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'Grand Challenges' BSG (BGRG) 50th Anniversary Conference

Venue: Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers) Duration: Tuesday 31st August - 2nd September 2010

This year is the 50th anniversary of the British Society for Geomorphology (incorporating the British Geomorphological Research Group). As a result, the Society is holding a special 50th Anniversary Meeting, in parallel with the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) Annual Conference.

Paper sessions will run from Tuesday morning to Thursday lunch time. Sessions will be focused on five 50th anniversary challenges, identified at recent BSG meetings:

• simulation and uncertainty;
• providing the baseline: records of environmental change;
• processes at the surface of the Earth;
• connectivity in earth surface systems;
• technological advances.

Leading geomorphologists have been invited from around the world to present a range of keynote or benchmark papers. Other events at the 50th Anniversary Meeting will include the Frost, Linton, Warwick and Wiley lectures. The BSG annual awards ceremony and dinner will be held on the Wednesday evening.

Special events: There will be two special events at the meeting, jointly hosted by the BSG and RGS-IBG.

• The first 30th IGC Lecture will be presented by Professor Will Graf, University of South Carolina.
• A 50th Anniversary Debate will be held as part of the BSG meeting and as the main opening plenary session of the RGS-IBG conference. The debate, to be held on the Tuesday evening will address the question: Fragile environments: are we at a tipping point?

CALL FOR PAPERS: DEADLINE TUESDAY 1ST JUNE 2010

Members of the BSG are invited to submit papers (oral and poster) to be presented at the 50th Anniversary Meeting. The submitting author should indicate which of the five 50th anniversary challenges their contribution to most directly addresses. Postgraduates members are particularly encouraged, and the Society will award a Wiley-Blackwell prize (£100) for the best presentation (oral or poster) by postgraduate at the Conference. Postgraduates are asked to clearly identify themselves on abstract submission. An open session will be timetabled for other contributions.

Abstracts of 250 words, which should include a title, names and addresses of contributors and contact details of the corresponding author / presenter, should be submitted to Professor Bob Allison, Sussex House, University of Sussex, Brighton, BN1 9RH (email: r.j.allison@sussex.ac.uk), no later than Tuesday 1st June 2010.

Conference registration is via the RGS-IBG website: http://www.rgs.org/BSG2010

New Funding Opportunities from the BSG and Wiley-Blackwell

The BSG through the Wiley-Blackwell Fund for 2010 is supporting two initiatives:-

• The development of Research networks in SE Asia and China Click here
• The development of Innovative and emerging techniques in geomorphology Click here

The BSG provides support from the Wiley-Blackwell Fund to facilate BSG involvement at Key Conferences, Meetings or Events. The 2010 BSG call for conference support targets:-

• AGU Fall Meeting (December, San Francisco) North America’s premier geomorphological and geophysics event.Click here

British Society for Geomorphology Awards 2010

The BSG Executive Committee are pleased to report the following Awards for 2010.

David Linton Award: Professor Adrian Harvey, University of Liverpool.  The award recognises the leading contribution by a geomorphologist to the discipline over a sustained period. Prof Adrian Harvey will present the Linton Lecture at the ‘BSG 50th Year Anniversary challenges conference’ in London. Click here

Gordon Warwick Award: Dr Dan Parsons, University of Leeds. The award recognises excellence in geomorphological research by a researcher under 35 years of age or have commenced work on their doctorate not more than 15 years previously. Dr Dan Parsons will present the Warwick Lecture at the ‘BSG 50th Year Anniversary challenges conference’ in London. Click here

Dick Chorley Award: Dr Ian Thrasher, University of Liverpool. The award recognises the most significant original published contribution to geomorphology by a current or recently graduated post-graduate student, and goes to Dr Ian Thrasher for his paper ‘Thrasher IM, Mauz B, Chiverrell RC, Lang A, Thomas GSP. 2009. Testing an approach to OSL dating of Late Devensian glaciofluvial sediments of the British Isles. Journal of Quaternary Science 24: 785–801.’ Click here

Wiley-Blackwell Award for the best paper in Earth Surface Processes and Landforms for 2010 (2009 volume) awarded to Dr Walter Bertoldi (Queen Mary University of London) for the paper ‘Bertoldi, W., Zanoni, L. And Tubino, M. 2009. Planform dynamics of braided streams. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, 34 (4), 547-557.’ Walter Bertoldi has been invited to present the Wiley-Blackwell Lecture at the ‘BSG 50th Year Anniversary challenges conference’ in London.Click here

Nominations for the Awards of the BSG for 2011

Each year the BSG makes four awards in recognition of geomorphological excellence. All BSG Members are encouraged to consider the BSG Awards portfolio and to nominate suitably qualified individuals for the Linton, Warwick and Chorley Awards. The David Linton Award is given to a geomorphologist who has made a leading contribution to the discipline over a sustained period. The Gordon Warwick Award is presented to a younger geomorphologist in recognition of a named publication or set of publications. The Dick Chorley Award is given for the most significant original published contribution to geomorphology by a current or recently graduated post-graduate student. In addition, the Wiley-Blackwell Award is presented to the author(s) of the best paper published in Earth Surface Processes and Landforms in the preceding year, which will be 2009. The Wiley-Blackwell award is adjudicated on by the BSG Research Committee with guidance from the ESP&L Editor and Associate Editors. The Award winner delivers the Wiley-Blackwell lecture at the BSG Annual conference.

The deadline for nominations is 30th September 2010, with the winners announced in early November. These deadlines have been moved earlier than in previous years, to enable better forward planning. The Linton and Warwick winners are invited to present the respective Award lectures at the BSG Annual Conference and to contribute a ‘State of Science’ paper to Earth Surface Processes and Landforms (January Issue of the following year). Awards of this nature are increasingly of great importance given the weight placed upon indicators of esteem in Research Quality assessments. Further details (eligibility and selection criteria) and the nominations forms are available from the BSG website: http://www.geomorphology.org.uk/pages/awards/. Jeff Warburton Awards – BSG Research Committee

Future BSG Annual General Meetings