KEYNOTE SPEAKERS
PROGRAMME AND FIELD TRIPS
IAG Equity Statement for Joint NZGS/IAG Conference
The IAG and NZGS conference space aims to be a convivial, intellectually stimulating, inclusive, diverse, and safe space where everybody feels equally welcome. Creating such a space is the responsibility of everyone, even as we recognise that it can be quite difficult and challenging to put into practice, given complex intersections of race, Indigeneity, ethnicity, disability, neurodiversity, gender, sexuality, sex characteristics, class, caste, skin colour, age, citizenship/visa status, nationality and religion, for example.
Geographers who explore place, space and scale as sites of differences, encounters, justices and progressive political imaginaries emphasise the importance of practices that create everyday equalities. Central to equality is dignity, respect, generosity, collegiality, shared responsibility and the deferral of quick judgements.
During the conference we ask you to be mindful of these principles as we act and engage individually and collectively in often unfamiliar environments and in passionate scholarship. Proactively watch out for those who stand on the sidelines who might feel hypervisible, invisible, hurt, unsafe, harassed or discriminated against by our everyday acts and environments. It is our responsibility as geographers to ensure equity, diversity and inclusion. We welcome feedback (at the time or privately) as part of our individual and disciplinary learning.
Some suggestions for more equitable and safer spaces at the joint NZGS/IAG conference might include
When presenting, situate yourself in relation to your research interests, topic, participants, and the places in which you live and work.
In sessions, pay attention to when and how much you are speaking.
In sessions, ask generative questions with curiosity, humility and respect.
FIELD TRIPS, WORKSHOPS, & PRE-CONFERENCE EVENTS
Field trips and workshops may have limited numbers.
6 December Pre Conference Events in Pōneke Wellington
Geographers for Palestine – Connecting Places and Organising Together
Session Convenor/s: Aotearoa Geographers for Palestine and IAG Geographers for Palestine
Corresponding email for session convenors: Amanda.Thomas@vuw.nz
Timing: Timing: 9:30am for coffee and connecting, 10am start, 4pm finish. Lunch provided. Note that this is taking place on Sunday 6 December to avoid clashing with ECR pre-conference event that is taking place on Monday 7 December. Registration fee: NZD$20 payable through conference registration.
The geographies of Aotearoa and so-called Australia are entwined with Palestine – through settler colonial structures, flows of capital, and militarism, but equally through radical traditions of organising for liberation and justice. In this workshop we will split the day between exploring these connections and participating in some facilitated organising activities that turn us towards action and strengthen the connections between our communities. The first part of the day will involve a range of speakers, from publishing groups making Palestinian political thought accessible to Aotearoa, to people connecting Indigenous struggles across space and those organising BDS campaigns. The second part of the day will be dedicated to planning for the following 18 months. By the end of the day, we will have mapped out a plan for building a committed, successful BDS movement across geography communities in Aotearoa and Australia. We invite anyone with an interest in learning more about and acting on the already-existing connections between our places and Palestine, and / or the willingness to organise for a liberated Palestine to register for this pre-conference workshop. The groups organising this workshop are committed to ending all forms of oppression, and that ethic will flow through the day.
Note that this workshop will take place in Pōneke Wellington, which is a two hour drive from Te Papaioea Palmerston North. If there is enough interest, the workshop organisers will arrange shared transport to the conference at the end of the workshop.
Key Words: Palestine, solidarity, scholar-activism
7 December Pre Conference Events in Papaioea, Palmerston North
Introducing Indigenous Geographies
Session Convenor/s: Bhiamie Williamson, Monash University & Crystal Arnold, The University of Wollongong
Specialty Group: IAG Indigenous Geographies Study Group
Corresponding email for session convenors: crystala@uow.edu.au
Time: 1-4pm
This workshop brings together Indigenous and allied geographers from both Australia and Aotearoa to explore the emerging field of Indigenous Geographies. Building on a workshop held in Australia, this workshop invites delegates to consider the opportunities made available by embracing Indigenous Geographies, and the methodological implications for the discipline more broadly. This workshop will begin by introducing the field of Indigenous Geographies, reflect on the Australian workshop, before then considering practical examples of its application in research projects. It will highlight the shared cultural and epistemological foundations and produce methodological innovations. This workshop proposes that Indigenous Geographies represents a practical expression of decolonial methodologies while embedding Indigenous standpoint within the discipline of Geography. We invite delegates to consider the convergences and divergences between Indigenous Geographies and allied sub-disciplines such as human-, physical-, cultural-, feminist-geographies, and more. Delegates will walk out with a greater understanding of this new area of geographic research, and perhaps grow the cohort as more Indigenous geographers see their own unique and valued place within the environmental humanities.
