Chris King was a highly influential, long-serving member of ESTA, as Chair, and as Secondary Convener for more than four decades. His service Earth Science Education in general and ESTA in particular was truly remarkable. The Earth Science Education Unit, established during his time at Keele University (where he was Professor of Earth Science Education) trained nearly 40,000 teachers and benefitted more than 1 million GCSE and A Level students. Chris' ability to engage people of all backgrounds in the study of geology was unparalleled. Chris retired from Keele in December 2015 but, as Emeritus Professor, maintained his work in geological education.
In particular, he established the Geoscience Education Summer School to train science and geography teachers to teach UK geology specifications up to A level. As Chair of the European Geosciences Education Committee (EGU) he set up a team of geosciences teachers and researchers and trained them as Geoscience Education Field Officers (GEFO) to provide professional development to school, in-service and pre-service, teachers across Europe.
Sadly, Chris passed away in February 2022 after a battle with cancer. A large specimen of amethyst, along with a plastic base and an inscription plate, was purchased as the Chris King Award, to be presented annually to members who have furthered the educational aims of ESTA, showing an ‘outstanding contribution to geological education’.
Recipients of the award are listed below.
The first Award was presented at the 2022 Leicester Conference, jointly to Elizabeth Devon and Peter Kennett, mainly for their work as part of the three-person team of Earthlearningidea, started by Chris in 2007/8 and still going strong. Elizabeth and her husband took the Award home on the train, while Peter was content with displaying a photograph of it, only to be surprised at the half-year point to receive the actual Award in the post from Elizabeth!
At the 2023 ESTA conference, Pete Loader was presented with the award in recognition of his multifarious and energetic activities on behalf of the Association, including the incomparable Summer School and his sterling service for Geology at the WJEC, Geological Society Council and other bodies.