Brighton academic elected to the Royal Geographical Society’s governing council

A Brighton University academic has been elected to the Royal Geographical Society’s governing council for a three-year term.

As well as the governing council, Phil Ashworth, professor of physical geography at Brighton,

will serve on the RGS’s research and higher education committee.

Professor Ashworth chairs grant panels at the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), is deputy chairman of the British Society for Geomorphology (BSG) and has served on the RGS Peter Fleming Awards Committee since 2010.

In 2013 he gave a public lecture on his research on large rivers of the world to 650 fellows and members. He was elected to the governing council by the fellows of the society.

The RGS is the largest geographical society in Europe and one of the largest in the world with 15,000 members.

It was founded in 1830 and received its royal charter under Queen Victoria in 1859.

It advances geography through supporting geographical research, education and outdoor learning, public engagement and policy.

The history of the RGS enshrines such famous names as Livingstone, Stanley, Scott, Shackleton, Hunt and Hillary and it is associated with exploration, discovery and first expeditions to unchartered territories.

The society’s most recent past-president is the broadcaster Michael Palin.