The IGU Commission on Population Geography plans once again to sponsor and actively promote some themed sessions at the bi-annual international population conference to be held in Umeå, Sweden in 2011. The Commission proposes three themed sessions linked to the commission’s core interests in ‘Population and Difference’ and ‘Population and Vulnerability’.

A. Population and Difference

This theme provides an opportunity for dialogue on a range of demographic issues pertinent to the present context of globalization. The theme emphasizes the rethinking of ‘population’ as a heterogeneous concept open to constant reworkings through diverse socio-cultural, political, and economic framings. The interest here is to interrogate the various intersecting inflections of ‘difference’ within population studies – age, nationality, ethnicity, race, class, gender, sexuality,  etc. – and to appreciate how these arise from the shifting imaginaries, practices and experiences of inclusions and exclusions between groups and across geographic scales.

Papers on any aspect of the theme are welcome, but (given the location of the conference) researchers are especially encouraged to offer papers on two sub-themes: 

1. 1. Population and Difference in Remote Rural and Marginal Environments

Key questions might be ‘How do remote rural and marginal environments ‘make’ populations different?’ and ‘How is ‘difference’ experienced, negotiated and resisted in these geographical contexts?’

1. 2. Mobilities and Difference

Key questions might include ‘To what extent does migration intensify the social and economic divides of sending and receiving locations?’ and ‘How does mobility make possible new ways of connecting across difference?’

B. Population and Vulnerability

This theme has been explored in several IGU Commission meetings over the last few years including conferences on topics as diverse as ‘making sense of vulnerability’, ‘risks and hazards’, ‘climate change’, ‘successful ageing’ and ‘marriage migration’.

Once again papers on any aspect of the Population and Vulnerability theme are welcome (see Population, Space and Place, vol 11, pages 429–39 for a mapping of the topic), but the commission would be especially glad to welcome papers by geographers with a focus on how vulnerability is produced, reproduced and resisted by Asylum Seekers and Refugees.

Offers of papers on any of these themes should be directed to Professor Allan Findlay (a.m.findlay@dundee.ac.uk). Enquiries about the conference should be sent to Gunnar Malmberg (gunnar.malmberg@geography.umu.se) by February 20^th 2011. Authors of papers should indicate that the papers are intended for the IGU themed sessions listed above.

14- 17 June 2011, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden

Deadline for abstract submission 20th of February 2011

We are happy to invite you to the Sixth International Conference on Population Geographies, to be held at the University Campus in Umeå, Sweden June 14th to 17th.

Although designed for geographers, contributions are welcome from those who would not regard themselves as population geographers, but are working in pertinent research areas. Speakers are welcome from other disciplines including Demography, Sociology, Economics, History, Anthropology, Epidemiology etc who are interested in broadly geographical aspects of population.

A very warm welcome to Umeå in June!!

The conference is organized by Umeå University and The Department of Social and Economic Geography and Centre for Population Studies.

For more information, visit the conference website below:

http://eventus.trippus.se/populationgeographies

The Population Geography Research Group (PopGRG) invites proposals for sessions at the RGS-IBG Annual International Conference in London, 31^st August-3^rd September 2011.

The conference theme is the geographical imagination.

Sessions may take the form of presented papers, panels, practitioner forums, discussions or workshops.  Innovative sessions and formats are encouraged.

Sessions are 1 hour 40 minutes long.   Most sessions will contain five 20-minute presentations which include time for questions, or four 20-minute presentations with discussion and questions at the end.  Interactive short papers sessions (5 to 10 min presentations with plenary discussion at the end) usually accommodate up to 8 papers.

To apply for a PopGRG sponsored session, please forward your proposal (max. 350 words), the name of the session convenor(s), and the session format (e.g. panel, paper session, discussion) to Joanna Sage (j.sage:lboro.ac.uk) by Friday 26^th November 2010.

