief Scientific Adviser. Our podcast series for A Level students and teachers, Ask the geographer, included discussions on the circular plastics economy, an interview with BBC journalist and trained geographer Chris Mason, and an exploration of the threats to chalk streams.
We also produced resources to support the AHRC funded Stay home stories research project led by Professor Alison Blunt (Queen Mary University of London), which looked at how the COVID-19 pandemic and multiple lockdowns have affected young people. In addition to the resources, the 2021 Young Geographer of the Year competition, and the Rex Walford Award for early career teachers, asked young people to create annotated maps revealing how their lives had been shaped by the pandemic.
The 2021 Schools Essay Competition, run in conjunction with the Financial Times, asked students to explain how transport changes might help the world to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement. The competition, which sought thoughtful and well-argued responses to the topic, was open to all geography students aged 16-18 and the judges were impressed with the high quality of the entries received.
Our continuing professional development (CPD) sessions for geography teachers remained online-only for most of 2021, and the 60 training events were attended by over 1,800 teachers. In-person teacher CPD sessions began again in November, with 40 teachers attending a GIS training session run in partnership with Esri UK.
In a follow up to the 2020 report Geography of geography, which looked at who was studying geography and where they were doing so, we published I didn’t have any teachers that looked like me in October, which shared the experiences of trainee and early career teachers from Black and minority ethnic (BAME) backgrounds. Both pieces of research have, in different ways, highlighted areas where the Society, and the wider geography community, can focus initiatives on improving equity, diversity and inclusion in geography in schools.
The Society remains an influential subject body and continued throughout 2021 to engage positively with the Department for Education (DfE), including being asked to contribute to the development of the DfE’s Sustainability and Climate Change Strategy. In addition, we submitted eight consultation responses, contributing expert advice on geography education in schools to the policymaking process.
Image credit: Young Geographer of the Year, overall winner - Key Stage Two © Aarav Gupta
Supporting geography in higher education
The 2021 Annual International Conference had been held over from 2020 and was staged as a hybrid event with both online-only sessions and a small number of in-person sessions, which included the Chair’s plenaries. The conference’s theme, chosen by the Chair Professor Uma Kothari (University of Manchester), was Borders, borderlands and bordering. The conference was opened on Tuesday 31 August with an address by poet and broadcaster Lemn Sissay, a series of responses to the conference theme from Dr Patricia Noxolo (University of Birmingham), Professor Ysanne Holt (Northumbria University), and Dr Nishat Awan (University of Sheffield), and a musical performance by the Welsh harpist Catrin Finch and Senegalese kora player Seckou Keita.
The Society’s Research Groups rose to the challenge of organising online conference sessions, helping to make the 2021 conference the largest ever in terms of the number of papers and sessions. Being mainly online facilitated the participation of many who would otherwise have not been able to travel or commit to attending a four-day conference and over 2,500 delegates registered. Delegate feedback highlighted that while being online made the conference easier to attend for many, the lack of serendipitous networking opportunities was something that would persuade them to attend the conference in-person in future.
During the course of the year, we engaged proactively with the newly emerging skills landscape, which includes the development of apprenticeships and T Levels based on geographical skills and knowledge, and creates new and adapted training pathways. Alongside this, the Society accredited the first batch of Master’s programmes as part of our scheme to recognise good practice in geography learning and teaching across UK higher education, while supporting continuous quality improvement and promoting good student outcomes across the sector.
Three new books in the RGS-IBG book series were published during 2021, while the Society’s scholarly journals saw a 10% increase in submissions and a 25% increase in downloads. New national deals were also secured, increasing access to the geographical research the journals contain and increasing income for the Society. The journals are now available in 4,660 institutions through philanthropic deals.
While undergraduate student visits to the Society were not possible during 2021, we developed a new series of online resources to support virtual visits and a programme of 12 Use geography webinars, on careers across a broad range of sectors with the result that we reached more students than ever before.
Throughout the year, we contributed to consultations on the teaching of sustainable development and to regulating standards in higher education, and played a very active role in the drafting of a new Subject Benchmark Statement for Geography.
Supporting geography in the workplace
During 2021, our support for Chartered Geographers (CGeogs) was enriched with the provision of enhanced mentoring programme which now includes workshops and networking, alongside a significant refresh of the guidance and support we provide for assessors, which has reduced application processing times while maintaining quality levels.
A series of online events, including ‘application accelerators’ and monthly introductions to individual accreditation, supported those making applications and helped increase the number of CGeog applications during the year with 73 accredited.
Our series of online geovisualisations that showcase how geographers across all sectors use data visualisations to help make sense of situations and communicate research findings in a more accessible way, continued in 2021. The 25 geovisualisations live on the website at the end of the year included colour blind accessible mapping, access to COVID-19 testing and local food insecurity.
While our ability to host in-person networking and knowledge exchange events was limited, we delivered online events on the multiple co-benefits in blue-green cities, supported the CRESTING event on the circular economy, and a programme of events on Disaster Risk Management organised by our first Professional Practice Group. We also developed new resources and ran several events on spatial data ethics, as the Society supported the launch of the Locus Charter.
Image credit: Local food insecurity of adults Jan 2021 © Dr Megan Blake, Dr Adam Whitworth and Dr Angelo Moretti
Looking forward, in 2022 we are
- Publishing the final report from Migrants on the Margins, the Society’s field research programme.
- Producing teaching and learning resources for primary geography teachers to support the Endurance22 expedition to the Weddell Sea.
- Piloting a new competition for young people in association with Ordnance Survey with a focus on innovation and geospatial skills.
- Growing the Explore weekend into a week-long festival and publishing online resources as an extension to the Expeditions and Fieldwork Handbook.
- Supporting grant awardees from 2020, 2021 and 2022 to go into the field as travel restrictions lift.
- Introducing tailored support for early career geographers in the first stages of their professional careers.
- Delivering the 2022 Annual International Conference in Newcastle with in-person, online and hybrid ways of participating.
- Supporting the teaching and learning community in higher education to implement the requirements of the new Subject Benchmark Statement, including delivering on elements related to equality, diversity and inclusion, and sustainability.
Aim 2
Amplify the contribution that geography makes to understanding the world and how it makes a difference to everyone’s lives.
For the unique contribution that geography brings to the understanding of an ever-changing world to be fully realised, it is vital that the discipline, and its ability to connect the physical and social sciences and humanities, is widely appreciated across all sectors of society including the general public, civil society, policymakers and business.
To achieve this, the Society will:
1. Demonstrate the relevance and impact of geographical research, skills and knowledge to broad public, civil society, policy and business audiences.
2. Recognise excellence in advancing geographical knowledge and practice.
3. Develop the skills, infrastructure and partnerships needed to generate high quality geographical content that can be shared globally, including as mass media outputs.
4. Use an inclusive definition of geography and promote the distinctive capabilities that arise from its distinctive position, breadth and interdisciplinarity.
5. Use the Society’s reputation and convening power to develop and maintain effective networks of influence.
Our key achievements in 2021
With COVID-19 restrictions in place for much of the year, the Society’s engagement with public audiences took place mainly online. The Society’s partnership with the production team of the BBC Radio 4 series 39 ways to save the planet, which was presented by Fellow Tom Heap, resulted in contributions from departments across the organisation, including teaching resources, online and in-person talks, and a more in depth analysis of each of the featured suggestions on our website using expertise from our Fellowship.
With competition partners, Forestry England and Parker Harris, we successfully promoted the Earth Photo competition, securing an exclusive with BBC News Online which featured a gallery of the shortlisted and winning images for 2021. Over 2,000 photographs and films were submitted for the competition, which was judged by a panel chaired by award-winning photojournalist Marissa Roth.
An exhibition of the shortlisted images and films was on display in our Pavilion over the summer, but its duration was cut short due to coronavirus restrictions.
