FORMER Oldham Council Leader and Greenfield resident Professor Richard Knowles is ‘deeply honoured, humbled and delighted’ to receive an esteemed award from the International Geographical Union (IGU).
Professor Knowles, who is Emeritus Professor of Transport Geography at the University of Salford, will receive the Lauréat d’honneur at a ceremony during the IGU conference in Turkey on August 21, becoming only the fourth ever British recipient.
The internationally renowned award recognises individuals who have achieved exceptional distinction and rendered outstanding service to the work of the International Geographical Union and the advancement of international geography.
Created in 1976 and presented 55 times, the award is a testament to Richard’s innovative, cumulative, and far-reaching impacts on Geography for over four decades.
He said: “I am deeply honoured, humbled and delighted to be granted the Award of the Lauréat d’honneur.”
“I would like to pay tribute to research colleagues present and past at the Universities of Aberdeen, Birmingham, Copenhagen (Denmark), Denver (USA), Glasgow, Hong Kong, Huddersfield, Keele, Lausanne (Switzerland), Leeds, Liverpool, Newcastle, Plymouth, Oslo (Norway), Oxford, Salford, Simon Fraser (Canada), Sunderland and Westminster for their research collaboration and friendship.”
With a decorated background across the field of Geography, Richard is no stranger to winning awards, from the Edward L. Ullman Award in Transportation Geography from the American Association of Geographers in 2004 to the Alan Hay Award in Transport Geography from the Royal Geographical Society in 2010.
He was also the founding Editor of the Journal of Transport Geography from 1993 to 2012, one of the highest ranked international research journals in both Geography and Transport.
Locally, he lived in Greenfield with wife Valerie for 40 years, moving in 2022 to Baildon in West Yorkshire to be nearer family.
He was a councillor for 36 years, Oldham Council Leader in 2002, Mayor of Oldham, a school governor, and since retirement an Honorary Alderman.
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