2024 medal and award recipients announced today, Tuesday 7 May
We’ve won an award!
This morning, the Royal Geographical Society has announced its 2024 medal and award recipients and we are pleased to report that The Ulysses Trust will receive the Geographical Award.
On hearing the news our CEO Polly Marsh said, “The whole team here at The Ulysses Trust are thrilled and honoured to receive ‘The Geographical Award 2024’. For over 30 years, the Trust has ensured that expeditions are within the financial reach of all members of our young cadet and reserve communities – resulting in huge social value and a positive impact on individuals, our communities and our natural world. Thank you to RGS for this recognition – we are truly grateful.”
The medals and awards will be presented at a special ceremony at the Society in London on Monday 3 June.
Below are further details about the medal and awards as well as details of the other winners.
MEDIA RELEASE 2 May 2024
Renowned geographical advocate and government advisor, Dr Vanessa Lawrence CB, and eminent climber and author, Stephen Venables, have been awarded the Society’s two prestigious Royal Medals. These are part of a series of awards that recognise extraordinary achievement in geographical research, fieldwork and expeditions, teaching, policy, professional practice and public engagement.
The Royal Medals, which are of equal standing, have been approved by His Majesty the King, and are among the highest honours of their kind in the world. They have been presented since the 1830s and past recipients include Sir David Attenborough, Dame Fiona Reynolds and Lindsey Hilsum.
Dr Vanessa Lawrence is awarded the 2024 Founder’s Medal for outstanding contributions to the promotion of geography in the UK and internationally. Over a distinguished career, Vanessa has held a number of high-profile appointments and led numerous important initiatives, including at Ordnance Survey where she led the delivery of OS MasterMap, a unique digital map recording every fixed feature in Great Britain larger than a few metres, as Chair of the Geographic Information Panel that produced the Location Strategy of the United Kingdom, and as the inaugural co-chair of the UN Committee of Experts on Global Geospatial Information Management (UN-GGIM).
Nigel Clifford, President of the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG), said: “Vanessa is a tireless advocate for geography who has done a huge amount to support geographers – at all levels – and to further the impact of geography globally. She is also a strong supporter of teachers through the Society and the Geographical Association, and I am delighted that her decades of dedication to the field are being recognised with the Founder’s Medal.”
Dr Vanessa Lawrence said: “I dedicate this honour to everyone who has supported me on my journey of geographical knowledge. ‘Everything happens somewhere’ is a slogan I began to use in 1993 to help communicate the importance of geography to government, business and the public. Today, location data provides the evidence base for the vital decisions we make for our planet, it underpins the essential emergency, health, utility and delivery services we all rely on and it is the core of the satellite navigation systems that guide us safely as we travel. I thank the Royal Geographical Society for the wonderful work it undertakes to promote geography to everyone; without the Society, I would not have progressed from being a 19-year-old student geographer to having the incredible professional privilege of championing the benefits of geography with senior government figures, policymakers and business leaders, tasked with authoritative decision-making around the world.”
Stephen Venables receives the 2024 Patron’s Medal for his lifetime’s contribution to geographical discovery in the high mountains of the world. A pioneer in his field, Stephen is credited with developing a long list of new routes and first ascents, including the demanding route up the East (Kangshung) Face of Mount Everest in 1988, and being the first Briton to climb Everest without supplementary oxygen as a member of a small American-Canadian-British team.
Stephen Venables said: “What a wonderful honour and surprise, to be rewarded for what is essentially having fun – exploring remote corners of the world’s most spectacular mountains, in the company of some of the world’s finest mountaineers.”
Other recipients include Professor Lily Kong, who is awarded the Victoria Medal for demonstrating exceptional intellectual leadership through her scholarship and contributions to the internationalisation of geography, and author and filmmaker Leon McCarron, who is awarded the Cherry Kearton Medal and Award for his work creating projects that champion geography on a broader stage.
ENDS
The full list of the 2024 medals and awards recipients is as follows:
HIS MAJESTY THE KING has approved the award of the ROYAL MEDALS as follows:
| Royal Medal – Founder’s Medal | Dr Vanessa Lawrence, CB For outstanding contributions to the Society and to the promotion of geography in the UK and internationally |
| Royal Medal – Patron’s Medal | Stephen Venables For his lifetime’s contribution to geographical discovery in the high mountains of the world |
THE SOCIETY’S COUNCIL has made the following awards:
| Victoria Medal | Professor Lily Kong For conspicuous merit in social and cultural geography and in urban research |
| Busk Medal | Professor Chris Clark For profound influence on the understanding of glacial systems through the ‘British-Irish Ice Sheet’ reconstruction |
| Cherry Kearton Medal and Award | Leon McCarron For dedication to unearthing the importance, beauty and fragility of natural history |
| Murchison Award | Professor Stefan Doerr For pioneering research influencing policy and management of environmental risks from wildfires |
| Back Award | Professor Peter Hopkins For sustained and outstanding contributions to policy development through research |
| Professional Geography Award | Dr Ed Parsons For excellence in the use of geography in professional practice |
| Geographical Engagement Award | Professor Ed Hawkins, MBE For excellence in public engagement with climate change through ‘Climate Stripes’ |
| Cuthbert Peek Award | Professor Peter Atkinson For scientific advances transforming the understanding of geographical data |
| Gill Memorial Award (two awards) | Dr Iestyn Woolway Dr Kean Fan Lim For exceptional early career research with a remarkable track record of achievement |
| Ordnance Survey Awards (two awards) | Dr Cyrus Golding Fiona Sheriff For excellence in geography education at secondary level |
| Taylor and Francis Award | Professor Daniel Arribas-Bel For excellence in the practice and promotion of teaching in higher education |
| Ness Award | Colonel Chris Hadfield For enhancing the wider understanding of our world and exploration in space |
| Alfred Steers Dissertation Prize | Kelsey Monteith For the undergraduate geography dissertation judged to be the best in 2023: ‘Time is not our master. I will not bow to time on this fair.’ |
| Area Prize (two prizes) | Dr Ana Laura Zavala Guillen For her paper ‘Feeling/thinking the archive: Participatory mapping Marronage’ Manannan Donoghoe For the best article in the journal in 2023 by an early-career researcher – ‘Intimate extraction: Geological matter, extractive afterlives, and the denial of a Black sense of place in Southern Louisiana’ |
| The Sir Ron Cooke Award | Ella Herbert For the best A Level independent investigation (NEA): ‘To what extent are the key players impacting the development of Cambers sand dunes’ |
| Geographical Award | The Ulysses Trust For providing outstanding support for individuals and groups through expeditions |
| Honorary Fellowship | Dr Sophie Bowlby In recognition of outstanding support for geography Steve Brace In recognition of outstanding support for geography and the Society Professor David Higgitt In recognition of outstanding support for geography Dr Tony Juniper CBE In recognition of outstanding support for conservation Carol Lawson In recognition of outstanding support for the Society |