In mid 2021, we started working with the design agency Event, on a pro bono basis, to develop the narrative and design concept for an exhibition to mark the centenary of the first attempts to summit Everest. The exhibition, due to open in October 2022, will focus on some of the less well known stories from the 1922 and 1924 expeditions and bring the role of local intermediaries to the fore through the use of Captain John Noel’s films.
Image credit: Captain Noel kinematographing the ascent of Mt. Everest from the Chang La [one of his Sherpa porters can be seen steadying the tripod]
In autumn, our public events programme re-started in-person events, and while audiences were smaller than pre-pandemic, feedback from attendees was overwhelmingly positive, with people pleased to be able to return to the building. All our in-person events, including panel discussions on how we talk about migration, the value of slow travel and whether the Paris Agreement targets are being met, were also live streamed to increase their reach beyond those who were able to travel to South Kensington.
In December, we celebrated the medal and award recipients from both 2020 and 2021 in a COVID-secure ceremony in the Ondaatje Theatre that was also live streamed. The medals and awards were presented by the Society’s Patron The Princess Royal.
We continued to use social media to good effect throughout the year, including sharing research from the Annual Conference, supporting a ‘take over’ of Instagram by geography students, showcasing the work of professional geographers, geography students to act as advocates for the Society, and for geography, on social media.
Our research blog, Geography Directions, which showcases the importance of geography and geographical expertise to understanding the issues facing society and the environment, reached the milestone of 500 posts during the year.
The Society has a range of well-developed partnerships and networks of influence, and these were actively maintained during 2021, for example by responding to challenges such as research cultures, changes to funding sources and climate action by working with the British Academy, the Academy of Social Sciences, the Science Council, telling stories from our grants programme and profiling the recipients of our medals and awards. In addition, we launched a company page on LinkedIn to enable us to share our work with professional audiences more effectively, and started training the Association of Geographic Information, the Geological Society, the British Geological Survey, the Geographical Association, the International Geographical Union, the Royal Canadian Geographical Society and the Royal Scottish Geographical Society.
Image credit: The Princess Royal presenting the 2021 medals and awards © Ray Amoah
Looking forward, in 2022 we are
- Using the most recent research and Research Excellence Framework (REF) impact case studies to continue making the case for geography.
- Delivering a free public exhibition that uses Noel’s films to tell little known stories from the 1922 and 1924 Everest expeditions.
- Sustaining and building our networks and developing further mutually beneficial partnerships to extend our reach and impact.
- Developing our public events programme to attract more diverse audiences to the Society.
Aim 3
Engage, serve and develop the Society’s membership
For the Society to remain a vibrant and relevant membership organisation, learned society and professional body, it is essential to retain the enthusiasm and expertise of the Society’s current Fellows and members, while reaching and engaging new ones.
To achieve this, the Society will:
1. Ensure the vibrancy and relevance of geography and the Society’s work by actively seeking and enabling the participation of underrepresented groups.
2. Become more inclusive and diverse in terms of staff, members, trustees, audiences and outputs, and promote the Society as a welcoming institutional home for people with a wide range of experiences, interests and expertise.
3. Recognise and reward the importance of the contribution of Fellows and members to the Society’s work.
4. Respond to the changing expectations and needs of potential members, in particular young people, in order to provide membership experiences that are valued at all stages of life.
5. Further develop, and invest in, the activities and capabilities that are required to support a strong regional, national and international presence for the Society.
6. Increase, and better target, the use of digital media to communicate and engage with Fellows and members, while ensuring positive engagement for those without digital access is maintained.
Our key achievements in 2021
Throughout 2021, the Society was a partner in the Creative approaches to race and (in) security in the Caribbean and the UK (CARICUK) research collaboration between artists and educators which aimed to transform discussions about race in UK higher education institutions by redefining race as an (in)security. The project, led by Dr Patricia Noxolo (University of Birmingham), included a series of artistic provocations and public discussions, the development of online learning packs for schools, and the creation of a series of short films, all of which enabled the Society to actively engage in timely discussions of race in geography and to build on a programme of work extending back over the last 20 years.
