Queen Mary University of London CPD

A free CPD event for teachers who can get a Wednesday afternoon free... and get to East London... which will help with the Changing Places topic of the new 'A' level...
Organised by Queen Mary University of London.
You need to go here to book a place...

Update on previous London National Park* post...

You can now follow the new set of Queen Mary University of London colleagues who are temporary 'Park rangers', and who are going to be exploring all of the boroughs of the city as part of the Reimagine London project.
Follow the Twitter feed for more details over the next few weeks...

Queen Mary University and Greater London National Park

Earlier in the year, the Greater London National Park* was launched, the brainchild of Daniel Raven Ellison.
The website was launched, along with a petition which at the time of writing now has over 1000 signatures. The idea has been gaining a lot of support and we now have a large number of 'friends' who are supporting the idea.

Earlier today, I read about a very exciting project which teams Dan with Queen Mary University of London's Geography department.

This will involve undergraduates working to explore the city, and is described below...

This ‘Reimagine London’ project is a collaboration between the School of Geography and guerrilla geographer Daniel Raven-Ellison who is campaigning to have London designated as a national park. Acting as park rangers, the students will visit each of the capital’s 33 boroughs in groups and report back on their findings. Their explorations will be the basis for an exhibition of their work in the School of Geography at its Mile End Campus and then at City Hall in October.

Professor Catherine Nash has been leading the development of the project. “We wanted to get our new students out in the field as soon as possible to get to know London, get to know each other and to explore ideas and places in lively, imaginative and practical ways,” she said. “Their work will contribute to a debate around how people think about, enjoy and take care of this city, as well as help foster those special fieldwork skills common to geographers and environmental scientists. This is an important element of their studies and our location in east London puts us in the perfect position to research a whole host of geographical issues. We have Britain’s second-longest river running west to east across the capital, huge disparities in wealth and power in the city, and all kinds of local and London-wide initiatives engaging with environmental and social issues.”

* - a notional park

Also, congratulations to Dan for completing his StepUp challenge to climb the height of Mt Everest within London earlier today....

Queen Mary University of London

A conference will be held on the 3rd of June at Queen Mary University of London. Delegate fee is just £30 per person.

The event will take place at the University and the programme is included below. As you can see, I have a small part to play in the event.

09.45     Registration/coffee

10.15     Welcome

10.30     Professor Miles Ogborn (QMUL) Globalisation and information

11.15     Dr Simon Carr (QMUL) Global climate change: information and disinformation

12.00     Richard Pole (Digital Worlds International) GIS software for Geography in Schools

12.30     Lunch (plus hands-on GIS)

13.15     Richard Pole hands on GIS

14.15     Dr Steve Cummins (QMUL) Visualising and mapping inequalities in health

15.00     Tea

15.15     Question and Answer Panel Current Issues in the curriculum and the teaching of Geography in schools

               Alan Parkinson (GA and 2008 winner of Ordnance Survey Award for Excellence in Geography teaching in Secondary Education)

               Steve Brace/Kate Amis (RGS-IBG)

               Dr Simon Oakes (principal examiner EdExcel and chief examiner IB Geography)

               chair Dr Beth Greenough (QMUL)

16.45     Feedback and close of conference

17.15     optional: wine nibbles etc, tours of department and campus

1830      optional: Professor Jon May inaugural lecture Geographies of homelessness, hopelessness ... and hope