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Here you can find out about current GEReCo members. Associate members are listed here, and Honorary members here.

Simon Catling

Simon is emeritus professor of primary education in the School of Education, Oxford Brookes University, from which he retired fully in 2014. He was Associate dean of Education and tutor in primary geography education for undergraduate and post-graduate ITE courses, and worked with Masters and Doctoral students. A Past-President of the Geographical Association (1992-3) he has been involved in primary education having held posts a class teacher and deputy headteacher in three primary schools in inner London. He has published widely about primary geography in professional and research journals, as well as books for primary children and for teachers and teacher educators, since the later 1970s, and given many papers at national and international conferences since the early 1990s. His interests include primary geography textbooks and general books on geography for young children, curriculum development and change, children’s geographies and current geographical issues for primary children.

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Matt Finn

Matt is a Senior Lecturer in Human Geography in the Geography department at the University of Exeter. He explores changes in the contemporary conditions of education and works to understand how childhood and young people’s lives vary globally. He brings this to his scholarship of geographical learning and education which is informed by a participatory action research ethos. A fellow of the Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers) and the Higher Education Academy, he is the Education Officer for the RGS-IBG Geographies of Children, Youth & Families Research Group and a member of the RGS-IBG Geography and Education Research Group committee. He is a member of the editorial collective of the Geographical Association journal Geography.

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Lauren Hammond

Lauren Hammond is Lecturer in Teacher Education at Moray House School of Education and Sport, University of Edinburgh. Prior to this, Lauren worked a secondary school geography teacher, primarily in London and Singapore, before working as Lecturer in Geography Education at IOE, UCL’s Faculty of Education and Society for eight years. At IOE, Lauren worked in teacher education, convened an undergraduate module for students in UCL’s geography department ‘geography education’, and supervised students at master’s and doctoral levels.  She was also co-chair of IOEs Early Career Network. Lauren is committed to researching with, and for, young people, and her research straddles the fields of children’s geographies, children’s rights, geography, and education. Lauren is Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (SFHEA) and Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society (FRGS), and she serves as Deputy Secretary for the Royal Geographical Society’s Geography and Education Research Group and Membership Office of their Children, Youth and Families Research Group. Lauren is secretary of the Geography Education Research Collective (GEReCo), Associate Fellow of the Centre for Teachers and Teaching Research (CTTR) and Honorary Lecturer in the department of Curriculum, Pedagogy and Assessment at IOE.

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Grace Healy

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Rebecca Kitchen

Becky is the CPD, Curriculum and Marketing manager at the Geographical Association, a Senior Leadership Team role with responsibility for professional development innovation and activity.  She has extensive experience working with external partners including Learn Sheffield, Shropshire Local Authority, United Learning MAT and the Croatian government, to support and develop teacher networks both in the UK and internationally.  She is a Chartered Geographer and lead assessor for the GA Professional Award which requires teachers to engage in deep and critical reflection about the professional development that they undertake and the impact that this has on their teaching in geography.  Her research interests focus on student perceptions and representations of geographical knowledge and geography teacher professional development.

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David Lambert

David is Emeritus Professor of Geography Education at UCL Institute of Education, London. He graduated from the University of Newcastle, completing a PGCE at the University of Cambridge and a PhD at the University of London. He was a secondary school teacher for twelve years, becoming deputy principal of a comprehensive school. He wrote award winning school textbooks and became a teacher-educator from 1986, since when he has published widely on the curriculum, pedagogy and assessment of geography in education. He was Chief Executive of the Geographical Association from 2002-2012, being appointed Professor of Geography Education in 2007, before retiring in 2018.

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David Mitchell

David currently co-leads a Geography initial teacher education programme at UCL Institute of Education. He taught and led geography in a range of state schools in England before moving into teacher education and research. He has close ties to the Geographical Association, having worked with teachers in a number of curriculum development projects. David’s research interests are in the teacher’s role and agency in the geography curriculum, in particular in relation to education for sustainability. David is PI of the EU funded ‘GeoCapabilties 3’ project, completing in September 2021 and he is active in an international community of Geography Educators. He has published papers in a number of peer reviewed journals and is the author of ‘Hyper-Socialised’ a book exploring the potential of teachers as autonomous ‘curriculum makers’ in late capitalism.

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Steve Puttick

Steve is Associate Professor of Teacher Education at the University of Oxford, and Fellow of St Anne’s College. He is a curriculum tutor for the Geography PGCE and MSc Learning and Teaching. He is a qualified geography teacher and was previously the head of department at a comprehensive secondary school in Oxfordshire. Steve serves on the editorial collective of the journal Geography, and is Chair of GEReCo. His research focuses on the intersection between the academic discipline and school subject of geography. This work includes attention to the journeys through which information travels into classrooms, beginning teachers’ experiences of school subject departments, and the role of written lesson observation feedback in constructing ‘good teaching’. Collaborations with colleagues in the School of Geography and the Environment are seeking to contribute to anti-racist curriculum futures, including in the school subject, and in postgraduate teaching through the Oxford-UNISA course ‘Decolonising Research Methods’.

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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.