In April, the Society launched an equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) action plan for the Research and Higher Education department to provide structures against which progress in EDI activities could be measured and communicated. One of the actions resulting from the plan was the production of a series of resources that share good practice and explore the impacts of supervision styles in order to help improve the recruitment, retention and success of Black PhD students.
In June it became possible for Ordinary Members, Young for Ordinary Members, Young Geographers and School Members to join online and immediately access their online benefits such as watching event recordings, reading Geographical magazine and using the teaching and learning resources. At the same time, buying gifts for these membership categories also went live on the website.
As COVID-19 restrictions were relaxed in September, Monday night lectures for Fellows and members returned to the Ondaatje Theatre after 18 months of being online only. While in-person audiences were below pre-pandemic levels, the return was welcomed by the membership. Many members who had lapsed while the building was closed, rejoined in order to attend the lectures in-person.
Lockdowns and the enforced closure of the building for two thirds of 2021 meant that we were able to refine our online events offer and were ready to provide livestreaming of Monday night lectures alongside their delivery in-person. This has allowed us to extend the reach of the lectures to Fellows and members living outside of London and the South East, and this provision will continue.
In September, a Special General Meeting (SGM) was held to vote on a series of changes to the Bye Laws proposed by Council. In addition to enabling the Society to hold Annual and Special General Meetings online and allowing Fellows to vote digitally, the changes to the Bye Laws included: removing out of date procedural instructions; removing age-related criteria from membership category eligibility to avoid discrimination; creating a new sub-category of Fellowship called Associate Fellow to recognise the importance of Fellows in the early stages of their careers and to be able to provide targeted support for them; renaming Young Geographer as Student Member to be clearer about who that membership category is for; and removing the requirement for applications for Fellowship to be seconded by an existing Fellow, to remove this barrier to application. The Fellowship voted by an overwhelming majority (97% of votes cast) to accept the changes, which were implemented from September onwards.
Image credit: Dreading the map installation in situ in the Map Room © Damion Griffiths
Retention rates for 2021 were 73% overall and 93% for Fellowship. The renewal rate for Fellows was up from 89% in 2020, showing recovery from the slight decrease in Fellowship renewals at the height of the pandemic. Membership renewals were slightly down on 2020 reflecting the fact that Monday night lectures did not resume in-person until the autumn. The rate of new members joining was lower than pre-pandemic, following trends in the wider membership organisation sector while programmes have been limited by COVID restrictions.
School Membership increased by 60 over the course of 2021, making a total of 615 School Members at the end of the year, reflecting sustained efforts to maintain relationships with schools throughout the series of lockdowns. During the year, School Members benefitted from a series exclusive lectures including one on How to save our planet, which included a live Q&A from COP26.
Much of the Society’s work is supported by the generous contributions of the time and expertise of our communities – reviewers for grants and journals; editors; assessors for programme and CGeog accreditation; speakers, panellists and convenors for the full range of our events, talks and webinars; committee members for Research Groups, the Postgraduate Forum and Regional Committees. Our work just could not be delivered without this generosity and diversity of contributions.
The Society’s regional committees responded with flexibility and timeliness to the shifting coronavirus restrictions throughout the year. Having moved to online-only events in 2020, many committees were keen to return to in-person events in the autumn of 2021. During the year, the committees organised over 100 events with 14 of these being in-person events. Over the course of the year, almost 10,000 people attended events organised by our regional committees. Among the many highlights were talks about running across Africa, using maps for family history and the geography of COVID-19.
The Society’s Research Groups were particularly active organising online events, workshops, networking and mentoring supporting and developing their communities. The Population Geography group celebrated their 50th anniversary. A number of Groups directed their attention to inclusive and safe events and disciplinary spaces.
