Here you can read more about our associate collective members.

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Clare Brooks

Clare Brooks is Professor of Education and Pro-Director, Education at UCL Institute of Education in London. Her background is in geography education: as a former geography teacher in East London, then as a geography educator developing both initial and continuing teacher education programmes at UCL Institute of Education. Her research has been in the area of geography teacher subject identity and subject expertise and more recently on high quality teacher education at scale. Until recently she was Co-Chair of the International Geographical Union Commission for Geography Education, and editor of their book series, and Chair for the UK-based Geography Education Research Collective.

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Emma Till

Emma is Senior Lecturer in Education at the University of Winchester, UK. Before joining the university, she worked as a classroom teacher and senior leader in a range of primary schools across South-East England and spent time teaching in South-East Asia. Emma’s research interests are primary teacher identity, geography education and phenomenology. She was awarded her PhD in March 2018 for her thesis entitled ‘Being a geographer: Towards an understanding of Primary Teachers’ Constructs of Subject Specific Identity.’ Emma has worked as a member of the Geography Education Research Collective (GEReCO) and the UK Sub-Committee of the International Geographical Union- Commission for Geography Education (IGU-CGE),to promote geography education both across the UK and internationally. She reviews papers for IRGEE and helped organise the 2015 and 2019 IGU Symposiums in London. She has previously attended and presented her work at IGU conferences in London, Freiburg, Cologne, Singapore, China, Lisbon and Quebec City.

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Graham Butt

Grahamis Emeritus Professor in Education, and previously Director of Research, at the School of Education, Oxford Brookes University. He is a founding member of the Geography Education Research Collective (GEReCo). Graham’s research is predominantly in the field of geography education, although he has also published on assessment, teacher workload, and modernisation of the teaching workforce. His books include Modernising Schools (2007, with Helen Gunter), Lesson Planning (3^rd edition) (2008), Making Assessment Matter (2010) and, as editor, Geography, Education and the Future (2011), MasterClass in Geography Education (2015) and The Power of Geographical Thinking (2017) (with Clare Brooks and Mary Fargher). His latest monograph, published in 2020, is: Geography Education Research in the UK: retrospect and prospect. The UK Case, Within the Global Context.

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Margaret Roberts

Before working as a geography PGCE tutor at the University of Sheffield from 1982-2006, I taught in comprehensive schools in London, Leicestershire and Sheffield and was a member of the Nuffield Foundation Resources for Learning Project. My research interests and publications have focused on the geography curriculum, classroom practice and learning through enquiry. I have been interested in how academic and school geography are influenced by the nature of the questions asked, by the data used to investigate them and in how geographical understanding can be developed through the critical and reflective study of data as evidence. I have explored ways in which students can, with teacher guidance, take an active part in investigating geographical questions and issues, through challenging activities and the use of classroom talk including small group work. I have also examined the extent to which policy documents have influenced classroom practice or could promote enquiry-based learning.  Since my retirement in 2006 I have run courses for geography teachers on ‘Inquiry’ in Singapore, in Hong Kong and in the Netherlands and have been involved in courses in the UK for Eduqas, the Princes Trust, Teach First and a MAT. I have presented my work at conferences in the UK and at International Conferences in Africa, Asia, Australia and many countries in Europe. I have chapters published in German and Italian in handbooks for geography teachers. 

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Eleanor Rawling

Eleanor Rawling, MBE, is a former GA President and currently an Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Oxford Department of Education. Her recent work focuses on curriculum policy and curriculum change, particularly in relation to geography, and includes acting as lead researcher and writer for the Geographical Association’s initiative A Curriculum Framework for School Geography 2020-22.

She was awarded the Royal Geographical Society’s Back Medal in 2005 for contributions to geographical education and education policy, particularly because of her Leverhulme funded research study (Changing the Subject; the impact of national policy on school geography 1980-2000, Geographical Association, 2001). Since 2012, Eleanor has undertaken consultancy work for the Department for Education (England), working on National Curriculum, GCSE and A level geography, and also for the Welsh Assembly on the Donaldson Review of the Curriculum. Eleanor has also extended her research and writing into the study of place and landscape, authoring a publication about poetry and place (2011) and several recent articles and chapters about place in school geography.

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Mary Fargher

Mary is a Lecturer in Geography Education and MA Education (Geography) Programme Route Leader at the Institute of Education, University College London. Before joining the university, she worked as a geography teacher and middle leader in a range of secondary schools and sixth form colleges. Mary’s main research interest is the role of GIS (Geographical Information Systems) and other geospatial technologies in constructing knowledge in geography education. She is currently working with web-based GIS applications to design geography curriculum artefacts.

