The European Geography Association , abbreviated EGEA, is a European network of geographers and young geographers, with the intention of exchanging geographical knowledge. To achieve this, the entities of EGEA organize congresses, exchanges between the entities, national weekends, excursions, and a scientific magazine is published. [1] The main communication platform is the website ( www.egea.eu ).
The aims of EGEA are to help young people in Europe, and enable them to fulfill their potential as young scientists. EGEA provides complementary and alternative learning opportunities, beyond formal education of geography. This is done by encouraging and enabling involvement in intercultural interaction, and the development of academic, scientific, cultural and professional activities for young geographers on terms of equality, diversity and non-discrimination. EGEA actively contributes to the promotion of geography through its network capabilities and through strategic partnerships, with the ultimate goal to strengthen geography in local communities.
History
In 1987, students from the universities of Warsaw , Barcelona, and Utrecht, with the idea to start an association to exchange their geographical knowledge between several countries in Europe. One year later, in 1988, EGEA was officially registered as a foundation in Utrecht. In 1996 the first website of EGEA was launched. The homepage would become the central meeting point for all EGEA members across Europe. At the 2009 General Assembly in Heeg a change of EGEA’s legal status was decided. Since then EGEA is working as an association. Until 2014 EGEA has grown from its initial three entities to 90 different entities in 36 different countries.
Activities
There are several local, national, and international activities organized by the EGEA entities. The main events of the year are the congresses. Other annual events are national weekends and summer schools. In addition, entities organize their own events. The spectrum of these events is one of the main focus lies on getting together. A high popularity among EGEAns are exchanges between entities.
Congresses
Every year five congresses take place. There are four Regional Congresses in spring, organized by one or more entities in each region. However, the most important event of the association is the Annual Congress, which is held in September.
The Congresses always include workshops, excursions, trainings, and readings with a scientific background. There are also meetings for Contact Persons of the international and regional assemblies.
Exchanges
Students exchanges are the core activities of EGEA. They enable small groups from 2 or 3 EGEA entities to visit each other in their countries, learn about culture, explore the habits, nature and many interesting places in the world. What is most important, they make young geography students getting to know their international peers. Following the agreement, one entity is hosting the other one. During the time of the young people take care of the accommodation, food, and program. Later on, the hosting entity is visiting the republics. Exchanges are numerously the most attended activities, when taking into consideration of each year.
Scientific Symposium
Each year at the Annual Congress is also a scientific symposium, where the members are able to present their scientific work, for example diploma or PhD theses.
Seminars
There are a few seminars every year, always organized by several entities. The seminars are held on a scientific level that cover different themes in the particular disciplines of geography.
Summer- / Winterschools
EGEA also gives students the chance to participate in self-organized summer- or winterschools.
Weekend Activities
The national or international weekend activities are organized by an entity. In most cases there is a main theme to show particular regional or local characteristics. The program can be scientific or have a more informal level. Some of the regional weekend activities, such as those in the Baltic states, the Slavic countries, Germany, the Benelux countries, the Iberian Peninsula and the Balkans, are mainly aimed at people from all over the world. EGEA members .
Structure
EGEA is divided into four administrative regions: the North & Baltic, the Eastern, the Western and the Euro-Mediterranean regions. Every region has a new Regional Contact Person each year. As helping hands they have one or more Regional Assistants. Together they form the Regional Teams. The function of Regional Contact Person was introduced in 2012 to relieve EGEA’s board members of coordinating the regions.
Regions [2]
North & Baltic Region
This region is located in Northern Europe around the Baltic Sea. Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway and Russia. The countries in this region are currently active in Iceland and Sweden.
| Entity | Country |
|---|---|
| Copenhagen | denmark |
| Helsinki | finland |
| Joensuu | finland |
| Kaliningrad | russia |
| Oslo | norway |
| Oulu | finland |
| Saint Petersburg | russia |
| Tartu | estonia |
| Trondheim | norway |
| Turku | finland |
| Umeå * | sweden |
| Vilnius | lithuania |
* = candidating entity
Eastern Region
The Eastern Region is the largest geographic region in EGEA. Part of this region are the entities of Poland, Ukraine, Moldova, Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, and Russia (except Saint Petersburg).
| Entity | Country |
|---|---|
| Bratislava | Slovakia |
| Brno | Czech Republic |
| Bucharest | romania |
| Budapest | hungary |
| Chernivtsi | Ukraine |
| Cluj-Napoca | romania |
| Gdańsk | poland |
| Iasi | romania |
| Izhevsk | russia |
| Katowice | poland |
| Kazan | russia |
| Kharkiv | Ukraine |
| Kraków | poland |
| Kyiv | Ukraine |
| Lviv | Ukraine |
| Moscow | russia |
| Olomouc | Czech Republic |
| Pécs | hungary |
| Poznań | poland |
| Prague | Czech Republic |
| Tbilisi | georgia |
| Timisoara | romania |
| Warszawa | poland |
| Dnipro | Ukraine |
| Lutsk * | Ukraine |
| Ostrava | Czech Republic |
| Wrocław | poland |
* = candidating entity
Western Region
By members and entities the Western Region is the largest administrative region of EGEA. It includes the British Isles, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Switzerland, Austria and parts of France. The country in this region is currently not active in Luxembourg.