Looking forward, in 2022 we are
- Implementing the membership category changes, including the introduction of Associate Fellowship, voted for at the SGM in September 2021.
- Developing and delivering a recruitment and retention campaign to capitalise on the introduction of the new membership category of Associate Fellow and the restarting of in-person events.
- Continuing the modernisation of the Society’s Bye Laws, with Trustees reviewing the size and make up of Council, before putting a proposal to a vote of the Fellowship at an SGM.
- Implementing the EDI action plan and, where applicable, extending it beyond activities in Research and Higher Education.
- Piloting a project that further develops our equality, diversity and inclusion work with schools.
- Continuing targeted interventions, such as internships for under-represented students, and investing in the evidence base to focus and evaluate programmes.
Regional committees
Thank you to all our Fellows and members who are involved in organising regional events. For more information on any of the events run by the regional committees or to get involved yourself get in touch with a regional coordinator:
Chair of the Regions: David Lovell regionschair@rgs.org
Cheshire and North Wales: Christina Lees-Jones cnw@rgs.org
East of England: Clare Brown ea@rgs.org
Midlands: Martin Haslett midlands@rgs.org
North Devon: Martin Kemp northdevon@rgs.org
Northern Ireland: Oliver Dunnett ni@rgs.org
North West: Jonathan Stevens nw@rgs.org
South: Henry Hogger south@rgs.org
South West: Derry Corey sw@rgs.org
West of England and South Wales: Geoff Parkes wesw@rgs.org
Yorkshire and North East: Dr Jonathan Bridge, Professor David McEvoy yne@rgs.org
Singapore: Oliver Worsley singapore@rgs.org
Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) Hong Kong: Rupert McCowan admin@rgshk.org.uk
Aim 4
Sustain the reputational, financial and institutional future of the Society.
To deliver the Society’s objectives and achieve its Vision requires diverse income streams, well-supported and well-trained staff, appropriate technology, and good governance structures.
To achieve this, the Society will:
1. Promote a working culture of collaboration, flexibility and mutual support, together with processes that enable the development of capable, empowered and motivated staff.
2. Maintain an agile Enterprise strategy that pursues financial stability in the context of farreaching economic uncertainties, while also actively pursuing new sources of income.
3. Sustain existing, and develop new, relationships with corporate and other sponsors and partners, valuing their financial support, while recognising the mutual benefits of collaborative activity towards shared goals.
4. Invest in the Society’s building in South Kensington to lower running costs, reduce environmental impact, grow income, and provide an inclusive, welcoming and inspiring place for all.
5. Encourage research and support informed debate on its unique Collections and history, to enable critical engagement with the development of the Society as an institution and geography as a discipline.
6. Ensure the balance of representation at all levels of governance reflects the breadth of the Society’s purpose and constituencies.
Our key achievements in 2021
Throughout 2021, the Society’s staff worked remotely in accordance with government coronavirus advice, however relaxations in the restrictions compared to 2020 enabled some members of staff to work in the building when necessary. This would not have been possible without the very significant contributions of the Society’s staff with responsibility for keeping the building functioning, and the IT infrastructure for hybrid working operations.
In May, we appointed an HR Officer. Working part time, the HR Officer took the lead on updating the staff handbook, refreshing recruitment practices and investigating potential online tools that could manage our HR procedures more efficiently. During the year, hybrid working policies and procedures were developed to enable an effective mix of remote and office-based working.
In recognition that the Society’s current customer relationship management (CRM) database is approaching its end of life, a cross-departmental working group was convened to identify key requirements and shortlist potential replacements. Given the complexity and range of the Society’s activities, and the need to integrate the CRM with the website, the project to replace the CRM is due to last for two to three years.
The platform that the website is built on was upgraded in December, improving performance and ensuring that the website’s underlying software remains supported by its developers, Kentico.
