Navigating turbulent waters

Abstract

I write this first Editor-in-Chief commentary while reflecting on my recent summer break in Aotearoa New Zealand. I was fortunate to spend some time at Cape Reinga in Northland. The lighthouse there marks a meeting point of the Tasman Sea and the Pacific Ocean, with whirlpools where the currents collide. These turbulent waters not only represent a special place in Māori culture but also serve as a contemporary metaphor for geography and geographers. Turbulence in the academy and the positioning of geography within such debates are, of course, now well-rehearsed conversations in Geographical Research and elsewhere. Nonetheless, the personal and professional impacts of the waves currently buffeting the higher education sector cannot be underestimated.

However, the continuing relevance and vibrancy of the discipline of geography as a ‘meeting of the seas’ gives ongoing cause for optimism. In this context, it is a great privilege to contribute to the geographical community in Australia and beyond as the new Editor-in-Chief for Geographical Research. The coming months will provide an opportunity to reflect on the vision and purpose of the journal and ensure it continues to foreground the dynamic research, teaching, and praxis that characterise the discipline.

But this work cannot be undertaken without deeply and sincerely acknowledging the work of my Editor-in-Chief predecessor, Elaine Stratford. Put simply, the journal has flourished under Elaine’s leadership over the last decade. There will, I hope, be other opportunities to formally recognise Elaine’s contributions but the journal’s current success and reputation by any range of metrics—be that impact factor, international readership, or number of submissions—is a result of Elaine’s ongoing care, vision, and commitment. I draw readers’ attention to the tribute in the recent newsletter of the Institute of Australian Geographers (IAG) (2024) for more heartfelt reflections.

Elaine will continue as Senior Associate Editor to the benefit of the entire editorial team, and it is a collective I join with great enthusiasm. I am already indebted to Kirstie Petrou for her patience and knowledge as editorial assistant, and I have received a warm welcome from Brian Cook, Clare Mouat, Patrick Moss, Miriam Williams, and Alexander Burton in the editorial team as well as Simon Goudie and colleagues at Wiley. I look forward to developing relationships with the editorial board and colleagues at the IAG Council over time.

Of course, reflections on the purpose of Geographical Research need to be considered within their wider context. Returning to the metaphor of turbulent waters, the world of publishing is itself experiencing considerable disruption, not least from the growing impact of generative artificial intelligence. This will undoubtedly bring some ethical dilemmas to the forefront as we explore how AI tools are utilised in scholarly writing and journal publishing processes. Rapid transitions are also happening in terms of how journal papers are produced and published. While some of this will happen ‘behind the scenes’ and will not be immediately visible to readers, we will be collectively reflecting on our mechanisms for curating papers in order to maintain the visibility and currency of both present and past articles.

As an editorial team, we will also be grappling with questions of impact. At one level, this involves restating the long-standing goal to position Geographical Research as an international journal, but it also means building on the success of our webinars and other activities to consider what impact means to us in practice. We will be thinking hard about our social media strategy and identifying new platforms for sharing content. More to follow on all of this!

Above all, Geographical Research will remain a shared endeavour between editors, publishers, authors, reviewers, and readers. Its success will continue to rest on our collective care, integrity, and passion for our discipline, despite the turbulent waters we are navigating. I warmly welcome all contributions in support of this venture.

This issue of Geographical Research includes a commentary, three original stand-alone papers, and seven further original papers, introduced by an editorial, which form a special section on geographical approaches to climate change education. To start Patrick Moss (2025), as Associate Editor for the journal, offers a commentary on the importance of place and time in the context of resilience and in so doing considers how the concept might be positioned as an anchoring point for human and physical geography.

The first original paper is the Fay Gale memorial lecture delivered at the 2023 IAG conference in Perth. Emma Ligtermoet (2025) considers knowledge co-production in three different contexts: the historical co-production of knowledge of coastal freshwater floodplain Country of the Northern Territory, facilitating the Kunwinjku Seasons calendar, and enabling reflexive co-production praxis with sustainability science researchers at a national science institution. Ligtermoet reflects on experiences as an early career researcher and seeks to provoke readers to reflect on their own co-production praxis.

Next in this issue are two mixed methods papers that offer rich empirical findings and important conceptual and methodological insights. The paper by Rana Dadpour et al. (2025) presents a mixed methods study exploring urban liveability in Cairns and highlights the value of qualitative GIS methodologies in mapping the experiences of recent migrants. The final stand-alone paper in this issue comes from Suale Iddrisu et al. (2025) who explore issues of food security and sustainability in Ghana and delve into the impacts of urban expansion on farmer livelihoods.

Catherine Walker and colleagues (2025a) introduce the special section on geographical approaches to creative, hopeful, and inclusive climate change education. Their collection of papers (Magrane, 2025; McMeeking et al., 2025; Parsons et al., 2025. Portus et al., 2025; Satchwell et al., 2025; Trott, 2025; Walker et al., 2025a) provide rich examples from around the world to illustrate children and young people’s role as storytellers, as enablers of others’ stories, and as critical and empathetic listeners in the context of climate change. This special section will be further explored in an upcoming webinar later in the year.