European Geography Association

EGEA - European Geography Association

Founded	1987
Founder	Students from the universities of Barcelona, Warszawa and Utrecht
Type	Network for geography students and young geographers
Location	Utrecht, Netherlands
Area served	Europe
Slogan	Experience Geography, Explore Europe

The European Geography Association, abbreviated EGEA, is a European network of geography students and young geographers, with the intention of exchanging geographical knowledge. To achieve this, the entities of EGEA organize congresses, exchanges between the entities, national weekends, excursions, and a scientific magazine is published.^[1] The main communication platform is the website (www.egea.eu).

The aims of EGEA are to offer personal development opportunities to young geographers across Europe, and enable them to fulfill their potential as young scientists. EGEA provides complementary and alternative learning opportunities, beyond formal education of geography. This is done by encouraging and enabling involvement in intercultural interaction, as well as by development of academic, scientific, cultural and professional activities intended for young geographers on terms of equality, diversity and non-discrimination. EGEA actively contributes towards the promotion of geography through its network capabilities and through strategic partnerships, with the ultimate goal to strengthen geography’s place in members’ local communities.

History

In 1987, students from the universities of Warsaw, Barcelona and Utrecht met with the idea to start an association to exchange their geographical knowledge between several countries in Europe. One year later, in 1988, EGEA was officially registered as a foundation with chair in Utrecht. In 1996 the first website of EGEA was launched. The homepage would become the central meeting point for all EGEA members across Europe. At the 2009 General Assembly in Heeg a change of EGEA's legal status was decided. Since then EGEA is working as an association. Until 2014 EGEA has grown from its initial three entities to a current number of 90 entities in 36 different countries.

Activities

There are several local, national, and international activities organized by the entities of EGEA. The main events of the year are the congresses. Other annual events are national weekends and summer schools. In addition, entities organize their own events. The spectrum of content of these events reaches from scientific seminars or excursions to events where the main focus lies on getting together. A high popularity among EGEAns are exchanges between entities.

Congresses

Every year five congresses take place. There are four Regional Congresses in spring, organized by one or more entities in each region. However, the most important event of the association is the Annual Congress, that is held in September.

The Congresses always include workshops, excursions, trainings, and lectures with a scientific background. There are also meetings for Contact Persons of the entities and regional or international assemblies.

Exchanges

Students exchanges are the core activities of EGEA. They enable small groups from 2 or 3 EGEA entities to visit each other in their countries, learn about culture, explore the habits, nature and many interesting places in visiting countries. What is most important, they make young geography students getting to know their international peers. Following the agreement, one entity is hosting the other one. During the hosting time young people take care of the accommodation, food, and programme. Later on, the hosting entity becomes the visiting one and repays the visit. Exchanges are numerously the most attended activities, when taking into consideration number of events taking place every year.

Scientific Symposium

Each year at the Annual Congress there is also a scientific symposium, where the members are able to present their scientific work, for example diploma or PhD theses.

Seminars

There are a few seminars every year, always organized by several entities. The seminars are held on a scientific level that cover different themes in the particular disciplines of geography.

Summer-/Winterschools

During the semester breaks in summer and winter EGEA also gives students the chance to participate at self-organized summer- or winterschools.

Weekend Activities

The national or international weekend activities are organized by an entity. In most cases there is a main theme to show particular regional or local characteristics. The programme can be scientific or have a more informal level. Some of the regional weekend activities, such as those in the Baltic states, the Slavic countries, Germany, the Benelux countries, the Iberian peninsula and the Balkans, are mainly aimed at people from that region, whereas other weekends are open to all EGEA members.

Structure

EGEA is divided into four administrative regions: the North & Baltic, the Eastern, the Western and the Euro-Mediterranean regions. Every region elects a new Regional Contact Person each year. As helping hands they have one or more Regional Assistants. Together they form the Regional Teams. The function of Regional Contact Person was introduced in 2012 to relieve EGEA's board members of coordinating the regions.

Regions

North & Baltic Region

This region is located in Northern Europe around the Baltic Sea. Entities that belong there are situated in: Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway and Russia. The countries in this region that currently don't have active entities are Iceland and Sweden.

Eastern Region

The Eastern Region is the largest geographic region in EGEA. Part of this region are the entities of Poland, Ukraine, Moldova, Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Russia (except Saint Petersburg).

Western Region

By members and entities the Western Region is the largest administrative region of EGEA. It comprises the British Isles, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Switzerland, Austria and parts of France. The country in this region that currently doesn't have an active entity is Luxembourg.

Euro-Mediterranean Region

This region contains all entities of countries that are located around the Mediterranean Sea. There are entities in Spain, France, Italy, Malta, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Serbia, Macedonia, Greece, Israel and Turkey.

Board of EGEA

The Board consists of five persons, four of whom fulfill the functions of president, vice-president, secretary and treasurer. These four board members are elected by the General Assembly out of members from the Association. A representative of the entity chosen to organize the Annual Congress was also a member of the board, but this latter position was replaced by an elected Public Relations and Event Advisor at the General Assembly of 2015. The board represents and is the executive body of the Association. The board is supported by the Secretariat Director whose seat is the office at the EGEA Headquarters in Utrecht. This position was first created in 2005 and contrived by the entity of Utrecht.

)* until 2012 Annual Congress Organiser, then until 2015 Annual Congress Coordinator.

Regional Contact Persons

The four regional contact persons maintain the contact between the entities in their respective regions and the European board.

Committees

EGEA has several committees, carrying out important work to keep the association up and running. Currently the following committees are active within EGEA:^[2]

Partners

EGEA has several partnerships^[3] with organizations like EUROGEO, IFISO, IAAS, ISHA,^[4] StudyPortals^[5] and a think tank focused on subjects related to young people, ThinkYoung. Furthermore, there is a partnership to a program by the EU, "Youth in Action"^[6] as well as a partnership to a program by the Council of Europe, "European Youth Forum". There are also strong cooperations with ESRI, a supplier of GIS programs, and with the Utrecht University.^[3]

References

External links

Official web pages of:

• European Geography Association (EGEA)
• ESRI
• University of Utrecht
• European Association of Geographers (EUROGEO)
• International Association of students in Agricultural and related Sciences (IAAS)
• Informal Forum of International Student Organizations (IFISO)
• StudyPortals
• ThinkYoung
• Youth in Action
• European Youth Forum

Other links:

• European Geographer Magazines