IGU

Ronald F. Abler has been active in the International Geographical Union (IGU) since 1976. He was a charter member of the IGU Study Group and the IGU Commission on the Geography of Communications and Telecommunications from 1984 to 1992. Following his 1996-2000 term as Vice President, he was elected IGU Secretary General and Treasurer in 2000 and served in that capacity through 2006, when he again became an IGU Vice President.
Abler's research has explored the ways societies have used intercommunications technologies at different times and places. He has written numerous research articles and is co-author or editor of several books, including Spatial Organization: The Geographer’s View of the World (with John Adams and Peter Gould), A Comparative Atlas of America’s Great Cities: Twenty Metropolitan Regions, and Geography’s Inner Worlds: Pervasive Themes in Contemporary American Geography (with Melvin Marcus and Judy M. Olson). From 1994-2002, Abler was Scientific Administrator for the Association of American Geographers’ innovative Global Change and Local Places project; he edited the book summarizing the project’s findings: Global Change and Local Places: Estimating, Understanding, and Reducing Greenhouse Gases (Cambridge University Press, 2003).
Abler was made a Fellow of the AAAS in 1985. Among the other organizations that have recognized his contributions to geography are the Royal Scottish Geographical Society, which awarded him its Centenary Medal in 1990, the Association of American Geographers (Honors in 1995), the Royal Geographical Society/Institute of British Geographers (the Victoria Medal in 1996), and the American Geographical Society which conferred on him its Samuel Finley Breese Morse Medal in 2004.

Irasema Alcántara-Ayala – Professor and Director of the Institute of Geography, National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). In 1997, she got a Ph.D. from King’s College London, University of London. Afterwards, she carried out a postdoctoral stay in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at MIT, Boston. Her research concerns landsliding, hazards, risk, and disaster prevention. 3rd Evelyn Pruitt Lecturer, granted in 2005 by the Department of Geography and Anthropology, Louisiana State University, USA. She has served IGU as the Representative within Earthquakes and Megacities Initiative (EMI) for the period of 2002-2006; in 2007 at the International Conference Global Scientific Challenges: Perspectives from Young Scientists (celebration of the 75 anniversary of ICSU); and theme leader of the “International Year of Planet Earth” (IYPE) related to the topic of Deep Earth: from core to crust. Member of the Executive Committee of the International Association of Geomorphologists (IAG) from 2001 to 2005. Chair of the Geomorphological Hazards Working Group (IAG), and President of the Mexican Society of Geomorphology. Member of the Editorial Board of the Journals Mountain Science, Singapore Journal of Tropical Geography and Earth Surface Processes and Landforms. She is a strong advocate of geography's potential role in disaster prevention and risk management.

Giuliano Bellezza – Graduated in Geological Sciences (Rome, 1960) and in Geography (Rome,1964), Assistant to the Chair of Geography in the University of Rome since 1967, Lecturer of Geography in the University of Bari in 1972 and in Rome in 1975 where he obtained the Tenure in 1984, full Professor in Viterbo since 1994. Director of the Department of American Studies in Roma, then of the Department of Studies of the Historical and Artistic Heritage in Viterbo. As such he started to realize with students and graduates of the University a GIS on the distribution and possible exploitation of the cultural heritage in the territory.
From 1988 to 1991 he was Member of the Commission charged by the Italian Ministry of Education to reformulate the programs of Geography for the Middle and High Schools. He co-operated with UNICEF in organizing courses on Sustainable Development in the Universities of Rome and Viterbo from 1990 to 2001. Course in Quantitative Geography in Cambridge, lead by R. Chorley (Summer 1973), Secretary of the Association of Italian Geographers (1978-1981), member of the IGU Study Group in Resource Management in Dry Lands (1982-1988), since 2000 participates in the IGU Commission on the Cultural Approach in Geography. Since 2993 is Director of the Home of Geography. Lecturers and Seminars held in Universities of England, USA, West Indies and France. Papers presented in International Congresses and Conferences in Delhi, Kathmandu, Sydney, Seoul, Durban, Glasgow, Brisbane, Cairo, Hyderabad, Taiwan, Tunis. Elected one of the IGU Vice Presidents in the Tunis Congress of 2008.

