The 4th Workshop of Asian Young Geographers Held in Yuxi， China

The 4th Workshop of Asian Young Geographers Held in Yuxi, China

The 4th Workshop of Asian Young Geographers, themed "Geography of Asia under Global Change" was held from November 29th to December 2nd, 2024 in Yuxi, China. The international activity was initiated and organized in 2021 by Young Geographers Working Group of Asian Geographical Association (AGA-YGWG), jointly organized by Working Committee for Young Geographers of the Geographical Society of China (GSC-WCYG) and Young Scientists Innovation Network of the International Society for Digital Earth (ISDE-YSIN), IGU Commission for Young and Early Career Geographers (IGU-YECG) and hosted by Yuxi Normal University. In two-day discussion and networking, the Workshop brought together 378 participants from 11 countries of the world. 

The opening ceremony kicked off on the morning of November 30th at library of Yuxi Normal University, moderated by Prof. Min CHEN, Chair of AGA-WGYG. Prof. Hongyun DUAN, President of Yuxi Normal University, Prof. Vinh Cam LAI, AGA Vice President, Prof. Michael MEADOWS, IGU Past President, Prof. Fahu CHEN, GSC President, delivered welcome speeches on behalf of the organizers respectively.

The welcome speeches were followed by an introduction the 6th Asian Conference on Geography, to be held in November 2025 in New Delhi, India, made by Dr. Prabuddh Kumar MISHRA, Joint Secretary of National Association of Geographers of India.

The workshop featured keynote talks including "Spatial heterogeneity and 'Mega-sandwich Pattern' of Interdecadal Rainfall Variations and its Influence in the Asian Summer Precipitation Region" by Prof. Fahu CHEN, GSC President, "Are You a Geographer? Find Your Place in Geography" by Prof. Maria PARADISO, IGU Vice President, "Write your Own History: Curiosity as the Only Reason to Explore" by Mr. Paco ACEDO, an explorer from Spain, "Multiple Perspectives of Natural Resource Conservation in the Himalayan Region" by Dr. Prabuddh Kumar MISHRA, associate professor of University of Delhi, India, and "Spatially Explicit Climate Econometric Mode" by Dr. Guanpeng DONG, professor of Henan University, China. The keynote lecture session was chaired Dr. Gaurav SIKKA, Chair of IGU-YECG, and Dr. Li HE, Secretary of the AGA-WGYG.

During the workshop, 10 parallel sessions and 1 editor roundtable were organized on the afternoon of 30th and the following day, covering a broad spectrum of geography and related disciplines, such as urban landscapes sustainability in Asia, energy geography and sustainable development, urban-rural governance and sustainable development, land management and spatiotemporal big data modeling, risk assessment, etc. In addition to academic sessions, the workshop also features a special session – an editor roundtable, providing an opportunity for the authors to interact with the editors. Editors from 5 journals introduced their journals, shared their experiences and advice on paper writing. In two-day discussion and networking, 77 oral presentations were made, discussing in-depth the impact of global change on Asia's physical geography, human geography, geographical sciences and environmental sciences, and presenting new achievements in Asian geographical research from multiple scales and different perspectives.

The closing ceremony was held on the evening of December 1st, chaired by Dr. Li HE. Dr. Gaurav SIKKA made a presentation entitled "Youth for Sustainable Action in Bihar Synergising - IGU-YECG and AGA-YGAG". Prof. Min CHEN made a summary report on the results of the workshop. At Best Papers Award ceremony, a total of 7 papers were selected for the award after review by scientific committee of the workshop. Prof. Michael MEADOWS, Prof. Maria PARADISO and Prof. Vinh Cam LAI presented awards to the winners. 4 representatives were invited to come onto the stage to deliver their acceptance speeches. Finally, the workshop concluded with expression of thanks, acknowledging the hard work of the organizers, volunteers and the opportunity to interact with Asian young geographers.

Closing Ceremony

Best Paper Award Ceremony

Group Photo of the 4th Workshop of Asian Young Geographers

Provided by:

Yuxi Normal University, Rong WANG, Xuanzi ZHANG