I hope that you and your loved ones are all well and now safely working from home where possible. To those of you that are out helping the essential services efforts – our thanks and gratitude for all your support in this uncertain time.
It was only a couple of months ago in our Annual Review that I wrote the following:
“Call it what you will – geospatial, place or location. Understanding “where” in our world has never been more relevant or important. Thinking geographically is vital if we are to truly understand and act upon the challenges faced by the planet and its people”
Little did I know that such a crisis would unfold that illustrates how critical the work of the geospatial community is to understanding and managing global disasters.
Like many organisations it is with much regret that we will be canceling or postponing all scheduled in person events until after the Summer. This includes the annual AGI Northern Ireland conference and our 30th Anniversary celebration.
However, after careful consideration by Council, we will continue to plan and promote the AGI GeoCymru annual conference, due to be held at the Principality Stadium, Cardiff on 9th October 2020, as well as our annual conference #GeoCom20 event due to be held at the Royal Geographical Society, London on 17th November 2020 – please save the dates! These are uncertain times and this decision will be reviewed on a month by month basis, taking into account the recommendations of the UK Government.
It has been heartening to hear of the response from many of the individuals and organisations within our membership offering new services, research, data, education and knowledge sharing to help in so many different ways during the COVID-19 outbreak. If you are one of these members and would like to share what you are doing more broadly with the AGI community and beyond, please email us at info@agi.org.uk and we will do our best to share this as widely as possible.
We are conscious of the words in our new mission statement and are keen to support you all as we all transition into this online working world. Some members have already approached us with ideas on how to inspire our membership to continue towards becoming a thriving geospatial community in the UK. We will provide more information on this over the coming weeks. If you have an idea you would like to share please contact me at chair@agi.org.uk.
Please note AGI is operating as usual with continuity measures in place for remote working, so member services are not disrupted.
Be well, stay safe and please stay in contact.
Kind regards,
Denise McKenzie
Chair, AGI Council