Ruth Fincher is Professor of Geography at the University of Melbourne and Interim Director of its Melbourne Sustainable Society Institute. Previously she was Dean of the Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning (2003-2006) and Professor of Urban Planning, also at the University of Melbourne. She is a past President of the Institute of Australian Geographers and past Chair of the IGU Commission on Gender and Geography.
Professor Fincher holds a PhD in Geography from Clark University (USA), a Master of Arts from McMaster University (Canada) and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Melbourne. She was elected a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia in 2002.
With research and teaching interests in the urban outcomes of immigration policy and multiculturalism, diversity and difference in cities, gender issues, inequality and locational disadvantage, Professor Fincher is published internationally in many geography journals. Her books include Creating Unequal Futures? Rethinking Inequality, Poverty and Disadvantage (Allen and Unwin, 2001) co-edited with Peter Saunders, Australian Poverty: Then and Now (Melbourne University Press, 1998) co-edited with John Nieuwenhuysen, and Cities of Difference (Guilford Press, New York, 1998) co-edited with Jane Jacobs. A new book, Planning and Diversity in the City: Redistribution, Recognition and Encounter, co-authored with Kurt Iveson (Palgrave Macmillan), appeared in mid 2008.

Prof. Aharon Kellerman, received his B.A. in Geography and Jewish History, University of Haifa, in 1969, and his M.A. in Geography, Hebrew University, 1972. In 1976, he completed his Doctoral degree, also in Geography, at Boston University. Prof. Kellerman has advanced from teaching assistant to full professor at the University of Haifa, Israel. He has held an assortment of visiting and affiliate academic positions: Oxford University; Bar-Ilan University; University of Maryland; Ben-Gurion University; University of Miami; Boston University. He served as Vice President of Administration (University of Haifa, 1995-2004), and as Chair of the IGU Commission on the Geography of the Information Society (2000-2008). He is currently Professor Emeritus of Geography, and President, Zefat Academic College, Israel.

Vladimir Kolosov – Professor, PhD 1979 Moscow State University, habilitation 1992 (Institute of Geography of the Russian Academy of Sciences), head of the Center of Geopolitical Studies at the Institute of Geography and professor at the Moscow Institute of International Relations. He received the scholarship of Brussels Capital Region (1991) and Fulbright Scholarship at the University of Colorado at Boulder (1997), was nominated as Professor at the Universities of Toulouse-Le Mirail (2001-2003), visiting professor at the universities of Paris-Sorbonne IV, Paris-I Panthéon-Sorbonne, Bordeaux and Tampere. His research interests lie in the fields of political geography and geopolitics, social geography, world cities and large metropolitan areas. He is the author of more than 300 publications, including the most popular textbook on political geography in Russia. He chaired the IGU Commission on Political Geography (1996-2004), is on the editorial boards of Political Geography, Geopolitics, BelGéo, Eurasian Geography and Economy, Annales géographiques. He co-directed and participated in many international projects and organized a number of conferences.

Markku Löytönen – Professor, MSc 1979 and PhD 1986 University of Helsinki. In 1995 he was appointed associate professor at the University of Turku, and 1999 full professor of human geography at the University of Helsinki. His research interests range from the history of geography and exploration to quantitative methods and GIS with special interest in the geography of health. His list of publications totals over 250 titles, mostly articles, reviews and research reports. He is domestically a well-known author of popular science books, among them five books for children, for which he has received four literature awards. He is on the editorial board or editorial advisory board of Journal of Health and Place, International Journal of Health Geographics, and Belgeo. He has served as the Editor-in-Chief of Fennia and has as the Editor-in-Chief of Terra. Some of Löytönen’s many positions of trust include Vice President of the IGU, full member of the Finnish Academy of Science and Letters, and board member of the Federation of Finnish Learned Societies. He currently serves as vice rector of the University of Helsinki. Löytönen was recently inducted into the Order of the White Rose of Finland.