| Entity | Country |
|---|---|
| Aachen | Germany |
| Amsterdam | Netherlands |
| Augsburg | Germany |
| Berlin | Germany |
| Bern | switzerland |
| Birmingham | United Kingdom |
| Bonn | Germany |
| Brussels | belgium |
| Gent | belgium |
| Göttingen | Germany |
| Graz | austria |
| Greifswald | Germany |
| Groningen | Netherlands |
| Halle | Germany |
| Hannover | Germany |
| Innsbruck | austria |
| Jena | Germany |
| Kiel | Germany |
| Leicester | United Kingdom |
| Leuven | belgium |
| Mainz | Germany |
| Marburg | Germany |
| Munich | Germany |
| Münster | Germany |
| Nijmegen | Netherlands |
| Strasbourg | la France |
| Tübingen | Germany |
| Utrecht | Netherlands |
| Vienna | austria |
| Zürich | switzerland |
| Bamberg | Germany |
| Bordeaux* | la France |
| Chambery * | la France |
| Cologne * | Germany |
* = candidating entity
Euro-Mediterranean Region
This region contains all the features of the Mediterranean sea. There are entities in Spain, France, Italy, Malta, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Serbia, Macedonia, Greece, Israel and Turkey.
| Entity | Country |
|---|---|
| Alicante | spain |
| Banja Luka | Bosnia and Herzegovina |
| Barcelona | spain |
| Belgrade | serbia |
| İzmir | turkey |
| Koper | slovenia |
| La Rochelle | la France |
| Ljubljana | slovenia |
| Madrid | spain |
| malta | malta |
| Milano | italy |
| Montpellier | la France |
| Mostar | Bosnia and Herzegovina |
| Opatija | croatia |
| Sevilla | spain |
| Skopje | Macedonia |
| Tenerife | spain |
| Valladolid | spain |
| Zadar | croatia |
| Zagreb | croatia |
| Lisbon * | Portugal |
| Maribor | slovenia |
| Sarajevo * | Bosnia and Herzegovina |
| Niksic * | Montenegro |
| Balearic Islands * | spain |
* = candidating entity
Board of EGEA
The Board consists of five persons, vice-president, secretary and treasurer. These members are elected by the General Assembly of members of the Association. A representative of the body chosen to organize the Annual General Meeting of the Board of Directors is also a member of the board of directors. Association. The board is supported by the Secretariat Director at the EGEA Headquarters in Utrecht. This position was first created in 2005 and contrived by the entity of Utrecht. In 2016 also the grant team with its coordinator was created to take care of financial grants.
| [ show ]Year | President | Vice-president | Secretary | Treasurer | PR and Event Advisor * | Secretariat Coordinator ** |
|---|
) * until 2012 Annual Congress Organize, then until 2015 Annual Congress Coordinator. ) ** until 2016 Secreteriat Director
Regional Contact Persons
The regional contacts maintain the contact between the respective regions and the European board.
| [ show ]Year | EAST | EUROMED | NORTH & BALTIC | WEST |
|---|
Committees
EGEA has several committees, carrying out important work to keep the association up and running. Currently the following committees are active within EGEA: [3]
| Activities and Events Committee |
| Communication and Media Committee |
| EGEA Green |
| European Geographer |
| Fundraising Committee |
| Training Committee |
| Organization and Strategy Committee |
| Regional Support Committee |
| Scientific Committee |
| WebAdmin Team |
Partners
EGEA has several partnerships [4] with organizations like EUROGEO , IFISO , IAAS , ISHA , [5] StudyPortals [6] and ThinkYoung and GeoDACH. Furthermore, there is a partnership to a program by the EU , „Youth in Action“ [7] and a partnership to a program by the Council of Europe , „European Youth Forum“. There are also strong cooperations with ESRI , a supplier of GIS programs, and with Utrecht University . [4]
References
- Jump up^ „European Geographer Magazines by europeangeographer“ . ISSUU . Retrieved 2015-12-24 .
- Jump up^ EGEA website – entities:https://egea.eu/structure/entity-list/
- Jump up^ „Entities – European Geography Association for students and young geographers“ . Egea.eu . Retrieved 2015-12-24 .
- ^ Jump up to:a b „Sponsors and Partners – European Geography Association for students and young geographers“ . Egea.eu . Retrieved 2015-12-24 .
- Jump up^ „Partnership Agreement with ISHA! – European Geography Association for Students and Young Geographers“ . Egea.eu. 2015-01-25 . Retrieved 2015-12-24 .
- Jump up^ „Archived copy“ . Archived from the original on 2015-01-24 . Retrieved 2015-01-22 .
- Jump up^ „Youth in Action – Program 2007-2013 | EACEA“ . Eacea.ec.europa.eu . Retrieved 2015-12-24 .