Geography and public policy: taking responsibility in research and teaching

ABSTRACT

In this short intervention I ask whether geographers are helping or hindering progress towards a policy turn. The inclination for turning to research means the largely unspoken aspect of the geography and public policy debate is our role as educators. While research-informed teaching is the fundamental mechanism by which academic staff engage students with public policy concerns, I highlight how the foundational books used in many undergraduate degree programmes to frame ‘doing’ geographical research provide no reference to policy. I argue as geographers we must take more responsibility for exposing students to a diversity of policy in geographical learning and teaching.

KEYWORDS:

• Geography
• public policy
• pedagogy
• teaching
• research

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 It should be noted that there is some debate over whether this would actually be a good thing.

2 My positionality is reflected in the predominant focus of this article, which is drawing on 15 years working as an academic (engaging with, but not shaping, public policy concerns) within UK higher education. While many of the points made in the paper, I believe, have resonance beyond the UK, the illustrative nature of the examples does reflect a narrow UK-focus. This tension is evident in the books themselves, which are all edited from the UK, Ireland and US, but with a wider readership beyond Geography programmes in these countries. In writing this contribution, it is all the more clear why there is urgent need to decolonise geographical debate and knowledge production.

3 In the UK, the Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers) has taken to promoting the advocacy and impact work resulting from geographical research https://www.rgs.org/geography/advocacy-and-impact/ including a selection of individual case studies showcasing (policy) impact https://www.rgs.org/geography/advocacy-and-impact/impact/

Additional information

Notes on contributors

John Harrison

John Harrison is a human geographer at Loughborough University, UK. Alongside publishing extensively in urban and regional geography, he has held various departmental roles, including Undergraduate Programme Director and Research & Impact Director, which have informed this short intervention.