DietrichSoyez – Until my retirement in early 2007, I served in the Faculty of Science at the University of Cologne for 15 years, including several terms as Departmental Chair. I have acted as President of the Association for Canadian Studies in German-Speaking Countries (1995-1997) and Chair of Germany’s IGU National Committee (2000-2004). I completed my studies in Germany (Universities of Bonn and Saarbruecken) with a Staatsexamen/State Examination in Geography and Romance Languages in Saarbruecken in 1969. Furthermore, I was awarded a B.A. (Honours) in Geography, French and Ethnography as well as a Fil.lic. in Physical Geography, followed by a doctorate in Geography, at the University of Stockholm/Sweden in 1966, 1971 and 1974 respectively. My second German academic thesis (Habilitation, 1981) was concerned with Environmental Economic Geography. Other current fields of interest are Political Geography and Industrial (Heritage) Tourism.
I have been a visiting professor at Université Laval/Canada (1990), Université de Paris X/France (2003) and Sun Yat-sen University/P.R. of China (2003, 2007, 2008). I have written or edited a number of books and published many academic papers. I have been or continue to be a member of the Editorial Boards/Foreign Correspondents’ Committees of several international geographical journals. Recently I have served as a member of the International Evaluation Commission of Human Geography Undergraduate and Graduate Programmes at Swedish universities.

DietrichSoyez – Jusqu’à ma retraite au début de l’année 2007, j’ai été membre de la Faculté des Sciences Naturelles de l’Université de Cologne pendant 15 ans, dont plusieurs années aussi dans la fonction de directeur du Département de géographie. J’ai été président de l’Association des études canadiennes dans les pays germanophones (1995 – 1997) et président du Comité national UGI de l’Allemagne (2000 – 2004). J’ai complété mes études universitaires en Allemagne (Universités de Bonn et de Sarrebruck) en 1969 par un Staatsexamen/diplôme fédéral en Géographie et Langues romanes. En plus, j’ai obtenu à l’université de Stockholm/Suède une licence en géographie, en français et en ethnographie ainsi que l’examen de Fil.lic. et le doctorat en géographie physique (successivement en 1966, 1971, 1974). Mon habilitation (1981), obtenue à la Faculté des Lettres de l’Université de Sarrebruck, portait sur un sujet de géographie économique d’orientation environnementale. D’autres centres d’intérêts sont la géographie politique et la géographie du patrimoine industriel et tourisme industriel.
A titre de Professeur invité pour des périodes plus ou moins longues, j’ai enseigné dans les universités Laval/ Québec, Canada (1990), Paris X/France (2003) et Sun Yat-sen/Guangzhou, Chine (2007, 2008). J’ai publié et édité un certain nombre de livres, et beaucoup d’articles scientifiques ont parus dans des journaux et livres géographiques. Je fus et je le suis toujours (co-)éditeur, respectivement membre correspondant, d’un certain nombre de revues géographiques allemandes et internationales. Tout récemment, j’ai été membre d’une Commission internationaled’évaluation des programmes de géographie humaine des établissements d’enseignementsupérieur en Suède.

Woo-ik Yu – Professor of the Department of Geography(1980~) and Director of the Institute for Korean Regional Studies, Seoul National University (SNU); Born in Sangju, Korea (1950), BA (1971) and MA (1973) in geography at the SNU and Ph.D. (1980) at the University Kiel, Germany; Visiting Scholar to the UC Berkely (1990-91) and to the University of Paris-Sorbonne(1999-2000) and Vice-Chancellor for Academic Affairs of the SNU (2000-02); Research interest in geography lies in social geography and regional policy. Served IGU as Secretary General of the Organizing Committee of the 30^th IGC in Seoul 2000; Member of the Korean Presidential Committee for the 21^st Century (1989-94), Secretary General of the Korean Presidential Committee for Policy Planning (1994-98), Presently Member of the Advisory Committee for the Mayor of Seoul, General Advisor for the “Korean Encyclopedia Britanica”, Editor of the “Encyclopedia of Korean Culture”, Editor of the Weekly Magazine “Future Korea”; Vice-President of the IGU for the period of 2004-2008.



