Shortly before Christmas 2016, festive crowds gathered in Kensington, London, for a one day event to celebrate the fortieth birthday of the Journal of Geography in Higher Education (JGHE) at the Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers). Delegates from eight different countries attended and fourteen papers were presented on a variety of topics including students as partners, geocapabilities, assessment and feedback, and, of course, fieldwork practice. Pauline Kneale provided a keynote focusing on how the increasing pressures of regulatory oversight frame the challenge for innovative teaching and the enhancement of student support. There was a book launch for the latest contribution in the series of themed JGHE papers, Pedagogic Research in Geography Higher Education edited by Martin Haigh, Debbie Cotton and Tim Hall. There was a cake! And the founding editor, Alan Jenkins, was cake-cutter-in-chief. A selection of the papers presented during the event will be published as a symposium later in 2018. A celebration provides a chance to look forward and to reflect on the past, to consider the challenges and opportunities ahead and the journey that led to this point. Such is the nature of gathering people together for a year-end celebration, asking for the presentations to be written up and subjecting the manuscripts to peer review, that by the time the 40th birthday content appears, we are already 42. But then again, as a supercomputer in the Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy once calculated, 42 is the answer to “the ultimate question of life, the universe and everything”.
The London programme included a lively panel discussion from five former editors. A synthesis based around the transcript of the panel is planned to accompany the symposium. Naturally, there was some discussion about the origins and early days of the journal. In preparing for the event, there had been a certain amount of wallowing in the past, looking back at the early editions of the journal. Originally published by Oxford Polytechnic Press in camera-ready copy, the early issues of the journal have an informal, edgy feel (even described as “scrawny” by the founding editor) but the cast names are staggering. All initiatives need champions and the journal has enjoyed the sustained support of a number of influential geographers who have shared the conviction that teaching and learning issues deserve attention and discussion in the academy. The first issue began with a trio of thought leaders writing on the organisation of education within the discipline. Here is Ron Johnston, a couple of years before the publication of Geography and Geographers, followed by Duane C. Knos and by Peter Gould, doyen of the “Quantitative Revolution” and renowned commentator on pedagogic matters.
Getting support from eminent geographers on both sides of the Atlantic was an important step in establishing JGHE. Yet flicking through the first couple of volumes of the journal is a roll call of discipline influencers. Here is Michael J. Clark writing on the challenges of using geographical film in teaching, later to chair of the British Universities Film and Video Council; E.M. Bridges, author of World Soils; Ted Hollis, pioneering researcher of wetland ecosystem management and conservation; David Sugden, renowned geomorphologist and polar scientist; Ron Cooke, a future President of the Royal Geographical Society, writing on geomorphology; Alan Wilson on mathematical education in geography. Here is Tim O’Riordan writing about environmental education shortly before the publication of his influential book on environmentalism; and Alice Coleman, whose later work on urban design has strongly influenced design interventions in British public housing.
Back in 1977, the introduction of the Journal of Geography in Higher Education was based on the premise that the role of teaching in universities had been consistently undervalued and hidden from view. Forty years on, the journal has played an important role in illuminating those hidden places. However, the stresses on early career faculty to deliver research outputs and income generation are as intense as ever. Plus ça change. Little wonder that investment of time in innovative teaching practice or pedagogic research might still be conceived as distraction rather than a pillar of the academic profession. However flicking through past issues (or rather clicking as the whole of the journal’s back copy is available digitally) provides some assurance that a healthy and insightful interest in pedagogy does not hold back brilliant research careers.
In the question and answer section of the editors’ panel there were a number of comments about editing and the peer review process. This short editorial introduction serves as a prelude to the biennial acknowledgement of those who have contributed to the peer review process. In an increasingly fast-paced academy, finding cooperative reviewers is a difficult task and our editors have noted, with concern, that the number of review requests politely declined has been growing. Therefore the selfless role of willing referees becomes ever more critical and on behalf of the journal we thank those listed below for their vital role in the process which enables teaching and learning innovations and pedagogical insights in Geography to be illuminated.
