CERN at RGS

Members of the Community Economies Research Network were active participants at the recent Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers) conference, in September 2026 in London. 

The conference was attended by around 2,600 people from 70 countries and there were over 600 sessions. 

CERN members presented on topics as diverse as farmers and climate adaptation in Wales (Sophie Wynne-Jones), political economies of plant protection (Nikolai Siimes), local markets in Italy (Vidjaya Thelan), community composting (Clytie Binder), community economies in rural Cambodia (Katharine McKinnon), emplaced sustainability (Elizabeth (Za) Barron) and social and solidarity economies and just transitions (Pete North).

The theme of the conference was 'Geographies of Inequalities: Toward Just Places,' and the theme was introduced in a framing paper by Chair of the Conference Peter Hopkins (University of Newcastle).

The conference was not without contention, as CEI Member Pete North writes in his reflection below on the conference. 

Reflections from Pete North (Professor of Alternative Economies, University of Liverpool)

The presentations by CERN members showed that community economies scholarship is alive and vibrant, and for me provided a valuable alternative to the overall theme of the conference, inequality—and in particular the huge increases in inequalities in the last decades. 

At times there was perhaps more of an emphasis on critique, and it is not exactly news that inequality is increasing. CERN research focuses more on thick description focused on possibilities, refusing to know too much and call the shots, asking questions, focusing on what could be (if not what yet is) and not on what we already know—that things are bad and numbing. That said, I did not go to many of the key notes as I was more focused on more hopeful and generative material.

Other themes throughout the conference included the lack of care for scholars of colour brought to the fore by the hounding and eventual suicide of Jason Arday. Jason had been asked to speak at the conference but had withdrawn. 

It was also troubling to hear so much research documenting the extent to which right wing reactionary politics is gaining ground. A contentious paper on the Southport race riot written by Dr Kawtar Najiban, an early career scholar of colour, brought out contentious issues and led to a demand that the Chair of the Conference Peter Hopkins should resign (and this debate played out on geographical discussion fora) 

Thinking about how community economy scholarship can help both challenge these positions and document more hopeful alternatives feels like one useful way of responding. During the conference, CERN members reflected on how to debate contentious issues and negotiate disagreements with an ethics of care while supporting and nurturing early career colleagues and scholars of colour. 

Conferences can be overwhelming, with presentations by established scholars looking at times rather performative and based on what some would call ‘masculinist’ critique rather being oriented towards caring for and nourishing possibilities. CERN members discussed how to navigate this, and how to take your time and give yourself space. An evening meal provided a welcome respite (for those able to take it without the demands of our little people who did not necessarily respond to the childcare offer as enthusiastically as we would like!). This was a great opportunity to catch up with old friends and meet new friends who share academic interests and ways of seeing the world. 

In our discussions, what also stood out was the intensity of the continued grind of austerity and neoliberalism affecting everyone, and the palpable feeling of precarity—if not outright exclusion from the opportunity to start an academic career that cruelly affects so many younger academics. It made us reflect on how important it is that the CERN community continues to foster positive and supportive spaces for CERN members.

See some of you next year in Bristol!

CERN members, seated left to right: Pete North, Elizabeth (Za) Barron, Vidjaya Thelen, Jenny Pickerill, Sophie Wynne-Jones, Katharine McKinnon, Nikolai Siimes, Kate Maclean, Clytie Binder. 

Also at the conference: Myfanwy Taylor, Oona Morrow.

Opening Image: Equal Earth