GeogPod

In this episode of GeogPod, John Lyon speaks with Hannah Banton, Technical Analyst, and Anneka France, Technical Manager, from The Rivers Trust.

They discuss their career journeys and how geography led them into their current roles. The conversation explores the findings of the latest Rivers Trust Report, examining what is happening in our rivers, the factors affecting their health, and how some local actions are starting to make a difference. They also highlight why continued investment is essential to ensure our rivers can keep improving in the future.

Resources

• View The Rivers Trust primary education resources here
• Find out about The Big River Watch here, it is something that students can get involved in. The data is fed into a dashboard that students can analysis and review also.
• View The State of Our Rivers 2026 report here

Series 17 is kindly sponsored by The Field Studies Council.

John Lyon is joined by Andy Zair, former head of year and geography teacher at the Royal Grammar School High Wycombe, now a wellbeing and performance coach and Director of School Relationships for the Living Project.

They talk about mindfully curated adventures in wild places, from Knoydart and Dartmoor to the Isle of Lewis, Nepal and Slovenia, and why cooking around a campfire after a long day can teach young people as much about resilience, kindness and leadership as any summit.

Andy explains the thinking behind 'adventure is relative', the value of slowing down and going phone-free, and the challenge of describing outcomes to schools when every student grows differently. He also reflects on his own path out of the classroom, his mindfulness training, and how a love of wild places has carried him through difficult times.

Links from the podcast:

The Living Project

Get in touch with Andy: [email protected]

The Living Project - Wild Island

The Living Project - Life & Limb

The Living Project - Live Wild

John is joined by Grace Phillips and Em Kendall from the Field Studies Council to unpick the road collapse at Slapton, Devon, where storm damage tore away part of the A379 in early 2026. They trace the shingle barrier's postglacial formation, the isostatic and eustatic processes behind it, and why the freshwater lake behind it isn't a lagoon at all. The conversation moves from longshore drift and sediment cells through to the community, wildlife and SSSI considerations now shaping decisions about how, or whether, the road gets rebuilt.

In this special episode of GeogPod to celebrate reaching over 100 episodes we've put together a selection of short clips to give you an idea of what GeogPod is all about.

Our guests come from a wide range of backgrounds and share insights on diverse geographical topics. This sampler episode is introduced by our host John Lyon, alongside staff members of The Geographical Association.

If you enjoy what you hear, why not explore the full episodes? We've listed all the featured episodes below, and there are many more to discover. Subscribe to GeogPod to hear all our episodes and stay up to date with new series releases!

• Episode #19: Mark Maslin - How to deal with climate change deniers and reasons to be hopeful
• Episode #39: Professor Ben Hennig – Iceland, Worldmapper, Trump tweets and more
• Episode #53: Alan Parkinson and Paula Richardson – Fieldwork: a shared experience for everybody
• Episode #58: Narinder Mann – Geography teacher training and what makes a good geography teacher
• Episode #60: John Lyon – Drunk parrots, arterial routes, and finding your way through geography
• Episode #62: Richard Bustin, Alice Matthews and Charlotte Milner – Writing your first article in Teaching Geography
• Episode #66: Daanish Mustafa – Critical geography
• Episode #67: Alex Densmore – Learning from the landscape
• Episode #83: Black History Month with Pat, James & Francisca
• Episode #86: Jess Hill – Championing primary geography and embracing change (we also have a blog post inspired by this episode 'My journey from listening to GeogPod episode #86 and deciding to apply for PGQM')
• Episode #95: Dr Charlene Rose – Exploring superdiversity and identity through Caribbean food
• Episode #101: Tom Davies, GeoWizard – Geography games and adventures

In this episode, Professor Gwilym Pryce from the University of Sheffield explores the idea of 'social frontiers'. The boundaries that exist between communities, neighbourhoods and groups. Drawing on his research in urban economics, social statistics and data analytics, Gwilym discusses how these frontiers influence inequality, segregation and everyday life, while offering thought-provoking ideas for geography teachers and students about using data to better understand the places we live.

Links

• A website dedicated to collating and disseminating research on ‘social frontiers’: https://danolner.shinyapps.io/ShinyMapScale/
• A video explaining the Social Frontiers project: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFJvqFxmvdo

In this episode of GeogPod our host John Lyon talks to Tom Davies about his experiences of place and travel as GeoWizard on YouTube.

They discuss how Tom became interested in geography and his first video upload playing the internet game GeoGuessr that started his channel. They go on to talk about the inspiration behind his current ‘straight line mission’ that challenges Tom to travel by foot in a straight line experiencing place in a unique way. Tom encourages young people to go outside and explore in their local area.

Watch GeoWizard on YouTube here

In this episode of GeogPod, Jon is joined by Mark Enser, who is the national lead for geography, was a member of the Ofsted curriculum unit as well as a freelance writer.

While in conversation, they discuss the topic of geography teaching in schools and how to develop, implement and support a high quality geography curriculum. They also talk about how teachers can be supported to create a curriculum that works for their cohort first of all and ways that long term teachers can break out of the cycle of teaching the same topics the same way, year on year.

In this episode, John Lyon is joined by award winning field studies tutor, Chloe Searl. They discuss Chloe's transition to fieldwork from the classroom, tips on how to help students to get the most out of the fieldwork experience and the importance of making sure that the fieldwork starts right from the classroom, not when they get off the bus.

Find Chloe Searl here The Island Geographer - Resources, Fieldwork & CPD

In this episode of the podcast, John talks to Dr Edward Armston Sheret, historical geographer and researcher in the field of travel and exploration. They discuss the themes of his book, On the Backs of Others: Rethinking the History of British Geographical Exploration, which unpicks the narratives of exploration and heroism in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries to reveal the hidden figures of historical expedition and the unsettling colonial heritage of famous explorers.

Find Edward here: https://www.edarmston-sheret.com/

And read his book here: https://www.nebraskapress.unl.edu/nebraska/9781496230973/on-the-backs-of-others/

In this episode of GeogPod our host, John Lyon, talks with Philip Parker, Senior Environment Education Officer at the Wear Rivers Trust. They discuss Philip’s career, who the Wear Rivers Trust are and what they do as well as chatting about rivers, nature, pollution, farming, field trips, the importance of engaging children with nature and rivers and how they support teachers and schools.

Links from the podcast:

Wear Rivers Trust website

Wear Rivers Trust education hub and resources

https://www.riverflies.org/case-studies/south-burn - published project work on South Burn

Roker, Sunderland beach video - river mouth and rockpooling trip at Sunderland beach

Series 16 of GeogPod is proudly sponsored by Collins.

Collins has been publishing high-quality educational books for over 200 years. Our accessible and inclusive range of market-leading resources support pupils throughout every stage of their school education, from early years to A-level. Discover atlases, student books, teacher guides, revision and more at collins.co.uk.

collins.co.uk