The House Project to conserve elements of the Society’s building in South Kensington progressed during the year with repair and care works to the South elevation being completed on time and budget, with other urgent repairs, including addressing several leaks, also being undertaken. In addition, new boilers were installed to refurbish the heating system, and a new cooling plant was designed. When the project is completed in 2022, these investments will reduce our consumption of energy and our climate impacts, as well as leaving us with reliable heating and cooling.
Our long-standing corporate benefactor, Jaguar Land Rover, renewed for a further three years securing funding to support our expeditions and fieldwork training activities.
Crowe U.K. LLP were appointed in late 2021 as the Society’s new auditors after a competitive tender process. New appointments after an open process were also made to the Finance and Investment Sub-Committees of Council, and to the Enterprise Board to ensure that the Society receives good financial and investment advice. Information on all the committees of Council was published for the first time on the Society’s website towards the end of the year. This represents a further step in the Governance Review, initiated in 2019, that is making our governance processes more transparent and fit for purpose.
As the building reopened for venue hire in the final few months of the year, a social media marketing plan to raise awareness of the range of spaces available to hire and to increase sales was developed. One key element of the sales pitch was the improved audiovisual equipment that was installed during lockdown and that now enables properly hybrid meetings and events to take place.
During 2021, research on the Society’s historic Collections continued with one PhD funded and supported through the AHRC Collaborative Doctoral Programme being completed (on Indigenous maps) and two new ones started (on place names and the role of the West India regiments). In addition to this, 10 Wiley Digital Archive (WDA) Fellowships were completed, extending the reach of the Collections to those who are not able to visit the Society. Several of these Fellows went on to talk about their research at Be Inspired events during the year, including Dr Kate Simpson who spoke about the lost voices in the archives. Her research was also turned into an online exhibition, hosted on the Society’s website. Access to the WDA also enabled the Collections team to continue supporting researchers remotely throughout the lockdowns.
Artefacts from the Collections were lent to exhibitions held at National Geographic Society in Washington DC, the Bowers Museum in Los Angeles, Magdalene College in Cambridge, Winchester College and the Alpine Club in London.
Looking forward, in 2022 we are
- Piloting a balanced approach to hybrid working with core office-based days for staff and the ability to request remote working up to two days a week.
- Implementing an HR tool to help manage and track HR processes.
- Maintaining our existing corporate benefactor relationships while seeking to agree a new one.
- Partnering on a series of Research Council funded projects researching our Collections, with support from departments across the Society.
- Progressing work to rehang artwork, photographs and portraits in the Society’s building. This will include adding photographs of contemporary medalists and captioning existing images and objects.
- Installing new chillers and an air source heat pump to better regulate the thermal comfort throughout the Society’s building, and reduce costs and environmental impact.
Structure, governance and management
The Royal Geographical Society was founded in 1830 to advance geographical science and was granted a Royal Charter in 1859. The affairs of the Society are regulated by our charter and Bye Laws, which are amended from time to time. The Society is a charity, with the registered number 208791.
Council is the Society’s governing body, and members of Council are the Society’s Trustees. Council has responsibility for ensuring the Society operates within its charitable objectives, providing strategic direction and monitoring performance against annual workplans, and ensuring the effective management of the Society’s assets. Council meets three times a year.
There are 21 Council members elected by and from the Society’s Fellowship and up to four further Council members may be co-opted, including a postgraduate representative, to bring further breadth, expertise and contacts. An induction into the work of the Society, as well as their statutory obligations as a charity trustee, is provided for all new Trustees. The training requirement for Trustees is kept under regular review.
Council positions are elected for a single term of three years at the Annual General Meeting. In line with recommendations of good practice from the Charity Commission, Council identifies the skills and expertise gaps that would be most helpful to fill in the elections to the Council each June. Fellows standing for election are encouraged to state how they meet those identified gaps. However, this approach does not preclude any Fellow standing for election to positions relevant to their background. Council is also cognisant of the value of diversity, while seeking to attract the most appropriately qualified people to guide the Society’s governance.
