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2023 Awards

This year our medals and awards recognise 23 different people or organisations for their outstanding contributions to geographical research, fieldwork and teaching, and public engagement.

 

Royal Medals

His Majesty the King has approved the award of the Royal Medals as follows:

 

Royal Medal - Founder’s Medal

  • Andrew Mitchell For his lifetime’s contribution to protect tropical rainforests and combat climate change

Royal Medal - Patron’s Medal

  • Professor Felix Driver For his contributions to historical geography and to the Society

 

 

Council awards

The Society’s Council has made the following awards:
 

Victoria Medal

  • Professor Anson Mackay For their transformative impact on the discipline of geography 

Busk Medal

  • Professor Jos Barlow For his outstanding contribution to understanding and conserving the Amazonian tropical rainforests

Cherry Kearton Medal and Award

  • Harriet Fraser and Rob Fraser For their discipline-crossing work, aiming to shed light on the seldom-seen and seldom-heard in the context of rural landscapes 

Murchison Award

  • Professor Noel Castree For substantial and highly influential published work about the relationships between contemporary societies and the physical environment

Back Award

  • Jane Rumble OBE For outstanding commitment to shaping public policy in polar settings

Cuthbert Peek Award

  • Dr Lisa Wedding For contributions to advancing contemporary methods in remote sensing of the environment, with novel applications for marine management 

Gill Memorial Award (two awards)

  • Dr Sarah Bell For exceptional early career research with a remarkable track record of achievement

  • Dr Jovan Scott Lewis For exceptional early career research with a remarkable track record of achievement

Ordnance Survey Awards (two awards)

  • Ellie Barker For excellence in geography education at secondary level

  • Simon Holland For excellence in geography education at secondary level

Taylor and Francis Award

  • Dr Matt Finn For excellence in the practice and promotion of teaching in higher education

Ness Award

  • Alastair Humphreys For his long-standing contributions to promoting a greater understanding of our world and wider public engagement with the outdoors

Alfred Steers Dissertation Prize

  • Roisin Gilloch Boyle For the undergraduate geography dissertation judged to be the best in 2022

Area Prize

  • Rosie Hampton For the best article in the journal by a new researcher: ‘Towards an agenda for oral history and geography: (Re)locating emotion in family narratives of domestic abuse in 1970s East Kilbride’

Ron Cooke Award 

  • Elysia Sanders For her A Level project titled ‘How have glacial and physical post-glacial processes caused variation in the landscape of the Troutbeck Valley’

Geographical Award

  • Endurance22 Expedition For significant impact in inspiring and raising the understanding of geographical expedition and discovery

Honorary Fellowship 

  • Professor Simon Catling In recognition of outstanding support for geography

  • Derry Corey In recognition of outstanding support for the Society

  • Ted Grey In recognition of outstanding support for geography

  • Alasdair Macleod In recognition of outstanding support for the Society and geography