Prestigious prize for PhD student

Lyndsey Stoodley, a PhD student at Cardiff University’s School of Geography and Planning, has been recognised for her contribution to the 2017 Royal Geographical Society’s Annual International Conference (29 August - 1 September).

Lyndsey, who is supervised by Professor Jon Anderson and Dr Julian Brigstocke, was awarded the Coastal and Marine Research Group (CMRG) prize for best postgraduate presentation at the conference.

The presentation was titled Challenging the placelessness of the sea: identifications with the water world.

In adjudicating the prize, the CMRG Group felt that Lyndsey’s ability to engage openly with her audience about her research while ‘maintaining conceptual depth and reflection’ was highly impressive and deserving of acknowledgement within a high quality field.

Commenting on Lyndsey’s success, Professor Anderson, said: “I’d like to congratulate Lyndsey on her achievement, which recognises her excellent research but also her impressive ability to motivate and enthuse an audience about it. This is an important skill and helps to disseminate research more widely, and effectively, across networks, industry and society. The theme of the conference was about decolonising geographical knowledges and opening them up to the world, and I think Lyndsey’s charismatic character and singular voice helps to further that ambition.”

Lyndsey’s thesis is titled The World Surfing Reserves Phenomenon: Evaluating Protection and Practice in the littoral zone, and she and Professor Anderson are also working together on an international project about surfing spaces.

Currently in Baja, Mexico, building her contacts for future research collaborations (and waiting for waves), Lyndsey said of the prize: “This is an unexpected honour but I am very grateful to the CMRG group for the recognition and encouragement. I look forward to developing my research further and continuing to share my enthusiasm and motivation for it.”

There was a large contingent of School staff at the Royal Geographical Society’s annual conference, leading and contributing to the academic debate on a number of important social, economic, and cultural issues. The 2018 Royal Geographical Society’s Annual International Conference will be hosted by Cardiff University and chaired by Professor Paul Milbourne, Head of the School of Geography and Planning.

Find out more about Lyndsey’s surfing research by visiting her University blog.