Referees 2016–17
Gillian Acheson, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, USA
Ola Ahlqvist, Ohio State University, USA
Tamer G. Amin, American University of Beirut, Lebanon
Jon Anderson, Cardiff University, UK
Richard Armitage, Salford University, UK
Colin Arrowsmith, RMIT, Australia
Garry Atterton, Castle School Thornbury, UK
Péter Bagoly-Simó, Humboldt University of Berlin, Germany
Natchee Barnd, Oregon State University, USA
Heather Barrett, University of Worcester, UK
Annie Bartos, University of Auckland, New Zealand
Sarah Battersby, Tableau Software, USA
Nick Bearman, Clear Mapping Co, UK
Jill Black, Missouri State University, USA
Pablo Bose, University of Vermont, USA
Christopher Boyko, Lancaster University, UK
Alan Boyle, University of Liverpool, UK
Julia Braham, University of Leeds, UK
Tony Brazel, Arizona State University, USA
Gregory Breetzke, University of South Africa, South Africa
Clare Brooks, University College London, UK
Christine Bruce, Queensland Institute of Technology, Australia
Joe Bryan, University of Colorado Boulder, USA
Carmen Brysch, Auburn University, USA
David Butler, Texas State University, USA
Graham Butt, Oxford Brookes University, UK
Sébastien Caquard, Concordia University, Canada
Carlos Carbonell Carrera, University of La Laguna, Spain
Jennifer Carter, University of South Carolina, USA
Susan Carter, University of Auckland, New Zealand
William Cartwright, RMIT, Australia
Viv Caruana, Leeds Metropolitan University, UK
Simon Catling, Oxford Brookes University, UK
Chun-Yen Chang, National Taiwan Normal University, Taiwan
Te-Lien Chou, Fu Jen Catholic University, Taiwan
Ian Clark, University of South Australia, Australia
Manuel Contero, Polytechnic University of Valencia, Spain
Brian Cook, University of Melbourne, Australia
Pauline Couper, York St John University, UK
Altha Cravey, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA
Kitty Currier, University of California Santa Barbara, USA
Christina Dando, University of Nebraska Omaha, USA
Helen de Haan, Rotterdam Business School, Netherlands
Michael DeMers, University of New Mexico, USA
David DiBiase, ESRI, USA
Jennifer Dickie, University of Leicester, UK
James Doerner, University of Northern Colorado, USA
Kelly Dombroski, University of Canterbury, New Zealand
Karl Donert, University of Salzburg, Austria
John Douglass, Maricopa Community College, USA
Lorraine Dowler, Pennsylvania State University
Robyn Dowling, University of Sydney, Australia
Dawn Drake, Missouri Western State University, USA
Joos Droogleever Fortuijn, University of Amsterdam, Netherlands
Michelle A. Drouin, Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne, USA
Almar Ennis, Dublin City University, Ireland
Martin Evans, University of Chester, UK
Jonathan Everts, University of Bonn, Germany
David Fairbairn, University of Newcastle, UK
Dirk Felzmann, University of Goettingen, Germany
Chen-Chieh Feng, National University of Singapore, Singapore
Ken Field, ESRI, USA
Erin Fouberg, Northern State University, USA
Jay Gatrell, Bellarmine University, USA
Sharon Gedye, Plymouth University, UK
Mary Gilmartin, National University of Ireland Maynooth, Ireland
Michael Glass, Pittsburgh University, USA
Daniel Goldberg, Texas A&M University, USA
Aubrey Golightly, North-West University, South Africa
Jesus Granados-Sanchez, University of Glasgow, UK
Davydd Greenwood, Cornell University, USA
Hannah Gunderman, University of Tennessee Knoxville, USA
Euan Hague, DePaul University, USA
Laura Hammersley, Macquarie University, Australia
Gengen He, University of Nottingham Ningbo China, China
Sally Hermansen, University of British Columbia, Canada
Verónica Hollman, National University of Central Buenos Aries, Argentina
Mark Holton, Plymouth University, UK
Sheila Hones, University of Tokyo, Japan
Jacqueline Housel, Sinclair Community College, USA
Chris Houser, University of Windsor, Canada
Phil Hubbard, Kings College London, UK
Tom Huber, University of Colorado Colorado Springs, USA
Sungsoon Hwang, DePaul University, USA
Andrei Israel, Pennsylvania State University, USA
Andrew Jackson, Bishop Grosseteste College, UK
Claire Jarvis, University of Leicester, UK
Martin Jenkins, Coventry University, UK
Injeong Jo, Texas State University, USA
Ron Johnston, University of Bristol, UK
Nick Jones, University of the West of England, UK
Benjamin Jordan, Brigham Young University-Hawaii, USA
Michael Jurmu, University of Wisconsin Colleges, USA
Ronald Kalafsky, University of Tennessee Knoxville, USA
Md. Kamruzzaman, Queensland University of Technology, Australia
