Call for Papers: Annual Conference of the 2015 RGS-IBG
The Population Geography Research Group are delighted to issue our call for papers for the annual conference of the 2015 RGS-IBG, for sessions sponsored by the research group. The conference will take place on Wednesday 2nd to Friday 4th September 2015, at the University of Exeter.
If you are interested in presenting a paper in one of these sessions, please email a paper abstract of 200-300 words to the session convenor(s) listed underneath the session titles below. Abstracts must be with session convenors no later than Wednesday 11th February.
1. Exploiting New Data for Population Research
Co-sponsored by the Quantitative Methods Research Group
Convenors: Adam Dennett (University College London), Ian Shuttleworth (Queen’s University Belfast), Nik Lomax (University of Leeds) and Chris Lloyd (University of Liverpool)
Email contact: a.dennett@ucl.ac.uk
Researchers studying population have long relied on the rich and familiar data contained in national population censuses. However, as the popularity of censuses worldwide is challenged by the ‘data deluge’ and the prospect of free (or at least by-product), real-time (or at least more-timely) and ‘Big’ new datasets, what does this ‘brave new world’ offer population geographers? There is potential to ask and answer new questions but also significant theoretical and methodological challenges in handling and extracting meaning from these proliferating new datasets. The session aims to explore not only these new social and policy questions but also the methods that can be most appropriately used. Scholarly papers are therefore invited from those interested in using these new data to understand human population patterns and processes, particularly (but not exclusively) in the areas of:
Population dynamics and/or estimation
Migration
Geo-demographics
Planning and Policy
Health and epidemiology
Cities and urban sustainability
Crime and Security
Spatial Modelling and GIS
2. Getting My Research Funded: A Workshop for Population Geographers
Co-sponsored by the Postgraduate Forum
Convenors: Nik Lomax (University of Leeds), Keith Halfacree (Swansea University) and Nigel De Noronha (University of Manchester)
Email contact: n.m.lomax@leeds.ac.uk
Attracting research funding is an essential skill for all academics: grant income dictates the quality and scope of work which can be undertaken and is a key contributor to successful progression through an academic career. This session provides an opportunity for discussion of the wide range of funding streams (both UK and international) available to population geographers and will provide advice on how to seek out and apply for this funding. Participants are asked to provide an overview of their research (which could be a shortened version of a presentation given for another session at the conference). A group discussion will follow which focuses on the types of funding which are directly relevant to population geographers. This discussion involves both the presenters and the audience. The focus on relevant funding provides participants with an opportunity to gather advice from experienced academics, who will share their tips on successfully applying for grants and other research income.
The session is aimed at postgraduates and early career researchers with an interest in population geography, but is of course open to anyone with an interest in learning more about identifying and applying for research funding.
3. Exploring the Migration Industries
Convenor: Sophie Cranston (Loughborough University)
Email contact: S.Cranston@lboro.ac.uk
In this ‘age of migration’ (Castles and Millar 2009) research on migration tends to focus on why migrants leave home and what happens to them when they arrive. However, two recent developments in studies of migration challenge this conceptualisation. First, from a mobilities perspective we challenge such sedendarist understandings and see migration as being like a journey where we explore how migrant identity is produced on the move (Cresswell 2006). Second, from a more structuralist approach, we have begun to explore the commercialisation of migration— how migration is mediated by businesses as diverse as brokers, security companies, transporters, non-governmental organisations, recruitment agencies and international human resource management (Gammeltoft-Hansen and Sorenson 2013). We can see research on the migration industries as looking at the provision of services that facilitate, constrain and assist international migration, the central role that industries play in shaping and constraining contemporary mobility patterns and mobile identities.
This session is aimed at those wishing to present research that advances our understanding of the operation of the migration industries from a variety of perspectives. This could include research that looks at:
• Theoretical perspectives on migration industries;
• Empirical examples of migration industries;
• Explanations between different types of migration industries;
• The relationship between the state and migration industries;
• How migration industries mediate patterns of mobility;
• How migration industries shape experiences of mobility.
References:
Castles, S., and M. J. Miller. 2009. The age of migration : international population movements in the modern world. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Cresswell, T. 2006. On the move: Mobility in Modern Western World. New York; London: Taylor Francis Group.
Gammeltoft-Hansen, T. and N. Nyberg Sorenson. Eds. 2013. The Migration Industry and the Commercialization of International Migration. London: Routledge
4. Mobilities and Immobilities in Europe after the Global Economic Crisis
Convenors: Darja Reuschke and David McCollum (University of St Andrews)
Email contact: darja.reuschke@st-andrews.ac.uk
Population geographers and sociologists have paid much attention to immigration and work-related mobilities of highly skilled people. This research has drawn the picture of highly mobile societies and ever-increasing mobility demands put in place in the work sphere. Little attention has been paid to immobility and immobile groups including the sick and disabled, single parents and other households on low incomes. Some commentators have argued (before the crisis) that this mobility dialectic does not match the reality of the vast majority of the population. How has the Global Economic Crisis impacted on mobility and immobility in Europe? Have high unemployment rates and under-employment in most of European countries decreased internal migration? How have immigration patterns in Europe been developed over the past years and who is mobile and who is not? Have we reached ‘peak mobility’ on the grounds of little employment opportunities elsewhere?
This session seeks answers to this set of questions to understand contemporary living and work choices of people and households in Europe. It particularly seeks to shift the focus on spatial immobility and resources (e.g. in the neighbourhood) that have helped people and households to cope with the slacked economic situation in place. We are also particularly interested in papers that expand the ‘job’ focus of existing population and employment research through looking at people becoming self-employed in situ or the informal economy.