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Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers)

Established	1830
Abbreviation	RGS-IBG
Patron	Queen Elizabeth II
President	Sir Gordon Conway
Location	Kensington, London, United Kingdom
Members	13,300
Income	£3.3 million
Homepage	RGS IBG homepage

The Royal Geographical Society is a British learned society founded in 1830 with the name Geographical Society of London for the advancement of geographical science, under the patronage of King William IV. It absorbed the 'Association for Promoting the Discovery of the Interior Parts of Africa' (founded by Sir Joseph Banks in 1788), the Raleigh Club and the Palestine Association. It was given a Royal charter by Queen Victoria in 1859.

Contents 1 History 2 Governance and Past Presidents 2.1 Council 2.2 Committees 2.3 Selected List of Past Presidents 3 Membership 3.1 Ordinary Membership 3.2 Young Geographer 3.3 Fellowship 3.4 Postgraduate Fellow of the Society 4 Chartered Geographer 5 Research Group 6 Awards and Grants 7 See also 8 Further reading 9 External links

Founder members of the Society include Sir John Barrow, Sir John Franklin and Francis Beaufort. It has been a key associate and supporter of many famous explorers and expeditions, including those of:

• Charles Darwin
• James Kingston Tuckey
• David Livingstone
• Scott of the Antarctic
• Richard Francis Burton
• John Hanning Speke
• George W. Hayward
• Henry Morton Stanley
• Ernest Shackleton
• Sir Edmund Hillary

From the middle of the 19th Century until the end of World War I, expeditions sponsored by the Royal Geographical Society were frequently front page news, and the opinions of its president and board members would be avidly sought by journalists and editors.

Today the Society is a leading world centre for geographical learning - supporting education, teaching, research and scientific expeditions, as well as promoting public understanding and enjoyment of geography. It is a member of the Science Council. The society has merged with the Institute of British Geographers and is properly known as the Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers). The main offices of the Society are at Lowther Lodge in Kensington, in London.

The Society is governed by its Board of trustees called the Council, which is chaired by its President. The members of Council and the President are elected from its Fellowship. The council consists of 25 members, 22 of which are elected by Fellows and serve for a three year term. In addition to the elected trustees there are Honorary Members (who include the Duke of Kent as Honorary President) who sit on the council.

The society has five specialist committees that it derives advice from

• Education Committee
• Research Committee
• Expedition and Fieldwork Committee
• Information Resources Committee
• Finance Committee

• Viscount Goderich The Earl of Ripon (1830-1833)
• Sir Roderick Murchison (1851-1853)
• Sir Henry Creswicke Rawlinson (1871-1873 and 1874-1876)
• Sir Clements Robert Markham (1893-1905)
• Sir George Taubman Goldie (1905-1908)
• Major Leonard Darwin (1905-1911)
• Colonel Sir Thomas Hungerford Holdich (1919-1922)
• Sir James Wordie
• Lord Shackleton (1971-1974)
• Sir Crispin Tickell (1989-1993)
• Earl Jellicoe (1993-1997)
• Earl of Selborne (1997-2000)

There are four categories of individual membership:

Anyone with an interest in Geography is eligible to apply to become a member of the RGS.

People aged between 14 and 24 currently studying, a recent graduate of geography or a related subject.

Fellowship of the Society is conferred to anyone over the age of 21 who has been an Ordinary member of the society for five previous years and/or has an involvement with geography (through research, publication, profession etc) and must be proposed and seconded by existing Fellows. Fellows are granted the use of the post-nominal FRGS.

Is open to anyone who is a postgraduate student in Geography or an allied subject at a United Kingdom university.

Since 2002 the Society has been granted the power to award the status of Chartered Geographer. The status of Chartered Geographer can only be obtained by those who have a degree in geography or related subject and at least 6 years geographical experience, or 15 years geographical work experience for those without a degree. Being awarded the status of Chartered Geographer allows the use of the post-nominal letters C Geog and is evidence of a commitment to continuing professional development and the highest professional standards. For further details on how to apply please visit[1]

Chartered Geographer (Teacher) is a professional accreditation available to teachers who can demonstrate competence, experience and professionalism in the use of geographical knowledge or skills in and out of the classroom, and who are committed to maintaining their professional standards through ongoing continuing professional development (CPD). For more information visit [2]

The society is not only a learned body but also carries out research in the following research groups.

Research Groups
Biogeography Research Group	British Geomorphic Research Group
Climate Change Research Group	Contract Research and Teaching Forum
Developing Areas Research Group	Economic geography Research Group
Geographical Information Science Research Group	Geography of Health Research Group
Geography of Lesiure and Tourism Research Group	Higher Education Research Group
Historical Geography Research Group	History and Philosophy of Geography Research Group
Mountain Research Group	Participatory Geographies Working Group
Planning and Environment Research Group	Political Geography Research Group
Population geography Research Group	Postgraduate Forum
The Post-Socialist Geographies Research Group	Quantitative Methods Research Group
Rural Geography Research Group	Social and Cultural Geography Research Group
Transport Geography Research Group	Urban geography Research Group
Women and Geography Research Group

The society also presents many awards to geographers that have contributed to the advancement of geography.