ANGLO-IRISH POPULATION CONFERENCE 12-13 MAY 2010

Contemporary Labour Migration: National and International Perspectives

Hosted by NUI Galway under the auspices of the Population Geography Research Group of the RGS-IBG and Population Commission of the International Geographical Union

Papers are invited for an Anglo-Irish population conference on Labour Migration. Whilst there is a focus on Ireland and the UK, papers that address the broad conference themes in other geographical contexts will be most welcome.

Major changes have taken place in the scale and character of labour migration in the UK and Ireland since the early 1990s, involving both national and international workers. Established patterns of movement have continued within and between rural and urban regions; both countries also experienced dramatic increases in overseas labour immigration from the early 1990s on, to fill vacancies in highly skilled and lower skilled employment. Both countries, with Sweden, opened their borders immediately in 2004 to members of the new accession states of the European Union to meet labour deficits. In response to reduced rates of economic growth since 2008, demand for labour has fallen and new challenges have emerged for labour, employers and governments. New migration patterns are apparent, associated with migrant return to countries of origin and relocation within and between regions. Ireland and the UK provide similarities but also contrasts in terms of labour migration, in particular the diversity of the former’s immigrant flows. Both countries are currently facing crises in their labour markets which are finding expression in changing migration patterns, a phenomenon that is not exclusive to them. This experience provides a context for exploring and developing existing and new theoretical perspectives relating to internal and international migration.

Papers are invited on the following themes in particular:

(i) the socio-economic and political contexts of recent labour migration, including the role of employers, national governments and international agencies in the migration process;
(ii) the composition of migration flows at an international scale and impacts in source and reception areas;
(iii) the internal and transnational labour migration experience within urban and rural settings;
(iv) the transnational labour migrant experience in the broader host society.

Abstracts (max. 300 words) are invited by Tuesday 6th April 2010: http://www.conference.ie/Conferences/index.asp?Conference=90.

Guest Speaker: Professor Adrian J. Bailey, University of Leeds and Hong Kong Baptist University will deliver a plenary address on Recession, Labour Migration, and Europe’s Transnational Turn, at 18:30 on 12th May, in the D’Arcy Thompson Theatre.

Graduate Bursaries: A limited number of graduate bursaries are available on a competitive basis to cover the cost of the registration fee, (sponsored by the Dean of Arts, Social Sciences & Celtic Studies): http://www.conference.ie/Conferences/index.asp?Conference=90.

Registration commences at 10:30 on Wednesday 12th May followed by buffet lunch at 12:00.  The Conference opens at 13:00 on the 12th May and closes at 17:00 on Thursday 13th of May.
Conference web site:
http://www.conference.ie/Conferences/index.asp?Conference=90

Organisers
Darren Smith, Chair, RGS-IBG Population Geography Research Group  d.smith@brighton.ac.uk
Mary Cawley: mary.cawley@nuigalway.ie
Marie Mahon: marie.mahon@nuigalway.ie
Valerie Ledwith: valerie.ledwith@nuigalway.ie
School of Geography and Archaeology, National University of Ireland, Galway

The Anglo-Irish Population Conference, under the auspices of the Population Geography Research Group of the RGS-IBG and Population Commission of the International Geographical Union, will take place on 12-13 May, 2010. The theme this year is:  Contemporary labour migration: national and international perspectives to be held at the National University of Ireland, Galway.

Papers are invited, consisting of abstracts of maximum 300 words. The deadline for submission is 12th March 2010.

For submissions and further inforamtion please see: www.nuigalway.ie/labour_migration/conference/

The 2010 BSPS Conference will be held at the University of Exeter from 13-15 September. Preliminary abstracts of papers – which may be in the form of declarations of intent- are invited. These abstracts are to be of a maximum of 250 words in length with a provisional title. The deadline for submission is 30th April 2010. Submission itself is online at the following site:

https://www.survey.bris.ac.uk/lsewebsite/bsps2010/

More information is available in this pdf.

The Health Geography Research Group (HGRG) of the RGS have announced a call for papers for a number of sessions due to take place in the coming year’s annual Royal Geographcial Society- Institute of British Geographers conference.

