Geo-News

Tertiary teaching nationalaward winner

Victoria University of Wellington geographerSara Kindon has received a 2010 AotearoaNational Tertiary Teaching Excellence Awardfor Sustained Excellence in Teaching. Saradescribes her teaching philosophy as ‘unset-tling’ learners’ assumptions. She does thisthrough an approach that blurs the boundariesbetween research and teaching and that fostersdeep reflection. She uses innovative methods todisrupt students’ understandings of place andthe geographies of power and exclusion; stu-dents in her courses explore downtown Well-ington blindfolded, walk a high-ropes courseand visit a marae. Students speak of her abilityto change their lives: ‘Sara’s innovative teach-ing . . . has helped me to broaden my concep-tions of “the classroom” and I view the worlddifferently because of this’.

In 2008, Sara won Victoria University’sAward for Sustained Excellence in Teaching.

She has successfully supervised 60 postgradu-ate students since her appointment at VictoriaUniversity of Wellington in 1994, including fivePhDs. Colleagues speak of her transformativeimpact on their own practice. She has published12 quality-assured articles and book chapterson the teaching–research nexus. However, Sarareserves special mention for Global Remix, astudent-led support group she helped to estab-lish for students from refugee backgrounds.Sara’s joy in teaching, in ‘unsettling’ her stu-dents and empowering their participation is aprivilege she relishes every day.

Sara joins a number of other tertiary teach-ing ward winners from Geography and cognateprogrammes: Regina Scheyvens (Massey 2005),Juliana Mansvelt (Massey 2006) and WarwickMurray (Victoria 2006), Sean Weaver (Victoria2008) and Eric Pawson (Canterbury 2009).

Eric PawsonDepartment of Geography

University of Canterbury

Figure 1 Sara Kindon.

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© 2010 The AuthorsNew Zealand Geographer © 2010 New Zealand Geographical Society

doi: 10.1111/j.1745-7939.2010.01188.x

New Zealand GeographicalSociety Conference 2010

The New Zealand Geographical Society Con-ference 2010 was held at Rydges Hotel inChristchurch from July 5 to 8. It was combinedwith the annual conference of the Institute ofAustralian Geographers, which resulted in anattendance of over 340, including a largenumber of students. The programme, withpapers drawn from many subfields of geogra-phy, was presented by geographers from NewZealand, Australia, USA, Canada, SaudiArabia, Malaysia, Taiwan and South Africa.

Although there was not a specific conferencetheme, and we welcomed papers from any areaof geography, we structured our keynote speak-ers around the theme of new digital geogra-phies. To this end, we invited three leadingscholars who are all making decisive contribu-tions to our geographic understanding ofgeospatial technologies but who draw on differ-ent intellectual traditions to do so. Conse-quently, while there was clearly some overlap,our three keynotes presented work from a cul-tural, computer science and physical geographyperspective, respectively. Our first keynote, Pro-fessor Lisa Parks, of the University of Califor-nia – Santa Barbara, presented to a largeaudience on Monday evening. Her keynotefocused on material from her forthcomingbook, Coverage; Media Spaces and Securityafter 9/11, and explored some of the controver-sies surrounding the satellite imagery inGoogle Earth, in particular, the ways in whichsuch images represent the world as a target forextraction or destruction. Her keynoteattracted substantial media attention thatweek, and she appeared on TVNZ news, onnational and local radio and in various newspa-pers and online news sites.

On Tuesday morning, Dr Matt Duckham, asenior lecturer in Geographic InformationScience at the University of Melbourne, pre-sented a highly interactive keynote thatfocused on the spatial and scientific constraintsassociated with computing in space through afocus on geosensor networks frequently used inenvironmental monitoring projects. His talkraised important questions about the simulta-neous and relational nature of computation inand about geographic space.

On Thursday, our third keynote by ProfessorJohn Wilson, of the University of SouthernCalifornia, presented his insights from threedifferent research projects using geographicinformation science (GIS) to reflect on theimpact of GIS on the discipline of geographyand on other disciplines undergoing a spatialturn. His talk provided food for thought bothfor geographers who use GIS and those who donot but who are attempting to think throughthe implications of the strategic emphasis onGIS in many geography departments.

In addition to the keynotes, the conferenceprogramme was diverse with a number of high-lights. The conference received addresses frompresidents of both societies, and a number ofpanels attracted three or more sessions. Theseincluded panels on indigenous peoples’ knowl-edge and rights, media geography, legal geogra-phy, critical geographies of development,tourism, the city unbound and sustainabilityin teaching and research. Other highlightscovered over two sessions include affectivegeographies, trans-Tasman historical geogra-phies, rural landscapes, public places of culturalmemory, well-being and flourishing, animalgeographies and geographies of sexuality andgender. A report on the well-attended post-graduate workshop follows.

The conference ended with a concludingplenary panel discussion led by our three key-notes and with the input of Phil Bartie, GregBreetzke and Kevin Glynn, who all reflected onthe question of geography and our digitalfutures.

Julie CupplesDepartment of Geography

University of Canterbury

Conference postgraduateworkshop

A postgraduate event entitled ‘From plans topapers: A forum on the postgraduate writingexperience’, was held on the first day of theconference attended by over 80 students. Itbegan with an informal lunch at the Dux deLux, a popular Christchurch restaurant and wasfollowed by a forum on the postgraduatewriting experience at the conference venue.The forum members were Professor Audrey

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Kobayashi (Queen’s University, Canada), DrRae Dufty (University of Western Sydney,Australia), Dr Peyman Zawar-Reza (Univer-sity of Canterbury, New Zealand) and Dr MarkRiley (University of Portsmouth, UK).

The panellists spoke on their personal andvaried experiences of postgraduate writing,pub-lishing and/or as members of journal editorialboards. The subsequent discussion coveredissues such as when a postgraduate should beginpublishing, how to select an appropriate journaland what makes a good conclusion.As one par-ticipant commented, ‘it was good to hear viewsfrom academics at very different stages of theircareers and also to hear them speak from differ-ent aspects of the same topic’.

We look forward to future opportunitiesfor postgraduate students to meet and shareexperiences, with suggestions ranging from

interactive facilitated workshops on writing,thesis examination, giving conference presenta-tions, relationships with supervisors, experienceof writing a Masters dissertation and supportivediscussions between students about their post-graduate experiences. The support of the NewZealand Geographical Society and the Instituteof Australian Geographers, with the BuildingResearch Capability in the Social SciencesNetwork, in sponsoring the event was greatlyappreciated.

Marcela Palomino SchalschaDepartment of Geography

University of Canterbury

Miriam WilliamsGeography and Environmental Studies

University of Newcastle

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© 2010 The AuthorsNew Zealand Geographer © 2010 New Zealand Geographical Society