The Busk Medal is an award given annually by the Royal Geographical Society, for "conservation research or for fieldwork abroad in geography or in a geographical aspect of an allied science". It was first awarded in 1975, and is named in honour of Sir Douglas Laird Busk, a former diplomat, mountaineer, and honorary vice-president of the Society. Busk worked as a diplomat in Iran, Hungary, South Africa, Japan, Turkey and Iraq before serving as Ambassador to Ethiopia, Finland and Venezuela.
| Year | Winner |
|---|---|
| 1975 | Professor Nicholas N. Ambraseys |
| 1976 | Dr Arthur H. B. Stride |
| 1977 | Professor André Guilcher |
| 1978 | Dr William O. Field |
| 1979 | Professor Karl Butzer |
| 1980 | Dr Marjorie Sweeting |
| 1981 | Professor Hans Bobek |
| 1982 | Alfred Thomas Grove |
| 1983 | Professor Luna Leopold |
| 1984 | Dr Jevan Pierres Berrangé |
| 1985 | Professor Jean Tricart |
| 1986 | Commander Chris Furse |
| 1987 | Professor Alice Coleman |
| 1988 | Dr Malcolm Coe |
| 1989 | Ralph Daly |
| 1990 | Max Nicholson |
| 1991 | Dr John Proctor |
| 1992 | Dr Robin Pellew |
| 1993 | Dr John Sheail |
| 1994 | Dr Bernard Tinker |
| 1995 | Dr Rita Gardner |
| 1996 | Professor Alexey Yablokov |
| 1997 | Professor Grenville Lucas |
| 1998 | Dr David Collins |
| 1999 | Michael Mortimore |
| 2000 | Dr Mark Collins |
| 2001 | Professor David Bellamy |
| 2002 | Professor Edward O. Wilson |
| 2003 | Professor David Warrell |
| 2004 | Dr Bill Adams |
| 2005 | Dr Sampurno Bruijnzeel |
| 2006 | Dr Hugh Brammer |
| 2007 | Professor Geoffrey Petts |
| 2008 | Tamotsu Nakamura |
| 2009 | Professor Janet Hooke |
| 2010 | Professor Ann Varley |
| 2011 | Professor Lewis Owen |
| 2012 | Professor Claudio Vita-Finzi |
| 2013 | Professor Susan Page |
| 2014 | Professor Uma Kothari |
| 2015 | Dr Jayalaxshmi Mistry |
| 2016 | Professor Jo Sharp |
| 2017 | Professor David Evans |
| 2018 | Professor Bhaskar Vira |
| 2019 | Dr Ayona Datta |
| 2020 | Professor Nina Laurie |
| 2021 | Dr Emma Mawdsley |
| 2022 | Professor James D. Sidaway |
| 2023 | Professor Jos Barlow |
| 2024 | Leon McCarron |