Rafael de Miguel González (born 1971)[1] is a Spanish geographer and professor at the University of Zaragoza.[2] He specialises in geography education and has also conducted research in urban geography, urban and regional planning, and geopolitics.[3]
American Association of Geographers Grosvenor Honors for Geographic Education and International Geographical Union Distinguished Practice Award. Only twelve geographers ever having this top double recognition. One and only geographer who has obtained both in the same year (2024).
Rafael de Miguel González has also taken part of projects and publications teams, which have had international recognition, like Geospatial World Forum (2014), Best European Learning Material Awards (2021) and several projects labeled as Erasmus+ Good Practice by the European Commission.
He is the President of the European Association of Geographers,[4] a member of the board of the,[5] a fellow of the Academia Europaea[6] and the Real Academia de Nobles y Bellas Artes de San Luis de Zaragoza.
Regional contact Spain, Commission on Geographical Education, International Geographical Union. Member IGU Spain Commitee
Vice Dean of International Relations at the Faculty of Education, University of Zaragoza, Erasmus+ European University (UNITA). Director of the Confucius Institute at University of Zaragoza. Director of HARMONY project with Universities in India.
Bachelor in Geography from the University of Zaragoza (Summa cum laude) and the University of Nancy 2 (France), 1989-1994.
Master (1996) and Doctor (1999) in Urban Planning (Magna cum laude) from the University of Paris (France) and Doctor of Education (Magna cum laude) from the University of Valladolid (2014).
Geography school teacher, 1998 to 2011. Head Teacher and Geography and History Head of Department.
Professor of Geography at the University of Zaragoza since 2015, from part-time to assistant, associate and full professorship.
Visiting professor at 26 universities in Europe, the United States, Latin America and China.
Coordinator of undergraduate and graduate programs for Geography and History teacher training.
Mentoring around 400 master students at internships. Supervisor of 210 Master dissertations and 3 PhD's dissertations (4 more ongoing). Thesis commitee and recruitment commitee member.
Fellow of Aragón Research Institute for Environmental Sciences (IUCA)
Co-PI of ARGOS (social studies education), and PI of GEOT-DS (geography), research groups.
219 publications, articles, books, chapters, proceedings. 38 papers in JRC/WOS/SCOPUS.
1750 citations at Google Scholar. Index h = 21, index i10 = 60. Top 20 worldwide, geography education
34.000 readings at Researchgate. Research interest = 373[7]
Top 7 books authored and edited in Springer or Cambridge S.P. 75K downloads
Editorial Board of Journals: IRGEE, EJG, Iber, Did Geography, Geographicalia. Reviewer (JCR) BAGE, JoG, IJGI, Sust.
184 papers and presentations at national and international conferences: IGU, AAG, EUROGEO, AGE, AUPDCS, ESRI. President of scientific and organising committees, keynote speaker, panellist.
Researcher at 82 projects, national (43) and international (39). PI of 33 projects (7 national; 26, European Commission funded), 8 awarded by the EC as Good Practice.
Director of Digital Atlas for Schools at ESRI, more than 150K consultations, and BIOMAPS: both are National Education Awards.
EUROGEO Vice President (2015-2019), then elected EUROGEO President in 2019 at the EUROGEO Conference and Annual Meeting held in Paris.
EUROGEO representative, European Alliance for the Social Sciences and the Humanities.
EUROGEO Representative, United Nations (UNHABITAT; Comission of Social Development; NGO Committee)
EUROGEO Representative at the Council of Europe Landscape Convention
Director of the Editorial Series Key Challenges in Geography (Springer): more than 125,000 downloads
Co-author (with Karl Donert) of the chapter Geography and International Education at the book A Geographical Century, a compilation of essays published on the occasion of the Centenary of the International Geographical Union.
He was an educational advisor to the Government of Aragon from 1996 to 1998, representative of Spanish Autonomous Communities at the European Union Tempus Committee.
He was elected Councillor of the Zaragoza City Council, in charge of Urban planning and Housing municipal commission, from 2007 to 2011.
Trustee, Spain-China Foundation. Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs.