Aisling O’Rourke, Geography & Environment, University of Manchester (2023 Cohort)

In March 2026 I boarded my flight to San Francisco, excited and nervous to attend the American Association of Geographer’s Conference. This was my first time travelling to the US and first time travelling abroad for a conference, so there were many unknown elements for me to ponder in advance of my travels. I very much acknowledge my privilege in being able to travel to the US in these difficult and uncertain times and reflected upon my positionality in being able to make this journey, as well as what voices and perspectives that might not be present at the conference.

The overall cost for attending the conference took a large chunk of my conference budget, so was something I had to weigh up and discuss with my supervisors before deciding to go. I had been accepted onto a panel called ‘The role of formal and informal power structures in shaping vulnerability and risk in cities from the Global North to the Global South’ and this was the main motivation for me to attend. I saw this as an opportunity to share my emerging findings from my research as my project uses vulnerability concepts as the theoretical framework. My CASE partner is Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service and my project is exploring how vulnerability is understood as well as the relationship between energy poverty and fire safety. It was great to see how other researchers were exploring and applying these conceptualisations in varying contexts such as Mexico and South Africa.

After lots of editing and rehearsing, I delivered my presentation and received positive feedback as well as some interesting questions. It was great to have discussions around how the different presentations overlapped and differed! I was very fortunate that the session chairs were welcoming and encouraging.

The number of sessions at the conference was quite overwhelming! It was sometimes difficult to plan out my itinerary for the day as a result. The strategy I employed was thinking about overlaps in my research interests in terms of themes, methods and theoretical approaches. This helped me to decide what would be the most beneficial for me to attend. However, sometimes I just followed my interests, and this often led to attending sessions that didn’t appear to have an obvious link to my PhD but often opened my mind to different approaches.

Having made the journey to the other side of the world I thought it would be a shame to not be able to explore parts of the city. The weather was unseasonably warm, with quite intense sunlight and not a cloud in the sky. I was very glad to have packed light layers and my factor 50. The conditions were perfect for a whale watching trip I went on in San Francisco Bay, here we spotted grey whales and sea lions! I also managed to go and see the tallest trees in the world, Coast Redwoods, in Muir Woods.

I felt very fortunate to be able to attend an academically enriching conference and see some absolutely beautiful wildlife and was only slightly sunburnt during my time! For any fellow NWSSDTP students who are a bit worried about attending a conference on their own, feel free to reach out with any questions.

Aisling O’Rourke aisling.orourke-2@manchester.ac.uk