News

Royal Geographical Society honours Professor Ray Hudson

(24 June 2005)

Professor Ray Hudson of Durham University has been awarded the Victoria Medal by the Royal Geographical Society for research on regional and industrial change in the UK and wider Europe.

This is the highest award made by the Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers) in recognition of sustained top-quality research. Professor Hudson is Director of the Wolfson Institute which is based at the Uinversity’s Queen’s Campus, Stockton.

Professor Hudson’s main teaching and research interests are in political-economic geography, particularly geographies of production and the politics and policies of territorial development. In recent years his research interests have evolved in two further directions to look at a growing interest in a variety of community, informal and "third sector" initiatives intended to regenerate places that have suffered from industrial decline.

A growing interest in the intersections of the economy and nature and of conceptualising production as a process of material transformations of elements of the natural world via human labour, organised within specific political and economic parameters. This is also developing to encompass consideration of perceptions of environmental impacts and risks associated with economic activity.

Professor Hudson said : “I am greatly honoured to have been awarded this prestigious medal by my professional body and to have the privilege to support the work of the University through the Wolfson Institute.”

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For further information contact : Professor Ray Hudson Tel 0191 334 0070 e-mail ray.hudson@durham.ac.uk

Media enquiries to : Tom Fennelly, Public Relations Office Durham University Tel 0191 334 6078 e-mail: t.p.fennelly@durham.ac.uk

Notes to editors :

1. The Wolfson Research Institute is based in a purpose-built building on the University's Queen's Campus, at Stockton-on-Tees. Queens Campus opened in 1992, developing a range of science-based and interdisciplinary undergraduate courses (for example, in Human Sciences and Biomedical Sciences) that complemented those on offer at the Durham campus. Having consolidated the provision of undergraduate courses, from 1998 the focus switched more to developing research activities at Queen's Campus. These culminated in the establishment of the Wolfson Research Institute in a new building, containing a mixture of heavily- and lightly serviced laboratories and offices in November 2001, with substantial funding from the Wolfson foundation and from the European Union via the European Regional Development Fund.

2. The Institute was designed to focus on research on health, medicine and the environment, and the links between them, in this way providing synergies with the undergraduate teaching programmes there. As well as helping meet the University's aim of delivering top quality research, the Wolfson Research Institute was also intended to help strengthen links with the surrounding region and contribute to regional socio-economic regeneration.

3. The Royal Geographical Society uses its prestigious Medals and Awards to recognise excellence in a wide variety of areas relating to Geography and to the understanding of our world. Recipients join a prestigious list of previous winners that include names such as Sir Alexander Burnes, David Livingstone, Alfred Russel Wallace, Captain R. Scott and more recently Professor Peter Haggett and Sir Crispin Tickell.

4. The Royal Geographical Society (with The Institute of British Geographers) is the Learned Society representing Geography and geographers. It was founded in 1830 for the advancement of geographical science and has been among the most active of the learned societies ever since. The largest geographical society in Europe and one of the largest in the world, the RGS-IBG operates at a regional, national and international scale.

5. The Society supports research, education and training, together with the wider public understanding and enjoyment of Geography. With its focus on society and environment, Geography is one of the most popular subjects in formal education and highly relevant to both life-long learning and fulfilment from travel.

6. The Society has a membership of approximately 13,300, a world renowned reputation, and a programme of activities which extend far beyond its membership. Over 150 lectures and conferences are organised each year including a major 4-day residential conference, and a renowned programme of popular lectures for the Geography enthusiast.