Mary is an Associate Member of the Geography Education Research Collective (GEReCO)/UK IGU-CGE where her contributions have focused in leading the organisation of  the ‘London Conferences’  in 2015 with Clare Brooks on ‘The Power of Geographical Thinking’ and in 2019 on ‘Recontextualising Geography in Education’. Mary reviews papers for IRGEE. Most recently she has presented papers at the International Cartographic Conference in Tokyo in 2019, the International Society of Digital Earth Conference in Florence in 2019 and at IGU CGE in Quebec in 2018.

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Susan Pike

Susan is Assistant Professor in Geography Education at Trinity College Dublin. Susan teaches Geography Education on the Bachelor of Education and Professional Masters in Education Programmes, as well as Outdoor Education on the Bachelor of Early Childhood Education. She also contributes to Masters programmes in Poverty and Exclusion, Geography Education and Climate Change. Her research focuses on a range of issues relating to learning, agency, community and curriculum for both teachers, student teachers, children and young people. She has a particular interest in children and young people’s geographies and geographical learning. Susan is currently President of the Geographical Association, and recently hosted the 2021 Compassionate Geographies Annual Conference.

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Emma Rawlings Smith

Emma is Departmental Lecturer in Geography Education at the Department of Education, University of Oxford and teaches across Masters programmes and on the PGCE Geography course. She was previously Lecturer in Education and Postgraduate Research (PGR) Lead at the School of Educational Sciences, Bangor University, where she focused on research in teacher education. Prior to this she lectured at the University of Leicester in the role of PGCE Geography Lead and SCITT Academic Lead. Emma is a trustee (Education Hon Sec.), Fellow and Chartered Geographer (& Assessor thereof) of the Royal Geographical Society (RGS with IBG). She is also a Consultant to the Geographical Association and member of the GA Teacher Education Phase Committee. Emma joined the Teaching Geography Editorial Board in 2019 and is Guest Editor for Summer 2023. Her research focuses on mentoring, reflective practice, teacher education, the representation of people, curriculum change and place pedagogies, and she is an advocate of practitioner enquiry, action research and lesson study.

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Nicola Walshe

Nicola is Pro-Director of IOE, UCL’s Faculty of Education and Society, and Executive Director of the UCL Centre for Climate Change and Sustainability Education (CCCSE), the overarching aim of which is to undertake high quality research which supports teachers to equip young people with the knowledge, skills and agency they need to navigate and thrive in a climate-altered future. Within CCCSE, Nicola leads a research group with internationally significant and sustained expertise in climate change and sustainability education. Her own research is predominantly in the field of high-quality teacher education practices in climate change and environmental sustainability education; her recent AHRC-funded projects, Eco-Capabilities and Branching Out, explore the process by which arts-in-nature practice supports children’s connection with the environment, their engagement with issues of environmental sustainability, and their wellbeing. Nicola is co-convenor of the Environmental and Sustainability Education Research network of European Educational Research Association and a UCL Climate Hub Community Expert.

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Lizzie Rushton

Elizabeth Rushton is Professor in Education and Head of the Education Division, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Stirling, where she is Co-Programme Director of the MSc in Professional Education and Leadership. Her research expertise is interdisciplinary, drawing on the disciplines of education and geography. This includes the education and professional development of teachers, student participation in research and decision making and, human and environment interactions over time. These areas of expertise intersect with a range of fields including geography and science education, climate change and environmental education, and decolonisation and anti-racism in education. Her research seeks to enable and develop meaningful and reciprocal partnerships between scholarship and practice in education and geography. Previously, she was Head of Department of Curriculum, Pedagogy and Assessment, Institute of Education, University College London where she also held roles as Research Director of UCL’s Centre for Climate Change and Sustainability Education and Programme Director of the MA Education. Her doctoral research focused on the Environmental History of Belize, Central America, funded by the AHRC and was completed in 2014

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Gemma Collins

Gemma has worked as a teacher educator since 2010 and is currently Associate Professor of Geography Education, specifically teaching on the PGDipEd (QTS) Geography course in the School of Education. She also supervises on the MA Teaching Studies course. Before joining the University, Gemma held a number of teaching and leadership posts in Birmingham schools. She is an active member of the Geographical Association, Fellow of the RGS-IBG, and has also worked with the Prince’s Teaching Institute on their Schools Programme for Geography, in conjunction with the University of Cambridge.