The following Council members were in office at the date of this report:
President: Nigel Clifford
Immediate Past President: Rt Hon Baroness Lynda Chalker of Wallasey
Vice Presidents: Dr Melanie Norman (Education) | Professor Alison Blunt (Research and Higher Education) | Robert Lucas (Expeditions and Fieldwork)
Honorary Treasurer: Carol Lawson
Chair of Annual Conference: Professor Rachel Pain
Honorary Secretaries: Grace Healy (Education) | Stephen Jones (Expeditions and Fieldwork) | Professor Peter Kraftl (Research and Higher Education)
Ordinary Members of Council: Philip Avery | Jordi Buckley | Joanna Coles | Professor Steve Darby | Dr Vandana Desai | Professor Klaus Dodds | Dr Vanessa Lawrence | David Lovell | Narinder Mann | Dr Niall McCann | Ashley Parry Jones | Hugh Thomson | Professor Helen Walkington
The following also served as Council members until 7 June 2021 when they completed their terms of office:
Robin Ashcroft | David Atkinson | Professor Michael Bradshaw | Professor Uma Kothari | Professor Nina Laurie | Dr Melanie Norman
Elected Council members also serve on the appropriate Committee of Council to provide liaison between the two levels of governance. The Council is advised by specialist committees for Education, Expeditions and Fieldwork, Finance, and Research and Higher Education. The Finance Committee meets four times a year and comprises a core membership of accounting, financial, legal and investment professionals. The other committees meet twice a year, to give advice on their areas of expertise to Council and Society staff.
In addition, advice was provided by the Regions Committee, a small number of specialist sub committees, including one for investments and, where appropriate, individual professional advisors. RGS Enterprises Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Society, is governed by its Enterprise Board.
The following were Honorary Vice Presidents of the Society in 2021 but are neither Council members nor Trustees of the Society:
HRH The Princess Royal KG KT GCVO | Professor Sir Gordon Conway KCMG DL HonFREng FRS | Professor Sir Ron Cooke DSc | Sir Christopher Ondaatje KT CBE | Sir Michael Palin CBE | The Earl of Selborne GBE KBE FRS DL (deceased February 2021) | Sir Crispin Tickell GCMG KCVO (deceased January 2022)
Key management personnel
The daily management of the Society is delegated by Council to the Director and Senior Managers. The Director reports to the Council and has responsibility for coordinating the Society’s activities and a staff that numbered 51 in December 2021.
Director and Secretary: Professor Joe Smith
Head of Education and Outdoor Learning: Steve Brace
Head of Finance and Services: Andrew Munro
Head of Public Engagement and Communications: Caitlin Watson
Head of Research, Higher Education and Professional: Dr Catherine Souch
Head of Resources and Enterprise: Alasdair Macleod
All staff members are based at the Society’s headquarters in Kensington, London, but were working remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic in line with government guidance.
The Society thanks everyone who has generously donated in support of our work.
Corporate Benefactors in 2021
Esri UK supported our Geography Ambassador scheme promoting the value of geography to further study and careers and bringing GIS expertise to the classroom.
Jaguar Land Rover supported our expedition and fieldwork training activities, ensuring best practice is shared.
Ordnance Survey supported our work to advance geospatial understanding among young people, policy makers and professional geographers.
Rolex supported our historic Collections, helping to increase public access and conserving our holdings for future use.
Trailfinders supported our work with the public, promoting the relevance and enjoyment of geography to foster a greater understanding of our world.
Corporate Business Member
Silversea engaged the Society to provide informative materials on their expedition cruise ships.
