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Our Annual Conference is the highlight of the year for us here at the GA – it’s a fantastic opportunity to bring our community together to meet, network, and take in some wonderful talks and workshops as well as to browse the diverse range of exhibitor stands. This year’s Conference took place over three days at the University of Manchester and certainly did not disappoint in its capacity to stimulate interesting conversations, provoke thought, and, most importantly, celebrate geography – the theme of this year’s conference.
Highlights
There were many interesting and entertaining presentations given during this year’s conference but if we are forced to pick out two or three highlights then we would start with Kate Raworth’s opening night lecture called, ‘Can we live within the Doughnut?’, a discussion of alternative proposals for a new type of economics, based on ideas laid out in her ground-breaking book Doughnut Economics. Kate’s talk was absorbing and impactful, offering a truly different perspective on familiar ideas.
Kate Raworth, author of Doughnut Economics.
The second highlight to mention would be former Secretary of State for Education, Justine Greening’s keynote lecture entitled, ‘Social mobility: Is human capital the most under-utilised natural resource?’ (watch a video of lecture here). Justine discussed the challenges facing society regarding the lack of social mobility across the country, the strong geographical aspect to these challenges, and how her initiative, the Social Mobility Pledge is aiming to change things for the better.
Justine Greening, former Secretary of State for Education.
And thirdly, the forum discussion entitled, ‘The new age of the nation state’ chaired by Dr Alex Standish, Senior Lecturer in Geography Education at University College London, and featuring esteemed panellists Dr Daniel Hammett, Senior Lecturer at the University of Sheffield and Tim Marshall, author of Divided – Why We’re Living in an Age of Walls and Prisoners of Geography, produced a lively and interesting discussion which touched on issues such as populism, globalisation, neoliberalism and the role of the nation state – all in front of a packed audience.
The packed room listening to ‘The new age of the nation state‘ forum discussion
Photos
Our photographer Shaun Flannery did a great job of capturing the week’s eye-catching moments, here is a link to all of the photos from this year’s Conference.
Session downloads
We know that many of you are eagerly awaiting the downloads from each of the sessions. Downloads will be uploaded one by one as and when we receive them. You can find all the session downloads via the link below.
GA Conference 2020
Already excited about next year’s conference? Find out all the latest information about the GA Conference 2020 in Guildford, including how to propose a session, on the page below.
Thanks
The GA would like to offer our heartfelt thanks to everyone who attended Conference this year, whether you came as a delegate, a speaker, or an exhibitor we were delighted to see you and hope to see you again next year! We would also like to thank the University of Manchester for providing a fantastic venue and for the support they gave us during the week.
