Geographers recognised

The Society extends warm congratulations to the geographers who were recognised in the New Year Honours list, including:

• Professor Sir Paul Curran, who received a knighthood for services to Higher Education;
• Professor Linda McDowell: a CBE for services to Geography and Higher Education;
• Professor Paul Boyle: a CBE for services to Social Science;
• Rowan Douglas: a CBE for services to the Economy through Risk, Insurance and Sustainable Growth.
• Professor Paul White: an OBE for services to Higher Education;

The Society also congratulates the geographers who were awarded the Polar Medal on 8 January, including: 

• Mr Derek Fordham. Arctic expedition leader, mountaineer and ambassador.
• Dr Kim Crosbie. Antarctic environmental scientist and conservationist.
• Professor Bryn Pugh Hubbard.  Polar scholar.

The Polar Medal was instituted in 1904 to reward the participants in Captain Robert F. Scott’s successful first expedition to the Antarctic region. In recent decades most awards have gone to scientists working in the Polar Regions for prolonged periods to advance knowledge.