International Geographical Union


		Biographies
	Ronald F. Abler has been active in the International Geographical Union (IGU) since 1976. He was a charter member of the IGU Study Group and the IGU Commission on the Geography of Communications and Telecommunications from 1984 to 1992. Following his 1996-2000 term as Vice President, he was elected IGU Secretary General and Treasurer in 2000 and served in that capacity through 2006, when he again became an IGU Vice President. Abler's research has explored the ways societies have used intercommunications technologies at different times and places. He has written numerous research articles and is co-author or editor of several books, including Spatial Organization: The Geographer’s View of the World (with John Adams and Peter Gould), A Comparative Atlas of America’s Great Cities: Twenty Metropolitan Regions, and Geography’s Inner Worlds: Pervasive Themes in Contemporary American Geography (with Melvin Marcus and Judy M. Olson). From 1994-2002, Abler was Scientific Administrator for the Association of American Geographers’ innovative Global Change and Local Places project; he edited the book summarizing the project’s findings: Global Change and Local Places: Estimating, Understanding, and Reducing Greenhouse Gases (Cambridge University Press, 2003). Abler was made a Fellow of the AAAS in 1985. Among the other organizations that have recognized his contributions to geography are the Royal Scottish Geographical Society, which awarded him its Centenary Medal in 1990, the Association of American Geographers (Honors in 1995), the Royal Geographical Society/Institute of British Geographers (the Victoria Medal in 1996), and the American Geographical Society which conferred on him its Samuel Finley Breese Morse Medal in 2004. Irasema Alcántara-Ayala – Professor and Director of the Institute of Geography, National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). In 1997, she got a Ph.D. from King’s College London, University of London. Afterwards, she carried out a postdoctoral stay in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at MIT, Boston. Her research concerns landsliding, hazards, risk, and disaster prevention. 3rd Evelyn Pruitt Lecturer, granted in 2005 by the Department of Geography and Anthropology, Louisiana State University, USA. She has served IGU as the Representative within Earthquakes and Megacities Initiative (EMI) for the period of 2002-2006; in 2007 at the International Conference Global Scientific Challenges: Perspectives from Young Scientists (celebration of the 75 anniversary of ICSU); and theme leader of the “International Year of Planet Earth” (IYPE) related to the topic of Deep Earth: from core to crust. Member of the Executive Committee of the International Association of Geomorphologists (IAG) from 2001 to 2005. Chair of the Geomorphological Hazards Working Group (IAG), and President of the Mexican Society of Geomorphology. Member of the Editorial Board of the Journals Mountain Science, Singapore Journal of Tropical Geography and Earth Surface Processes and Landforms. She is a strong advocate of geography's potential role in disaster prevention and risk management. Giuliano Bellezza – Graduated in Geological Sciences (Rome, 1960) and in Geography (Rome,1964), Assistant to the Chair of Geography in the University of Rome since 1967, Lecturer of Geography in the University of Bari in 1972 and in Rome in 1975 where he obtained the Tenure in 1984, full Professor in Viterbo since 1994. Director of the Department of American Studies in Roma, then of the Department of Studies of the Historical and Artistic Heritage in Viterbo. As such he started to realize with students and graduates of the University a GIS on the distribution and possible exploitation of the cultural heritage in the territory. From 1988 to 1991 he was Member of the Commission charged by the Italian Ministry of Education to reformulate the programs of Geography for the Middle and High Schools. He co-operated with UNICEF in organizing courses on Sustainable Development in the Universities of Rome and Viterbo from 1990 to 2001. Course in Quantitative Geography in Cambridge, lead by R. Chorley (Summer 1973), Secretary of the Association of Italian Geographers (1978-1981), member of the IGU Study Group in Resource Management in Dry Lands (1982-1988), since 2000 participates in the IGU Commission on the Cultural Approach in Geography. Since 2993 is Director of the Home of Geography. Lecturers and Seminars held in Universities of England, USA, West Indies and France. Papers presented in International