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Welcome to the Geographical Society of Ireland

​The Geographical Society of Ireland (GSI), the professional representative organisation of geographers in Ireland, was founded in 1934. Over eighty years later, the GSI continues to raise awareness of the value and impact of Geography in Ireland and beyond, through a diverse range of activities and collaborations. 

​Society members are actively engaged in enhancing the international profile of Irish geography through their engagement with the International Geographical Union (IGU), RGS-IBG, Association of American Geographers (AAG) and other international groupings. 
Read more about society organisation and activities

EUGEO 2019
This year Geography at NUI Galway hosted the 7th EUGEO Congress in conjunction with the 51st Conference of Irish Geographers, in Galway City in the west of Ireland. The conference took place over four days (May 15th – 18th 2019) and the theme for the 2019 conference was Re-Imagining Europe's Future Society and Landscapes. The theme focuses on the centrality of the concepts of society and landscape within the Discipline of Geography and the importance of the relationship that exists between the physical and cultural landscape. Over 500 delegates attended the conference representing an astonishing 37 countries.

Save Geography

In response to the changed position of Geography within the Junior cycle curriculum The Association of Geography Teachers of Ireland has created petition, calling for the restoration of Geography as a core subject on the Junior Cycle curriculum. If you can, please support this petition.

​Year of Geography 2019

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​2019 has been declared the "Year of Geography". This initiative will focusing on different places/counties and different geographical themes each week during 2019 to raise the profile of Geography in Ireland both at a national and at a local level. 

Latest GSI News

Prof. Des Gillmor makes a strong case for Geography in letter published in The Irish Times.

​Prof. Des Gillmor (Trinity College Dublin) published a letter in the Irish Times outlining how students see that geography is of ‘vital relevance to their lives and to the world today’, that twice as many students study geography at Leaving Cert than study history, and that geography is ‘the only subject which deals comprehensively’ with contemporary challenges such as climate change. Read the letter here

Upcoming Exhibition and Symposium ​
Tírdhreach Feasach: Irish Environments in Transition

Conversations with artists and geographers/academics: Monica de Bath and Patrick Bresnihan, Cathy Fitzgerald and Nessa Cronin, Pauline O'Connell and Gerry Kearns, Seoidin O'Sullivan and Karen Till from 4-5:30pm, (Rocque Lab, Rhetoric House, South Campus) followed by exhibition launch from 5:45-6:30pm, Maynooth University Library lobby. Joint event with Kildare County Council Arts Service and Maynooth University Library, with additional support from the IRC New Foundations Scheme and Creative Ireland. For other events at the Maynooth Geography see here

Lifetime Contribution Award 2019

In May, it was announced that Prof. Jim Walsh would be awarded the Geographical Society of Ireland Lifetime Contribution Award for 2019. This reflected his many years of involvement/engagement with the Society (and many years of Society membership), which included a two-year period as President of the Society in the 2000s. The award itself was formally handed over to Jim in Maynooth on 18 September on behalf of the Society and its members by Prof. Des McCafferty, another former President of the Geographical Society of Ireland. This took place during an event to mark his retirement from formal academic life, following on many decades of teaching and research, commencing first of all with a period working in Carysfort College in Blackrock, before moving to Maynooth University in the late 1980s. As well as lecturing and researching in the Maynooth University Department of Geography, he also served for a number of years as Head of Department in the late 1990s and early 2000s, before going on to spend well over a decade as a member of the Maynooth University Executive. He supervised a number of PhD students, including the first two PhD students to graduate from Maynooth Geography; Celine McHugh and Seamus Lafferty.

​Nine reasons why geography matters

RTE Brainstorm recently published an article by By Anna Davies, Irish Research Council and Frances Fahy, NUI Galway outlining why geography is so important!

In Memory of Gordon Herries Davies (1932-2019)

Gordon Davies, otherwise Gordon Leslie Herries Davies (he favoured the latter form from the late 1970s), who died on 22 February 2019 was one of the most significant figures ‘doing Geography’ in Ireland during the second half of the last century. More....

Year of Geography 2019

Does Geography have a future?

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​ At CIG 2018 Shelagh Waddington from Maynooth University outlined some of the issues about the removal of Geography from the core curriculum of the Junior Cycle, Read more in her blog post Does Geography have a future?

Membership 

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​Membership of the society is open to anyone with an interest in environmental and geographical issues.

Benefits of membership include; 
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- A subscription to the international peer-reviewed journal Irish Geography,
- Participation in field trips and events sponsored by the society
- Access to a network of individuals and organisations with similar interests.
- Information on geographical events in Ireland and overseas.

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