About the RGS

The Royal Over Seas League has a piece on the RGS, featuring an interview with Director Professor Joe Smith.

It starts with a nice description of  the Society itself.

For me the Royal Geographical Society and its family of enthusiasts is here to gain a greater understanding of the world and to make it a better place and I like to think that we’re here to try to get humanity to the end of the century in better shape than it started it. That’s my version of our founding mission which is the ‘advancement of geographical science’. In the 19th century – we were formed in 1830 and got a Royal Charter in the 1850s – we were a key part of Britain’s colonial mission, primarily through holding a collection of maps and supporting and enabling expeditions. Today advancing geographical science means understanding the world better and sharing what we know, but obviously our purpose and audiences are very much wider and there are a number of expressions of that

How do you see the evolving role of RGS in an ever-changing world and what’s next for the organisation?

One of the most regularly asked questions of us by journalists is ‘is there anything left to explore?’. One answer to that is a very grand thought, which is that human beings have just made the planet a lot more dynamic again, intensifying the relationship between us and the living world. We are changing the world dramatically and quickly so there’s a big job for our researchers, teachers and learners, professors and communities but also the enthusiastic non-specialist members of whom we have many (and would welcome new members from ROSL too!) for all of us to play a part in making a better world.