Congresses and Conferences in Delhi, Kathmandu, Sydney, Seoul, Durban, Glasgow, Brisbane, Cairo, Hyderabad, Taiwan, Tunis. Elected one of the IGU Vice Presidents in the Tunis Congress of 2008. Ruth Fincher is Professor of Geography at the University of Melbourne and Interim Director of its Melbourne Sustainable Society Institute. Previously she was Dean of the Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning (2003-2006) and Professor of Urban Planning, also at the University of Melbourne. She is a past President of the Institute of Australian Geographers and past Chair of the IGU Commission on Gender and Geography. Professor Fincher holds a PhD in Geography from Clark University (USA), a Master of Arts from McMaster University (Canada) and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Melbourne. She was elected a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia in 2002. With research and teaching interests in the urban outcomes of immigration policy and multiculturalism, diversity and difference in cities, gender issues, inequality and locational disadvantage, Professor Fincher is published internationally in many geography journals. Her books include Creating Unequal Futures? Rethinking Inequality, Poverty and Disadvantage (Allen and Unwin, 2001) co-edited with Peter Saunders, Australian Poverty: Then and Now (Melbourne University Press, 1998) co-edited with John Nieuwenhuysen, and Cities of Difference (Guilford Press, New York, 1998) co-edited with Jane Jacobs. A new book, Planning and Diversity in the City: Redistribution, Recognition and Encounter, co-authored with Kurt Iveson (Palgrave Macmillan), appeared in mid 2008. Prof. Aharon Kellerman, received his B.A. in Geography and Jewish History, University of Haifa, in 1969, and his M.A. in Geography, Hebrew University, 1972. In 1976, he completed his Doctoral degree, also in Geography, at Boston University. Prof. Kellerman has advanced from teaching assistant to full professor at the University of Haifa, Israel. He has held an assortment of visiting and affiliate academic positions: Oxford University; Bar-Ilan University; University of Maryland; Ben-Gurion University; University of Miami; Boston University. He served as Vice President of Administration (University of Haifa, 1995-2004), and as Chair of the IGU Commission on the Geography of the Information Society (2000-2008). He is currently Professor Emeritus of Geography, and President, Zefat Academic College, Israel. Vladimir Kolosov – Professor, PhD 1979 Moscow State University, habilitation 1992 (Institute of Geography of the Russian Academy of Sciences), head of the Center of Geopolitical Studies at the Institute of Geography and professor at the Moscow Institute of International Relations. He received the scholarship of Brussels Capital Region (1991) and Fulbright Scholarship at the University of Colorado at Boulder (1997), was nominated as Professor at the Universities of Toulouse-Le Mirail (2001-2003), visiting professor at the universities of Paris-Sorbonne IV, Paris-I Panthéon-Sorbonne, Bordeaux and Tampere. His research interests lie in the fields of political geography and geopolitics, social geography, world cities and large metropolitan areas. He is the author of more than 300 publications, including the most popular textbook on political geography in Russia. He chaired the IGU Commission on Political Geography (1996-2004), is on the editorial boards of Political Geography, Geopolitics, BelGéo, Eurasian Geography and Economy, Annales géographiques. He co-directed and participated in many international projects and organized a number of conferences. Markku Löytönen – Professor, MSc 1979 and PhD 1986 University of Helsinki. In 1995 he was appointed associate professor at the University of Turku, and 1999 full professor of human geography at the University of Helsinki. His research interests range from the history of geography and exploration to quantitative methods and GIS with special interest in the geography of health. His list of publications totals over 250 titles, mostly articles, reviews and research reports. He is domestically a well-known author of popular science books, among them five books for children, for which he has received four literature awards. He is on the editorial board or editorial advisory board of Journal of Health and Place, International Journal of Health Geographics, and Belgeo. He has served as the Editor-in-Chief of Fennia and has as the Editor-in-Chief of Terra. Some of Löytönen’s many positions of trust include Vice President of the IGU, full member of the