Quantitative Methods Research Group (QMRG) – Royal Geographical Society with IBG

The QMRG is pleased to be co-sponsoring a session at the RGS-IBG Annual Conference 2011 with the GIScRG on: Early Careers Research in Quantitative Geography and Geographic Information Science. It is convened by James Cheshire (GIScRG) and Alex Singleton (QMRG).

The abstract is as follows:

The data and tools that are used for analysing, visualising and understanding social and environmental change have become increasingly accessible and sophisticated in recent years. Quantitative methods in geography and GIScience have been at the forefront of these advances, developing tools, providing new visualisations and communicating the results to wider audiences. This session seeks to attract researchers from all areas of quantitative geography, GIScience, Geovisualisation and beyond who are concerned with monitoring and visualising social or environmental change. Submissions are especially welcome from early career researchers and post-doctoral students who want to present results from their work in a friendly and supportive environment.

If you wish to submit an abstract for this session please contact either Alex or James:

Alex – alex (dot) singleton (at) liverpool (dot) ac (dot) uk

James – james (dot) cheshire (at) ucl (dot) ac (dot) uk

Abstracts are invited for a session at the annual conference of the the Royal Geographical Society – Institute of British Geographers in 2010 on the spatial dimensions of health. The session is jointly sponsored by the QMRG as well as the Health geography research group (HGRG) of the RGS. Details are as follows:

The Spatial Dimensions of Health

Session abstract

There is little doubt that geography and health are linked. Whether geography is considered in terms of the ‘geographies’ of individuals; communities and neighbourhoods; services and resources; or diseases- the linkage persists. In light of this, Gatrell and Elliot (2009) state ‘the subject of “health” is a rich source of material that bears study by the geographer’ (p.3). The importance of such study is highlighted by the steadfast presence of spatial disparities in health and healthcare nationally. The intention of this session is to bring together research on the spatial dimensions of health, for the purpose of highlighting ongoing and nascent challenges within the diverse spectrum of health and health geography. The session organisers invite proposals for papers that present empirical contributions within the spatial dimensions of health, ideally with focus on the UK. We welcome proposals that explore:

• The spatial dimensions of health inequalities and health behaviours

• Place, community and neighbourhood health and healthcare

• Spatial methods for developing health statistics

• Web 2.0 and health mapping

Reference

Gatrell, A. C. and Elliot, S. J. (2009) “Geographies of Health: An Introduction”, 2nd Edition, Wiley-Blackwell, Chicester

Keywords: Health, behaviour, inequality, quantitative, space.

Deadline for submitting abstracts is Monday 1st February 2010. Please send abstracts up to a maximum of 250 words and proposed titles (clearly stating name, institution, and contact details) to Daniel Lewis (d.lewis@ucl.ac.uk) and/or Catherine Jones (kate-emma.jones@ucl.ac.uk)

Details of other calls by the GHRG can be found here.

The QMRG are glad to be involved with another WUN online e-seminar series.  This new series is titled “Dynamic Modeling in a GIS Environment“. Full details can be found in the following PDF. Information on access and using the online system (with details of the previous seminars) can be found on the WUN website. The speakers and topics for this forthcoming series include:

28th Oct
Ling Bian (Buffalo): A dynamic social network model for disease transmission.
Chair: Kirk Harland (Leeds)

4th Nov
Mark Birkin (Leeds): GENeSIS: Generative simulation for the spatial and social sciences.
Chair: Alison Heppenstall (Leeds)

11th Nov
Nick Mallenson (Leeds): Agent-based modelling of UK crime
Chair: Andrew Evans (Leeds)

18th Nov
Raja Sengupta (McGill): What’s so spatial about Agent-Based Models?
Chair: Steve Carver (Leeds)
25th Nov
Derek Karessenberg (Utrecht): Integrating spatio-temporal GIS data with spatio-temporal models.
Chair: Mark Birkin (Leeds)
2nd Dec
Alex Hagen-Zanker (Technische Universiteit Eindhoven): Validation and calibration of spatial simulation models. Chair: John Stilwell (Leeds)

On the 20th January 2009, the QMRG is supporting a workshop in the School of Geography at the University of Leeds on “Numerical Modelling in Physical Geography”. The meeting aims to bring together those working in a variety of fields to provide a platform for the exchange of ideas and techniques, which doesn’t really exist at present. Invited speakers from the universities of Bristol, Cambridge, Durham, Edinburgh, and Exeter will talk on numerical modelling approaches in glaciology, fluvial hydraulics, geomorphology, and global climate, as well as error analysis methods. The meeting is oriented towards work built firmly around conservation principles, generally involving the solution of coupled PDEs for mass and momentum. If you wish to come along, please e-mail Chris Keylock (c.j.keylock@leeds.ac.uk). Please be aware that places are limited.

UPDATE: Dave Unwin has informed us that that the R workshop is now unfortunately full, sorry to those who have missed out.

The Joint Worldwide Universities Network, RGS(with IBG) Quantitative Methods Research Group & UCGIS
Virtual Seminars in GIScience and Technology programme is now available for Fall/Autumn 2008. This has the theme of Neogeography.

Instructions and schedule can be downloaded from: [here]

There are some great speakers, and the seminars are free to members of the QMRG.

Additionally, there is a second semester of e-workshops on Spatial Analysis in R. This flyer is available [here]