The sessions cover the following themes:

• Healthy Countrysides?: exploring geographies of rural health
• Healthy Places
• Geographies of (dis)ability, (ill) health, emotion and affect
• ‘Geographers helping’ – Undertaking fieldwork through a participatory role in the ‘helping’ professions
• Body to Body: geographies of donation and transplantation
• Climate Change Adaptation and Human Health
• The Spatial Dimensions of Health

More information on these sessions, including abstracts, deadline (1st of Feb 2010) etc, here.

More information on all sessions at the RGS here.

The annual PopFest conference, a conference specifically open to postgraduates from all disciplines across the social
sciences studying any aspect of population, has announced a call for papers for its 2010 conference in St. Andrews.

Full details of the programme are still to be confirmed but will include: parallel sessions running over three days, poster presentations, keynote speaker addresses, and this year will offer an innovative panel session, allowing with contributors drawn from a range of backgrounds (e.g. public sector and charity) showing how aspects of population studies might be applied in different contexts.

The first call for papers has now been made, and is open to all postgraduate researchers engaged in the study of human populations from any social science discipline. Submissions for works-in-progress or completed reports are all welcome.

Themes might include, but are certainly not limited to:
*Health and populations
*Migration
*Reproductive and sexual behaviour
*Social participation and active citizenship
*Fertility and contraception
*Childhood and youth
*Innovative data uses and methodological approaches in population studies

Oral presentations will be 15 minutes long with 5 minutes for questions. There will also be one dedicated poster session.

For full details of the event including a downloadable call for papers, submission guidelines, how to register, how to arrange accommodation, travel information, information about the area and details of the organising committee, please visit: www.popfest.org.uk

You can also register for email updates about the event, and contact the organisers directly with any questions via popfest2010@st-andrews.ac.uk

A call for papers has been issues for a Special Edition of Espace, Populations, Sociétés (December 2010).

Espaces, Populations, Sociétés is an interdisciplinary and international journal, and has published original contributions in French, English and Spanish since 1983. Espaces, Populations, Sociétés is a thematic journal, with each issue focussing on a specific topic.

In this special issue the aim is to present a variety of empirical and conceptual papers which illuminate risks for health in societies, as operating at and across different geographic levels from the local, regional, national and international levels, and in developing and developed countries.

Papers are sought which address risks for health in societies in various ways, through the development of theoretical and conceptual frameworks, analysis of primary or secondary empirical data, qualitative or quantitative review of existing literature, or policy analysis. For example, this might include:

-     The unequal distribution of risks for health within and across societies, vulnerability and resilience

-     The influence of social, economic, cultural and policy context for risk and health

-     New and emerging (infectious) diseases and sanitary crisis

-     New risks and uncertainties for health

-     The impact of globalisation on health

The co-editors of the thematic issue on Health, Risk, and Society are: Alain Vaguet, Department of Geography, University of Rouen (Upper Normandy), France. Laboratory CNRS-IDEES, 6266. Mylene Riva, Department of Geography, Institute of Hazard and Risk Research, and the Wolfson Research Institute, Durham University, UK.

Ideas should initially be submitted in the form of a 350 word abstract by 15th January 2010, send by email to alain.vaguet@univ-rouen.fr and mylene.riva@durham.ac.uk.  Decision of acceptance of abstracts is 15th February 2010. Final date for submitting articles will be April 30th 2010.

The University of Southhampton are hosting a workshop on ‘fertility and poverty: micro and macro linkages’ from 28th to 29th January 2010.

Papers are being invited that address the following:

i) New evidence on the linkages between fertility and poverty (at both macro and micro levels)
ii) Barriers to contraceptive use and safe abortion amongst those living in poverty
iii) Evidence on the intergenerational flow of wealth and high fertility as insurance for old-age security hypothesis
iv) Interventions and strategies for meeting high unmet need for family planning among the under-served that have worked (e.g. male involvement, voucher schemes, social marketing)
v) Methodological advances in measuring unmet need for family planning

more details here