Finnish Academy of Science and Letters, and board member of the Federation of Finnish Learned Societies. He currently serves as vice rector of the University of Helsinki. Löytönen was recently inducted into the Order of the White Rose of Finland. DietrichSoyez – Until my retirement in early 2007, I served in the Faculty of Science at the University of Cologne for 15 years, including several terms as Departmental Chair. I have acted as President of the Association for Canadian Studies in German-Speaking Countries (1995-1997) and Chair of Germany’s IGU National Committee (2000-2004). I completed my studies in Germany (Universities of Bonn and Saarbruecken) with a Staatsexamen/State Examination in Geography and Romance Languages in Saarbruecken in 1969. Furthermore, I was awarded a B.A. (Honours) in Geography, French and Ethnography as well as a Fil.lic. in Physical Geography, followed by a doctorate in Geography, at the University of Stockholm/Sweden in 1966, 1971 and 1974 respectively. My second German academic thesis (Habilitation, 1981) was concerned with Environmental Economic Geography. Other current fields of interest are Political Geography and Industrial (Heritage) Tourism. I have been a visiting professor at Université Laval/Canada (1990), Université de Paris X/France (2003) and Sun Yat-sen University/P.R. of China (2003, 2007, 2008). I have written or edited a number of books and published many academic papers. I have been or continue to be a member of the Editorial Boards/Foreign Correspondents’ Committees of several international geographical journals. Recently I have served as a member of the International Evaluation Commission of Human Geography Undergraduate and Graduate Programmes at Swedish universities. DietrichSoyez – Jusqu’à ma retraite au début de l’année 2007, j’ai été membre de la Faculté des Sciences Naturelles de l’Université de Cologne pendant 15 ans, dont plusieurs années aussi dans la fonction de directeur du Département de géographie. J’ai été président de l’Association des études canadiennes dans les pays germanophones (1995 – 1997) et président du Comité national UGI de l’Allemagne (2000 – 2004). J’ai complété mes études universitaires en Allemagne (Universités de Bonn et de Sarrebruck) en 1969 par un Staatsexamen/diplôme fédéral en Géographie et Langues romanes. En plus, j’ai obtenu à l’université de Stockholm/Suède une licence en géographie, en français et en ethnographie ainsi que l’examen de Fil.lic. et le doctorat en géographie physique (successivement en 1966, 1971, 1974). Mon habilitation (1981), obtenue à la Faculté des Lettres de l’Université de Sarrebruck, portait sur un sujet de géographie économique d’orientation environnementale. D’autres centres d’intérêts sont la géographie politique et la géographie du patrimoine industriel et tourisme industriel. A titre de Professeur invité pour des périodes plus ou moins longues, j’ai enseigné dans les universités Laval/ Québec, Canada (1990), Paris X/France (2003) et Sun Yat-sen/Guangzhou, Chine (2007, 2008). J’ai publié et édité un certain nombre de livres, et beaucoup d’articles scientifiques ont parus dans des journaux et livres géographiques. Je fus et je le suis toujours (co-)éditeur, respectivement membre correspondant, d’un certain nombre de revues géographiques allemandes et internationales. Tout récemment, j’ai été membre d’une Commission internationaled’évaluation des programmes de géographie humaine des établissements d’enseignementsupérieur en Suède. . Woo-ik Yu – Professor of the Department of Geography(1980~) and Director of the Institute for Korean Regional Studies, Seoul National University (SNU); Born in Sangju, Korea (1950), BA (1971) and MA (1973) in geography at the SNU and Ph.D. (1980) at the University Kiel, Germany; Visiting Scholar to the UC Berkely (1990-91) and to the University of Paris-Sorbonne(1999-2000) and Vice-Chancellor for Academic Affairs of the SNU (2000-02); Research interest in geography lies in social geography and regional policy. Served IGU as Secretary General of the Organizing Committee of the 30^th IGC in Seoul 2000; Member of the Korean Presidential Committee for the 21^st Century (1989-94), Secretary General of the Korean Presidential Committee for Policy Planning (1994-98), Presently Member of the Advisory Committee for the Mayor of Seoul, General Advisor for the “Korean Encyclopedia Britanica”, Editor of the “Encyclopedia of Korean Culture”, Editor of the Weekly Magazine “Future Korea”; Vice-President of the IGU for the period of 2004-2008.

			2000 IGU Special Committee on Communications and Networking