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

We are pleased to announce that Tadas Nikonovas from the Department of Geography at Swansea University is the winner of this year’s QMRG Undergraduate Dissertation Prize. Tadas’ dissertation entitled “Artificial light emissions in Europe. Trends from a DMSP satellite fifteen year record” was applauded for its interesting and relevant topic, its use of complex quantitative methods and its publication quality figures and formatting.

The QMRG offers a prize each year for the best undergraduate dissertation. Entries are assessed by at least two judges who are required to provide a mark out of ten and a paragraph of justification for each. This year the QMRG had entries from 10 geography departments in the UK.

If possible we will post a copy of the winning entry here.

The Quantitative Methods Research Group (QMRG) is pleased to welcome submissions for its 2011 dissertation prize. The prize is for the best dissertation in *any* area of quantitative geography, which include the application of existing techniques or the development of new ones in physical, human or environmental studies. Entries are limited to undergraduate students completing BSc / BA level dissertations in UK higher education institutions and must be nominated by a member of staff within those institutions. Each institution is limited to a single entry. Entries are judged by members of the QMRG committee who may, depending on the number of entries received, decide to award separate prizes for different fields of the discipline. There is a cash prize for the winner(s). This year will operate differently from previous years in that a complete copy of the nominated dissertation should be sent directly to each of three judges without any indication of the mark the dissertation received. If you would like to nominate a dissertation, please contact James Cheshire in the first instance () and he will provide further information about where each copy should be sent.

Deadline: 10 July 2011

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

The QMRG Committee is delighted to announce that Laura Steele from the University of Bristol is the winner of this year’s undergraduate dissertation prize. Her project entitled “A Multilevel Modelling Approach to Ethnic Residential Segregation in Urban England, 1991-2001″ demonstrated Laura’s high level of understanding of this complex topic. Tim Foster and Robin Wilson’s entries, from University College London and the University of Southampton respectively, are worthy of special commendation for the quality of their submissions. This year’s entries represented the full breadth and quality of quantitative research within geography and were a pleasure for the committee to read. The QMRG committee would like to wish all entrants well in their future endeavours.

Long standing QMRG member Professor Ron Johnston (University of Bristol) has been given a lifetime achievement award from the Association of American Geographers (AAG). Johnston, has been a major influence on the discipline both through his research and writing and his professional engagement. His scholarly productivity has always been exceptional, now standing in aggregate at over 50 authored or co-authored books, 41 edited or co-edited books, and more than 800 papers in refereed journals and chapters in major books. The quality of this work is also exceptional: Professor Johnston has made transformative contributions to several sub-fields within human geography. In urban geography, he has built on pioneering work using small-area census data and multivariate statistical procedures and studies of exclusionary zoning and segregation in the USA to recent work on comparative studies of ethnic residential segregation. In political geography his innovative work on voting behaviour and sources of bias in election results continues with studies of entropy maximizing and electoral bias in more complex electoral systems and with detailed analyses of the funding of constituency parties and their election campaigns. His work on the history of geography includes a seminal work of scholarly synthesis – Geography and Geographers – together with archival studies of major changes in the practice of human geography; detailed biographical studies; and major essays on geography in important works of reference. His founding involvement with the Dictionary of Human Geography, meanwhile, is an important contribution to the definition and development of the contemporary discipline.

Throughout his career Professor Johnston has been deeply engaged in academic leadership and citizenship. Within geography, he has served as the elected President of the Institute of British Geographers; he has served as editor of the New Zealand Geographer and as co-editor of two major journals: Environment and Planning A and Progress in Human Geography. He is currently the editor of the Proceedings of the British Academy. He has served a very wide range of scholarly and professional bodies including the International Geographical Union; British National Committee for Geography; the Geographical Association; the Council for National Academic Awards; the Joint Matriculation Board; the United Kingdom Universities Funding Council, and the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission.

In broader scope, he has served as Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Academic Affairs at the University of Sheffield and as Vice-Chancellor of the University of Essex; and he currently serves as Deputy Electoral Commissioner and Member of the Boundary Committee for England. Above all, perhaps, his humanity shines through his work, not only in his scholarship but also in his public engagement and his commitment to the discipline, its practitioners, workers and institutions at all levels.

Well done Ron!

The QMRG are happy to receive nominations for this year’s best undergraduate dissertation in *any* area of quantitative geography. Topics may include the application of existing techniques or the development of new ones in physical, human or environmental studies. Entries are limited to undergraduate students completing BSc / BA level dissertations in UK higher education institutions and must be nominated by a member of staff within those institutions. Each institution is limited to a single entry. Entries are judged by members of the QMRG committee who may, depending on the number of entries received, decide to award separate prizes for different fields of the discipline. There is a cash prize for the winner(s). This year will operate differently from previous years in that a complete copy of the nominated dissertation should be sent directly to each of three judges without any indication of the mark the dissertation received. If you would like to nominate a dissertation, please contact James Cheshire in the first instance () and he will provide further information about where each copy should be sent.

Deadline: 10 July 2010

The QMRG are able to offer up to three post graduate student bursaries for the 2010 GISRUK conference (http://gisruk2010.spatial-literacy.org/) with value of up to £300 each to cover conference fees and travel.

Additionally, the GIScRG are able to offer an additional post graduate student bursary,
again with a value of up to £300 for conference fees and travel.

These bursaries will cover the full registration cost at the student rate.

To be eligible for a bursary you will need a full paper accepted in the main program. We usually have more applications than bursaries so will assign them on a competitive basis with later stage PhD students being giving priority.

To apply for a bursary, please send your accepted extended abstract to Alex Singleton () before 26th March.

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 () and/or Catherine Jones ()

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)

Only a few more days to the RGS conference this year, so this is a timely announcement of the 2009 QMRG dissertation prize winner.

Many thanks for all the great entries and it was a pleasure for the committee to read such a wide ranging use of quantitative methods. The field this year was very strong indeed and all entrants should be commended, however, the entry submitted by the University of Oxford stood as being particularly innovative. Therefore, the prize this year is awarded to Amelia Hanna for the dissertation titled “Mega-Yardangs: A Quantitative Morphometric Study”. Well done Amelia and the QMRG committee wish you well for your future.