“The 2012 Summer Institute in Economic Geography is the highlight of my experience with conferences and forums. Whilst fortunate to practice geography in New Zealand it comes with isolation from other economic geographers and geography conferences, and this tends to be reproduced at large events such as the AAG and RGS-IBG. As a platform, the Summer Institute, constituted by a group of prominent and emergent economic geographers, provided five days to specifically come to know each other and our diverse work, and discuss perspectives of economy geography around a set of disciplinary debates. Rather than just giving a paper and/or attending a conference session, I came away from the Summer Institute with an enriched perspective of economic geography (and economic geographers), a new set of relationships and opportunities for future research collaboration, and importantly, a commitment to being an economic geographer and contributing to our discipline.”
Stephen FitzHerbert, doctoral researcher, University of Auckland; Senior Tutor, Department of Geography, Massey University