British Branch (UK)

The IGS was founded in 1936 under the name of ‘Association for the Study of Snow and Ice’. The name was changed to the ‘British Glaciological Society in 1945. With more and more non-British glaciologists attending its ‘readings’ and submitting papers for publication, the name was changed to the ‘Glaciological Society’ in 1962 and finally the Society acquired its present name, The International Glaciological Society in 1971.

So, it is not unsurprising that the British Branch is not the oldest branch. The oldest is Northeastern North American Branch, founded in 1966, the Nordic Branch and the French Branch in 1972. The inaugural meeting of the British Branch was the 26th of March 1974 in Birmingham. This is reported in ICE, 1st issue 1974 number 44 pp19.

The driving force behind the formation of the branch was John Glen and thus the branch named its student award in honour of him. The prize is for the best student presentations (both oral and poster) made at the British Branch Annual Meetings. It was first awarded in 2001 and from the very start it was John Glen himself that judged the presentations and he did so until 2013.

The IGSBB meetings rotate around the various universities in the UK Aberdeen in the north to Southampton in the South and Belfast in the west to Norwich in the east.

Statute

The statute of the IGS British Branch has been updated. The original one is several decades old so the committee felt it was appropriate to review it to reflect changing times.

As an appendix to the revised statues the original statute of the IGS British Branch as approved by the IGS Council at its meeting in Grindelwald in 1974 can still be viewed. Note that this document is the draft document and the final approved Statute includes the handwritten notes written on the document

Download current statute of the IGS British Branch

Download original statute of the IGS British Branch (1974)

Past meetings of the IGS British Branch

Contacts