Key Words: Indigenous Geography, Decolonial Methodologies
14th Mobilities Aotearoa Symposium - "Mobilities and Work: Across Lands, Seas and Skies"
Session Convenor/s: Maria Borovnik, Massey University
Specialty Group: Mobilities Aotearoa Network
Corresponding email for session convenors: M.Borovnik@massey.ac.nz
Timing: 9.30am to 5.30pm, which we will then follow by a dinner for anyone interested joining. Abstract Submission: Please submit your abstract (maximum 250 words) to Maria Borovnik, Email: M.Borovnik@massey.ac.nz by 15th July 2026. Your submission should include your name, contact details, paper title, abstract, and a few key words. Additionally, please provide a brief (50 words) biographical note. Note that registration for this event is separate from the NZGS/IAG conference.
This year’s Mobilities Aotearoa Symposium is themed "Mobilities and Work: Across Lands, Seas and Skies". This theme acknowledges mobile occupations that are shore based, maritime related or up in the air. Invited are interdisciplinary papers that explore how work is articulated and encompassed by mobilities, which can include people, ideas, knowledge, resources, things, and/or the intersection between human and more-than-human mobilities. Topics may include but are not limited to: everyday experiences of mobile work, work and immobilities, migrant work, mobile occupations affecting health and wellbeing, mobile work and time, migrant rights and mobility justice, border crossing for work, seasonal, temporary and circulatory work, mobile work and gender, multicultural, postcolonial and racial issues in occupational mobilities, interacting with more-than-human mobilities, work and weather, work and the environment, work related mobilities and affect. Submissions are invited that present work in progress or completed research on these or similar topics. Contributors are encouraged to consider how their research builds on and contributes to the existing literature, including critical mobility studies, applied mobilities, Indigenous mobilities, mobility justice, among others.
Key Words: (im)mobilities, work and globalisation, multilocal work
NZGS Early Career Research Network Workshop
Session Convenor/s: Ben Lilly, Heather Paterson-Shallard
Specialty Group: NZGS ECRN
Corresponding email for session convenors: ECRN Representatives nzgsecrn@gmail.com
Timing: 12.30 – 3.30pm
Details coming soon.
Community Economies Research Network
Session Convenor/s: Jenny Cameron, Bhavya Chitranshi, Katherine Gibson, Nikolai Siimes, Community Economies Research Network Aotearoa and Australia
Specialty Group: Community Economies Institute and Community Economies Research Network
Corresponding email for session convenors: jenny.cameron@communityeconomies.org
Timing: 9-12pm main session. 12-5pm for those not going to other events
Key Words: Sensory ethnography, Hope, Forest therapy, Co-creation, Relational wellbeing
Health Geography Study Group Workshop
Session Convenor/s: Neil Coffee and Ivan Hanigan, Deakin University and Curtin University
Specialty Group: IAG Health Geography Study Group
Corresponding email for session convenors: n.coffee@deakin.edu.au
Timing: One day
A one day pre conference workshop for health geographers to share research outcomes, directions and foster collaboration and development of health geography.
Key Words: Health Geography, spatial analysis, GIS, qualitative research, quantitative research
Nature, Risk and Resilience Study Group
Session Convenor/s: Natasha Pauli, University of Western Australia; Lisa de Kleyn, La Trobe University; Rachael Walshe, University of Canberra
Specialty Group: Nature, Risk and Resilience Study Group
Corresponding email for session convenors: natasha.pauli@uwa.edu.au
Timing: 2 hours
A pre-conference session for study group members and interested parties. The session will focus on discussing current research trends and priorities for the study group.
Legal Geography Workshop
Session Convenor/s: John Carr, Brad Jessup, University of New South Wales, University of Melbourne
Specialty Group: Legal Geography Study Group (LGSG)
Corresponding email for session convenors: john.carr@unsw.edu.au
Timing: One day
On December 7, the Legal Geography Study Group of the IAG will be hosting an informal one-day legal geography workshop in advance of the 2026 IAG/NZGS Conference in Palmerston North, New Zealand - Aotearoa, and you are invited!
The workshop will include a keynote presentation by Estair Van Wagner from University of Victoria’s Faculty of Law, who will be presenting, “From Hope to Belonging: Re-Placing Property in a More-Than-Human World.” Estair’s research explores hope in the context of urban decolonization, focusing on housing and promoting rights to housing, and in self-determination promoting reordering of property systems to increase livelihoods for Indigenous people.
Our preliminary workshop schedule currently includes:
· A round table discussion on “Hope and praxis in legal geography,”
· A workshop for experienced, early and pre-career academics to discuss their projects, papers, and career trajectories with participants who are at different stages in their careers,
· An opportunity to present research in progress and get feedback, and,
· Ample opportunity to socialize and meet informally.
We hope to see you there!
New Zealand Geographical Society
General: admin@nzgs.co.nz
Membership: membership@nzgs.co.nz
