Outward Bound Oman receives prestigious award
MUSCAT: Outward Bound Oman, and Director Mark Evans, were recently presented with the prestigious Geographical Award at the annual general meeting of the Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers) in London.
Royal Geographical Society
The Royal Geographical Society (with IBG)’s medals and awards recognise excellence in geographical research and fieldwork, teaching and public engagement, and are presented annually to individuals who have made outstanding achievements. Recipients join a prestigious list that includes David Livingstone, Alfred Russel Wallace, Captain R. Scott and Sir David Attenborough.
Since being founded in 2009, with seed funding from Dentons, Shell and Sheikh Suhail Bahwan, Outward Bound Oman has used challenging outdoor experiences to inspire more than 13,500 people to achieve more in their lives, and contribute to making Vision 2040 a reality in Oman.
Thanks to the support of His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said, combined with the active support of the private sector, by 2020 Oman will have three international standard outdoor learning centres, enabling greater numbers of people to benefit in the coming years.
This year the RGS-IBG’s medals and awards recognised 20 different people for their outstanding contributions. Among other recipients, artist Tacita Dean was awarded the Cherry Kearton Medal and Award for her art that encourages reflection on changing landscapes, writer Rebecca Solnit receives the Fordham award for distinguished contributions to the field of cartobibliography and author Dervla Murphy receives the Ness Award for the popularisation of geography through travel literature.
Based in Kensington in London, The Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) is the learned society and professional body for geography. Formed in 1830 for ‘the advancement of geographical science’, today the society delivers this objective through developing, supporting and promoting geographical research, expeditions and fieldwork, education, public engagement, and geography input to policy. It aims to foster an understanding and informed enjoyment of our world, and holds the world’s largest private geographical collection, and provides public access to it.
There is a long-standing relationship between the RGS-IBG and Oman. Over a period of three years in the mid-1980s, teams of scientists from the Society and Oman undertook one of the most intensive multi-disciplinary surveys of an arid environment, in the Sharqiya Sands, and since 2005 His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said has supported the RGSIBG Thesiger Arid Environment Research Award.