10/09/2026
Several members of our department attended the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) conference last week, contributing to a range of thought-provoking sessions
Post doc researchers Kapil Yadav, Cathy Smith and Will Hayes convened and presented a panel “Reflecting on the Rural Transformations and Fire”, Will Hayes shares:
‘From the savannas of northern Ghana and the Himalayan landscape of Uttarakhand, to the hills and mountains of Serranía de Cuenca, West Cork and Kerry, and the Scottish Highlands and Islands, it was an absolute pleasure to contribute to and learn from the Rural Transformations and Fire panel at RGS-IBG 2026.
Across the talks, the common theme was that the questions went well beyond fire itself to the future of rural livelihoods, changing labour and demographics, shifting land use, the loss and adaptation of local knowledge, and the potential role of nature-based solutions.
Taken together, the session felt less like a discussion of fire in isolation and more like one about how rural places are being reshaped, and by who.’
Also featured in the photos is the session “Heat Stress in and Beyond Humans: Critical Planetary Health Perspectives,” led by Laurie Parsons, Camellia Biswas, Jennifer Cole and Pratik Mishra (University of Sussex).
These questions of changing environments and the challenges they create were also reflected in the work of PhD researcher Min Yee Tan, who convened the session “Who Cares… What Does It Mean to Care in Critical Geopolitics?”, bringing questions of care, politics and responsibility into critical geopolitical debates.
A fantastic week for
