QMRG – Quantitative Methods Research Group

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QMRG annual report 2025-26

QMRG committee, September 2026: Francisco Rowe (Chair); Weiming Huang (Secretary); Alessia Calafiore (Treasurer); Trivik Verma (Diversity and Inclusion Officer); Stephen Law (Conferences Officer); Bardia Mashhoodi (Dissertation Prize Officer); Elisabetta Pietrostefani and Ruth Neville (Social Media/Web Officers); Matt Mason and Fangyuan Li (Postgraduate Representatives).

Summary

During 2025-26, QMRG renewed two committee roles, secured workshop funding, recognised research and undergraduate dissertations through prizes, and organised and sponsored sessions at the RGS-IBG Annual International Conference. The group also held an evening social to support informal networking across the quantitative human geography community.

Staffing

  • Yijing Li and Qunshan Zhao stepped down from the committee. Weiming Huang succeeded Qunshan as Secretary, and Bardia Mashhoodi succeeded Yijing as Dissertation Prize Officer.

  • Alessia Calafiore and Elisabetta Pietrostefani returned from maternity leave and resumed their committee roles.

  • Committee succession will be staggered over the coming year. Alessia Calafiore, Elisabetta Pietrostefani and Stephen Law expect to serve for one further year before stepping down.

  • QMRG has issued a call for new Postgraduate Representatives to replace Matt Mason and Fangyuan Li.

Grant activity

  • QMRG was awarded funding for a grant led by Dr Weiming Huang in collaboration with Prof. Francisco Rowe to host a workshop on Geospatial Foundational Models at the University of Leeds in October 2025.

Prizes

  • QMRG nominated Dr Filip Biljecki, who received the 2026 Gill Memorial Award (human).

  • QMRG awarded its 2025 undergraduate dissertation prize to two winners.

Sponsorship

QMRG organised and sponsored the following sessions at the RGS-IBG Annual International Conference, held on 2-4 September 2026. The programme covered spatial inequality, geospatial artificial intelligence, early-career research and methodological questions about geographical data.

  • Wednesday 2 September: Mapping Inequality Critically; Geospatial Artificial Intelligence methods and applications (1); Geospatial Artificial Intelligence methods and applications (2): Workshop.

  • Thursday 3 September: QMRG Early Career Session (1); QMRG Early Career Session (2); QMRG Annual Lecture in collaboration with The Geographical Journal.

  • Friday 4 September: No Space Like Home? Space inequalities, property development and urban injustice (1); Gender Inequalities: What Geography Data Can (and Cannot) Tell Us; No Space Like Home? Space inequalities, property development and urban injustice (2); Inequalities from Space.

At the annual lecture, Jessica Espey spoke on “Whose Numbers Count? The Contested Politics of Data in National Policy and Planning”.

Networking

  • QMRG organised an evening social at The Hoop & Toy in Kensington on Thursday 3 September 2026, following the annual lecture. Held alongside the RGS-IBG conference, the event brought together the quantitative human geography community for informal networking and community building.

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