The origins of the RGS-IBG annual conference can be traced back to January 1933 and the inaugural meeting of the then newly founded Institute of British Geographers (IBG). For the first few years of its existence, the IBG annual conference and AGM ran alongside the conference of the Geographical Association, and was held at the London School of Economics. In 1949, the conference was held outside of London for the first time, in Oxford, beginning a tradition of holding the conference at a different UK higher education institution each year. This continued during the early years of the newly merged RGS-IBG.
From 2004, the conference has taken place mainly in London, but in Glasgow (with the IGU) (2004), Manchester (2009), Edinburgh (2012), Exeter (2015), Cardiff (2018), and Newcastle (2022).
You can find out more about the history of the conference on the Society's [website][1]. Past printed programmes are archived on the Society's [online catalogue][2].
[1]: https://www.rgs.org/research/annual-international-conference/history/
[2]: https://rgs.koha-ptfs.co.uk/cgi-bin/koha/opac-search.pl?q=an:%2212369%22