It was rather hectic so soon after moving to Durham and after the RGS-IBG conference at the end of August, and no longer being based in Asia, but I was glad I could still make it for the 1st FinGeo Global Conference in September. Having worked with Fenghua Pan and other in planning the event over the past year, it was great to see things coming together and speak to so many participants who enjoyed the event and the discussion over the three days.
I liked the conference bag, which was printed with the school motto of Beijing Normal University (北京师范大学): 学为人师，行为世范 — Learn so as to teach others; act in ways that set examples to the world.
The pre-conference Youth Forum was focused on early-career scholars, with presentations from Mirjam Büdenbender and Emily Rosenman, winners of the FinGeo Doctoral Dissertation Prize 2018, delivered their keynotes as part of their award. There were also useful tips and insights from Henry Yeung and David Meyer about writing and publishing in top journals and university presses. The reception after the afternoon sessions also gave participants a chance to socialise and network with peers and more experienced researchers.
My official role was chairing the first plenary session on ‘Global financial shift? Financial and geopolitical perspectives on the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI)’. We had a great line up of speakers in this and other panels, on issues ranging from technology and global financial networks to urban finance and green finance. The plenary sessions were timed such that there were no other paper sessions going on so as to facilitate attendance. A good decision, judging from the strong turnout.
We had a surprise during the conference dinner. The local organising team got a cake to commemorate the inaugural FinGeo Global Conference, and it was huge! Also very tasty. Just the type of cakes that I love, hallmark of Chinese/Japanese bakeries since childhood days — airy sponge with fresh cream filling and fresh fruit topping. Plenty of photos were taken of the special cake! Representatives of the FinGeo Executive Committee ( Manuel Aalbers, Dariusz Wojcik, Fenghua Pan and myself) cut the cake and served a large block to each table.
What I found particularly meaningful was when chatting with various other participants over coffee/tea break and in between sessions, many of them said how much they enjoyed the conference and how delighted they were to have found such a community working on financial geography and related topics. Many of them are from departments or regions where there isn’t a strong cluster of research interests in social scientific research on money and finance, or in disciplines that don’t really engage with financial geography and related fields. There are many things that those of us based in UK, US and certain European countries take for granted, in terms of research environment, intellectual community and academic events. Very glad that the conference in Beijing enabled at least some of these people to be connected, and hopefully future events will also be focused on encouraging more diverse participation in terms of career stages, geographical locations and disciplinary fields.
There were various dinners at amazing venues with mouthwatering food. But as usual, it was the company that really made those occasions truly enjoyable. Witty and stimulating conversations are always pleasant, but was special was that many of these people were mentors and friends who had become dear to me over the years.
For those who read Chinese, there is a write-up on the 1st FinGeo Global Conference on the website of the Faculty of Geographical Science, Beijing Normal University, who hosted the conference.
Karen P.Y. Lai 