The most prestigious of these awards are the Gold Medals (Founder's Medal 1830 and the Patron's Medal 1838). The award is given for "the encouragement and promotion of geographical science and discovery", and are approved by Queen Elizabeth II. The awards originated as an annual gift of fifty guineas from King William IV, first made in 1831, "to constitute a premium for the encouragement and promotion of geographical science and discovery". The Society decided in 1839 to change this monetary award into two gold medals: Founder’s Medal and the Patron’s. The award has been given to notable geographers including David Livingstone (1855), Baron Ferdinand von Richthofen (1878), Alfred Russel Wallace (1892), and Frederick Courtney Selous (1893) to more recent winners including Professor William Morris Davis (1919), Sir Halford John Mackinder (1945), Professor Richard Chorley (1987) and Professor David Harvey (1995). In 2004 Harish Kapadia was awarded the Patron's Medal for contributions to geographical discovery and mountaineering in the Himalayas, making him the second Indian to receive the award in its history. In 2005 the Founder's Medal was awarded to Professor Sir Nicholas Shakleton for his research in the field of Quaternary Paleoclimatology and the Patron's Medal was awarded to Professor Jean Malaurie for a lifelong study of the Arctic and its people.

In total the society awards 17 medals and awards including Honorary Membership and Fellowships. Some of the other awards given by the Society include:

• The Victoria Medal (1902) for "conspicuous merit in research in Geography"
• The Murchsion Award (1882) for the "publication judged to contribute most to geographical science in preceding recent years"
• The Cuthbert Peak Award (1883) for "those advancing geographical knowledge of human impact on the environment through the application of contemporary methods, including those of earth observation and mapping"
• The Edward Heath Award (1984) for "for geographical research in either Europe or the developing world"

The society also offers 16 grants for various purposes ranging from established researcher grants to expedition and fieldwork teams to photography and media grants. The Ralph Brown and the Gilchrist Fieldwork grants are the largest grants awarded by the society each worth £15,000.

• Richard Henry Brunton
• Geographical Magazine
• Royal Scottish Geographical Society
• Royal Institution
• List of Royal Societies
• Learned societies
• List of British professional bodies
• History of science
• Harish Kapadia

v • d • e Presidents of the Royal Geographical Society

19th Century: Viscount Goderich · George Murray · Sir John Barrow, 1st Baronet · William Richard Hamilton · George Bellas Greenough · Roderick Murchison · Lord Colchester · W. J. Hamilton · William Henry Smyth · Roderick Murchison · Earl of Ellesmere · Frederick William Beechey · Roderick Murchison · Baron Ashburton · Roderick Murchison · Sir Henry Rawlinson, 1st Baronet · Henry Bartle Frere · Sir Henry Rawlinson, 1st Baronet · Rutherford Alcock · Thomas Baring, 1st Earl of Northbrook · Henry Bruce, 1st Baron Aberdare · Marquis of Lorne · Richard Strachey · Mountstuart Elphinstone Grant Duff · Sir Clements Robert Markham · 20th Century: George Taubman Goldie · Leonard Darwin · George Curzon, 1st Marquess Curzon of Kedleston · Douglas Freshfield · Leonard Darwin · Thomas Holdich · Francis Younghusband · Earl of Ronaldshay · David George Hogarth · Charles Close · William Goodenough · Percy Zachariah Cox · Henry Balfour · Philip Chetwode, 1st Baron Chetwode · George Clark · Francis Rodd, 2nd Baron Rennell · Harry Lindsay · James Wordie · James Marshall-Cornwall · Lord Nathan · Raymond Priestley · Dudley Stamp · Gilbert Laithwaite · Edmund Irving · Edward Shackleton, Baron Shackleton · Duncan Cumming · Lord Hunt · Michael Wise · Vivian Fuchs · George Bishop · Roger Chorley, 2nd Baron Chorley · Crispin Tickell · George Jellicoe, 2nd Earl Jellicoe · John Palmer, 4th Earl of Selborne · 21st Century: Ronald Urwick Cooke · Neil Cossons · Gordon Conway ·

• Royal Geographical Society Expedition Handbook. Profile Books Ltd, 2004. ISBN 1-86197-044-7
• To the Ends of the Earth: Visions of a Changing World. 175 Years of the Royal Geographical Society. Bloomsbury, 2005. ISBN 0-7475-8138-X

• Royal Geographical Society
• Royal Geographical Society Picture Library
• The official Royal Geographical Society print website containing a huge selection of RGS images