The Annual Meeting of the American Association of Geographers (AAG) is one of the biggest international conferences for geography. The themes of this year's conference revolved around Reciprocal Scholarship, Colonialism and Resources, and Recovery and Restoration, connecting the meeting to the environmental, historical, and cultural context of the host location in Hawai'i. More than 4,900 participants from 78 countries were present in person or online. The program was large and diverse, with 1,086 sessions, including panel discussions, keynote lectures, and social events, covering a broad spectrum of geographical research worldwide. The annual meeting also offered an exhibit hall featuring poster sessions, publishers, universities, and other scientific institutions. This extensive program allowed me to meet with experts in my field and expand my professional network. Also, I was able to explore many new niche topics and research areas in geography that I would not come across otherwise.

My contribution to the conference was an oral presentation in the 'AAG 2024 Symposium on Geospatial Data Science for Sustainability: Advances in approaches and methods of flood resilience studies'. I had the privilege of presenting a paper, which is also a significant part of my dissertation, titled 'The role of community leadership in building community adaptive capacity to coastal hazards – Insights from neighborhood networks in Semarang, Indonesia'. This study, an exploration into the role of community leaders in coastal communities in adapting to hazards such as flooding or land subsidence, underscores the central roles of these leaders in forming networks, mobilizing resources, and influencing adaptation strategies. It presents a new framework that shows how the effectiveness of leader action is shaped by factors such as formal authority, personal influence, and legitimacy, offering new insights into the dynamics of community adaptation and social networks.

I want to thank the Graduate School of Geosciences for the training and networking grant that allowed me to attend this event.

Konstantin Gisevius
PhD student
Institute of Geography
PhD project: “Networks of adaptation: Local and translocal social capital as a driver of community adaptive capacity towards coastal hazards in Indonesia”
Presentation title (Oral): The role of community leadership in building community adaptive capacity to coastal hazards – Insights from neighborhood networks in Semarang, Indonesia