The Ethos and Culture of IGC2024

IGC2024 brings geographers together from around the world. The Local Organsing Committee want to enhance this spirit of togetherness by promoting an inclusive, engaged, respectful, caring and principled ethos and culture.

  • Inclusive: The Congress theme is ‘Celebrating a World of Difference’. We do this by creating an inclusive Congress that respects difference, and supports and values different perspectives, knowledges, and backgrounds.
  • Engaged: Please engage constructively with others by listening carefully an making space for meaningful interactions for all Congress participants.
  • Respectful: We encourage Congress participants to be respectful towards people and place. This includes behaving respectfully towards other participants, staff and volunteers, both in-person and online. It also includes treating Congress venues and the wider urban area and natural environment with respect.
  • Caring: Please look out for each other by making people feel welcome, by including new people in existing networks and by seeing to develop new connections between people.
  • Principled: We expect Congress participants to act honestly and with integrity in presenting work and engaging with the work of others.

Our Sustainability Focus

Sustainability and the sustainable use of resources, including reducing overall consumption, is the theme central to geographical research. The IGC2024 Local Organising Committee appointed a Sustainability Officer last year and we have been working to ensure that sustainable practices are embedded throughout the Congress and to encourage delegates to think and consider their own choices and environmental impacts. Some include:

  • Funding raised through the optional Environmental Levy for delegates will be used to support carbon in-setting initiatives on university campuses in Ireland as a legacy of the Congress.
  • Digital access ONLY through the conference app and online programme of programme materials, removing the need for printing.
  • Procurement of sustainable badges and lanyards for all delegates.
  • Encouraging delegates to bring their own water bottles and providing water refill stations and no single-use plastics.
  • Hosting the conference at Dublin City University which is part of the Dublin City Council de-carbonsing zone and creating a festival feel on campus to minimise the need for onward transport.
  • Managing food waste by requiring pre-notification if delegates do not require lunch on certain days.