On March 11-13, 2026, the Place, Environment & Development Cluster of the WGSSS convened the annual residential PhD Conference and Theory School at Gregynog Hall in Newtown, Wales. The event was co-sponsored by the WGSSS and the Departments of Geography at Aberystwyth, Cardiff, and Swansea Universities. It was mainly attended by PhD students and academic staff associated with the Human Geography and Environmental Planning pathways of the WGSSS, but it included staff and students from 11 different universities representing a wide array of disciplines.
On March 11th and 12th 16 PhD students presented their research to a friendly audience of peers and academic staff. The conference included dedicated time for questions, answers, and discussion following every presentation, and the discussions carried into tea breaks and mealtime.
On March 12th and 13th, a larger, but overlapping group participated in the Theory School. This is an annual training event focused on rigorous engagement with complex, theoretical texts. The goal is to develop skills for connecting concrete social problems with abstract concepts and methodologies. This year the Theory School was focused on the philosophical and methodological convention of phenomenology, with a more specific focus on the concept of empathy, which is receiving increased attention in contemporary political debates. The title of the school this year was “Living an Anti-Fascist Life: Empathy, Spaces, and the Problem of Other People”. It was developed in partnership with the keynote speaker for the Theory School, Professor Chris Philo of the University of Glasgow. The programme included a public interview of Professor Philo by 2 WGSSS PhD students. A transcript of the interview along with Professor Philo’s keynote talk, and several additional papers, will be published in the PhD student-edited journal Agoriad: A Journal of Spatial Theory in 2027.
As it has been for many years, the event was a great success, and we are all very grateful to the staff at Gregynog Hall for their kind hospitality and excellent conference services.
After the event concluded, we asked the participants to provide the organisers with feedback. It was overwhelmingly positive. Here is one anonymised response:
“Both events were fantastic and I came away from them feeling like I had learnt a huge amount. It was great to hear more about what other students on the WGSSS programme are doing, and to take inspiration from their methods and theoretical grounding. The Theory School was brilliant, I feel like I learnt so much – not only about Edith Stein and her work but also a better understanding of how to read and apply more complex texts. I don’t really get this opportunity at my university so having a space to have group discussions like this is invaluable.”
Agoriad (meaning Openings in Welsh) is an online open-access journal managed and edited by postgraduates and early career researchers with oversight and support from a managing editorial team. Agoriad publishes high-quality research on key theoretical debates in Geography and related fields as well as providing a supportive publishing process for researchers at all career stages. The journal is published by Cardiff University Press and supported by the Welsh Graduate School for the Social Sciences.
Each issue of Agoriad is organised around a theoretical topic linked to the Gregynog Theory School.