The Society’s Grants Programme is generously supported by
20th IGC Fund | 30th IGC Fund | Albert Reckitt Award | Dudley Stamp Memorial Award Fund | Frederick Soddy Award Fund | Geographical Club | Henrietta Hutton Memorial Fund | Hong Kong branch | Jasmin Leila Award | John Pilkington | Monica Cole Bequest | Neville Shulman, CBE | Peter Smith Award | Paul and Mary Slawson | Ralph Brown Memorial Fund | Ray Y Gildea Jr Award | Rob Potter Award | The Late Sultan of Oman | Thesiger Oman Award | Walters Kundert Charitable Trust
Other donors and funders during 2021
Advanced Mathematics Support Programme/Department for Education | Anonymous donors | Arts and Humanities Research Council | Department for Business, Energy and Industrial | Strategy Department for Education | Estate of David Pickard | Estate of Gabriel Hutton | Estate of Peter Miller Clarke | Family and friends of Roger Heape | Family and friends of Marna Valerie Boyes | Flotilla Foundation | Hakluyt Society | Peter and Trudy Rabley | SUN Institute Environment & Sustainability | Thames Valley Police
Recognising excellence: medals and awards 2021
The Society’s medals and awards have recognised excellence in the breadth of geographical research, practice and public promotion since the foundation of the Society in 1830.
The two Royal Medals (The Founder’s and Patron’s Medals) are among the highest international accolades. They are awarded for ‘the encouragement and promotion of geographical science and discovery’.
In 2021 Her Majesty the Queen approved the award of the Royal Medals as follows:
Founder’s Medal
Andy Eavis - For his significant contribution in leading speleological expeditions, exploring and recording some of the largest caves in the world for over 50 years.
Patron’s Medal
Dr Rita Gardner CBE - For the widespread advancement of geography across all its sub-disciplines through her Directorship of the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG)
The Society also celebrated the following awards:
Victoria Medal
Professor Chris Philo - For his promotion and contribution to research in health, social and cultural geographies
Busk Medal
Dr Emma Mawdsley - For exceptional engagements with fieldwork, research and knowledge production about the global South
Cherry Kearton Medal and Award
David Coulson - For providing outstanding resources through his photographic work to enable a better understanding of African Rock Art
Murchison Award
Dr Patricia Noxolo - For publications judged to contribute most to geographical science in preceding recent years, particularly through reconceptualising spatial ethics through place-based practices and her effective advocating of postcolonial and decolonial thought in geography and beyond
Back Award
Professor Terry Marsden - For outstanding contribution to the development of national and international rural planning and development public policy
Cuthbert Peek Award
Professor Philip Ashworth - For pioneering wide-reaching research methods through the modelling of river dynamics
Gill Memorial Award (two awards)
Dr Sarah Marie Hall - For outstanding early career research in human geography
Dr Louise Slater - For outstanding early career research in physical geography
Ordnance Survey Awards (two awards)
Hafsa Bobat Garcia | Kate Stockings - For excellence in geography education at secondary level
Taylor and Francis Award
Catherine White - For sustained contributions to teaching and learning in higher education, supporting geographers through their transition across different stages of education
Ness Award
Isabella Tree - For the popularisation of geography through her writing on biodiversity and the relation between humans and the environment
Alfred Steers Dissertation Prize
Alice Collins - For the undergraduate geography dissertation judged to be the best in 2020: ‘I’ve never seen it look like that’: The dronescape, tentative enchantments, and a passion to fly
Area Prize
Dr Ingrid Medby - For the best article in the journal by a new researcher: Political geography and language: A reappraisal for a diverse discipline
Ron Cooke Award
Hollie Daw - For her A Level Independent Investigation: An examination of the factors affecting infiltration rate at Ashford Hill National Nature Reserve
Geographical Award
Dr Suresh Paul/Equal Adventure - For contributions to inclusive and ethical practices in expeditions and fieldwork
Honorary Fellowship
Paul Brown | Professor Allan Findlay | Professor John Lewin | Dr John Hemming | Mark Humphreys - In recognition of outstanding support for the Society and geography
The Society further recognised excellence through the Young Geographer of the Year Awards, the Rex Walford Award to recognise newly qualified teachers.
Contact details
Royal Geographical Society (with IBG), 1 Kensington Gore, London SW7 2AR
T +44 (0)20 7591 3000 | E enquiries@rgs.org
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Registered Charity 208791