Andy Pike is the Henry Daysh Professor of Regional Development Studies in the Centre for Urban and Regional Development Studies (CURDS), Newcastle University, UK. His research interests, publications and research projects are focused on the geographical political economy of local, regional and urban development and policy. He has undertaken research projects for the OECD, UN-ILO, […]
In recent years, industrial strategy has returned to the centre of political and economic debate. Governments across advanced economies are once again asking how they can shape growth, support innovation, and address deepening regional inequalities. For decades, however, much of industrial policy has rested on a powerful but often unquestioned assumption: that economic growth is […]
We are looking for a postdoc who has experience with policy networks, community networks, or inter-organisational networks. This is a research position (fixed term until the end of 2027) in the £3m ARISE project (“Advancing Resilience and Innovation for a Sustainable Environment”) at the University of Essex, co-supervised by Prof Gina Reinhardt (University of Essex) […]
We have 2 PhD positions advertised at Leeds that you might be interested in, please consider applying / forwarding to potential candidates. Please note that only applicants who qualify for UK fees status will be eligible. The application deadline is 6 March 2026. Both positions are associated with the Production and Consumption Transformations (PACT) Centre<https://environment.leeds.ac.uk/directories0/dir-record/research-projects/2189/production-and-consumption-transformations-pact-centre>, […]
Please note that only applicants who qualify for UK fees status will be eligible. The application deadline is 6 March 2026. Both positions are associated with the Production and Consumption Transformations (PACT) Centre<https://environment.leeds.ac.uk/directories0/dir-record/research-projects/2189/production-and-consumption-transformations-pact-centre>, led by Prof John Barrett at the University of Leeds, UK. The first PhD position is on Justice implications of the UK’s […]
The 2nd Workshop for Early Career Women in Economic Geography and Spatial Economics takes place on 16–17 March 2026. The workshop aims to support women-led research by bringing together advanced PhD students, fellows, and postdoctoral researchers working in Economic Geography and Spatial Economics. Participants will present their work, receive feedback from an LSE faculty discussant, […]
Are you a UK student interested in supporting the transition to net zero, systems level thinking and learning from the lessons of the past? An interdisciplinary PhD position is available through the School of Engineering and School of History and Cultures at the University of Birmingham. Building on previous work, this project will decipher the […]
One position for a Post-Doctoral Research Associate as part of the ESRC-funded project The Peripheralisation of Asylum Accommodation, which investigates the evolution of contemporary asylum accommodation policy in England, as well as the conflicts it creates between different institutional and non-institutional actors and the experiences of people living in accommodation provided by the Home Office. If […]
The Henley International Business Masterclasses are offered by Henley Business School to PhD students and postdoctoral researchers studying international business in business management, economic geography, and economics. The 2026 Spring Session consists of the following courses: 13 – 14 April 2026 International Business, Development and Policy by Rajneesh Narula with guest speakers Ganeshan Wignaraja and Chie […]
Our reliance on cars is one reason why domestic transport is the UK’s largest source of greenhouse gas emissions (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, 2024). Using alternatives, like walking and cycling, can cut these emissions quickly (Brand et al., 2021), much quicker than even the quickest shift towards electric vehicles. Yet we continue […]
Earlier in 2025, the UK government announced a commitment to reduce spending on disability benefits by restructuring entitlements and eligibility to various health-related benefits. It claims through its Pathways to Work, papers that it seeks to reduce economic inactivity across the UK ‘…[so] that everyone who can realise the benefits of work is expected and […]
In the UK, the Covid-19 pandemic was marked by strong spatial differences in the strictness and duration of government-mandated lockdowns. The average number of weeks spent in strict lockdown was 50% higher in urban local authorities than in rural ones. The marked increase in working from home that ensued, largely facilitated by the use of […]
Devolution has been at the core of the UK government’s initiatives to reduce regional inequality across the country. The Conservatives’ ‘Levelling up’ agenda was built around it, and Labour’s plan to ‘Power Up Britain’ also relies on the empowerment of local and sub-regional authorities and communities, based upon an analysis that areas have been ‘held […]
The UK government can meet some of its biggest challenges by combining mayoral devolution with its mission-led approach. Empowering local leaders to deliver on national missions will mean giving them greater control and bigger budgets. In the UK, Keir Starmer’s Labour government has had a rocky first year in office. With opinion polls tumbling and […]
Place leadership has come to be seen as the ‘missing factor of the regional development puzzle’ (Sotarauta et al, 2017), but how such leadership operates in environments of conflict and contestation is still poorly understood. Using Northern Ireland as an illustrative case, recent research has sought to better understand how place leadership dynamics manifest when […]
The 40th Anniversary of the miners’ strike has encouraged considerable academic and media attention on the nature and lessons of the strike (Hendy,2024), but less on the long-term economic and social consequences of Thatcher’s and subsequent Governments’ policies on the former Coalfields. Our report, on the impact of austerity on inequality and deprivation in the […]
The UK has historically failed to learn important lessons from European countries on spatial rebalancing. It has recently acknowledged the need for effective local institutions and a long-term national strategy, but its asymmetric approach is unlikely to reduce geographic inequality. The failure of levelling up When the previous UK government launched its levelling up agenda […]
Marcus is the Head of Partnerships and Engagement at the Regional Studies Association, where he leads on identifying, securing, and managing strategic collaborations with networks, organisations, and consortia. He oversees joint projects and sponsorships, using member and market insights to enhance the RSA’s membership offer. Marcus also supports the development of territorial networks, delivers marketing […]
Victoria supports the RSA’s financial and operational functions by processing invoices, grants, and expense claims, assisting with purchase ledger tasks, bank and credit card reconciliations, audit preparation, VAT compliance, and Charity Commission filings. She also manages health and safety compliance, including staff training, DSE assessments, insurance, and data protection, while handling HR administration such as […]
Child poverty is regarded as a multidimensional, yet heavily economically based phenomenon. Previous studies on the UK or OECD countries underline the role of low income, job insecurity and worklessness, especially in lone-parent and minority households (Bradshaw, 2002; Thevenon et al., 2018). Additionally, in-work poverty is rising, and other factors, like housing, parental health and […]
The first signs of a slowdown in residential address changing were identified towards the end of the last century, starting in the USA, as is so often the case with social trends and then being found to be particularly marked across the rest of the New World. But other countries, including the UK, have not […]
On the 9th April, 2025, the Association reached its sixtieth anniversary. To celebrate this milestone, a new logo was released and several events were organised across the year.