Kevin Keenan, College of Charleston, USA
Joseph Kerski, ESRI, USA
Minsung Kim, Seoul National University, South Korea
Phil Klein, University of Northern Colorado, USA
Natascha Klocker, University of Washington, USA
Helen Kopnina, University of Amsterdam, Netherlands
Rachel Kornak, Pennsylvania State University, USA
Kelly Lemmons, Tarleton State University, USA
Joseph Leydon, University of Toronto, Canada
Kenneth Lim, National Institute of Education, Singapore
Kenneth Lynch, University of Gloucestershire, UK
Lene Madsen, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
Wouter Marra, Utrecht University, Netherlands
Jorge Martin Gutierrez, University of La Laguna, Spain
Alan Marvell, University of Gloucestershire, UK
Charles Mather, Memorial University of Newfoundland, Canada
Hirini Matunga, Lincoln University, New Zealand
David McIlhatton, University of Ulster, UK
Eileen McKinlay, University of Otagao, New Zealand
Erik Meijles, Univesrity of Groningen, Netherlands
Burrel Montz, East Carolina University, USA
Amy Mui, University of Toronto, Canada
Solange Munoz, University of Tennessee Knoxville, USA
Steve Musson, University of Reading, UK
Curt Nielsen, University of Northern Iowa, USA
Melissa Nursey-Bray, University of Adelaide, Australia
Tracey O’Keeffe, National Health Service, UK
Shane O’Sullivan, Limerick Institute of Technology, Ireland
Alex Oberle, University of Northern Iowa, USA
Marcela Palomino-Schalscha, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand
Kavita Pandit, Georgia State University, USA
Julie A. Pelton, University of Nebraska Omaha, USA
Andrew Phillips, University of Southampton, UK
Richard Phillips, University of Sheffield, UK
Pow Choon-Piew, National University of Singapore, Singapore
Marie Price, George Washington University, USA
Darren Purcell, University of Oklahoma, USA
Kathleen Quinlan, University of Oxford, UK
Sonja Rewhorn, University of Chester, UK
Patrick Rickles, University College London, UK
Zoe Robinson, Keele University, UK
Sue Rodway-Dyer, University of Exeter, UK
Robert Roth, University of Wisconsin, USA
Norabeerah Saforrudin, Teacher Training Institute Malay Language Campus, Malaysia
Lasse Sander, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
Angharad Saunders, Glamorgan University, UK
Rebecca Schaaf, Bath Spa University, UK
Regina Scheyvens, Massey University, New Zealand
Marybeth Schlemper, University of Toledo, USA
Uwe Schulze, Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany
Graham Scott, University of Hull, UK
Mehmet Seremet, Canakkale Onsekiz Mart University, Turkey
Kerry Shepherd, Otago University, New Zealand
David Simm, Bath Spa University, UK
Naomi Simmonds, Waikato University, New Zealand
Vanessa Slinger-Friedman, Kennesaw State University, USA
Sara Smith, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA
Roberta Sonnino, Cardiff University, UK
Janet Speake, Liverpool Hope University, UK
Alex Standish, University College London, UK
Alison Stokes, Plymouth University, UK
Jeffrey Stone, Pennsylvania State University, USA
John Strait, Sam Houston University, USA
Sandie Suchet-Pearson, Macquarie University, Australia
Jennifer Swift, University of Southern California, USA
Jon Swords, Northumbria University, UK
Ross H. Taplin, Curtin University, Australia
James Terry, Zayed University, United Arab Emirates
Candace Thompson, University of North Carolina at Wilmington, USA
James Thorne, University of California Davis, USA
Rachel Thwaites, University of Lincoln, UK
Karen Treasure, Plymouth University, UK
Richard Treves, Open University, UK
Daniel Trudeau, Macalester College, USA
Kristina Trygg, Linköping University, Sweden
Brandon Vogt, University of Colorado Colorado Springs, USA
Glenda Wall, University of Liverpool, UK
Katharine Welsh, University of Chester, UK
Brian Whalley, University of Sheffield, UK
Duncan Whyatt, Lancaster University, UK
Andrew Williams, Cardiff University, UK
Heather Wilson, University of Toronto, Canada
Christine Winter, University of Sheffield, UK
Frankie Kwan Kit Wong, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
Bronwyn Wood, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand
Sarah Wright, University of Newcastle, Australia
Yang Yang, University of Colorado Boulder, USA
Li Yin, University of Buffalo, USA
Rui Yuan, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
Yvonne Zeegers, University of South Australia, Australia
J.J Zhang, Hong Kong University, Hong Kong
Lancaster University College at Beijing Jiaotong University, China
[email protected]
Derek France
University of Chester, UK