Territories Categories: United Kingdom

Applications are open for four-year Sustainable Rural Futures Leverhulme Doctoral Scholarships at Keele University. There are two calls: Supervisor-designed projects see https://www.findaphd.com/phds/program/five-leverhulme-doctoral-scholarships-with-keele-s-sustainable-rural-futures-programme-surf-supervisor-designed/?i131p7006 Student-proposed projects see https://www.findaphd.com/phds/program/five-leverhulme-doctoral-scholarships-with-keele-s-sustainable-rural-futures-programme-surf-student-proposed/?i131p6778 Further information is also available on our website: https://www.keele.ac.uk/surf/apply/ Or contact us at surf@keele.ac.uk

LSE is committed to building a diverse, equitable and truly inclusive university  As an equal opportunities employer strongly committed to diversity and inclusion, we encourage applications from women and those of Minority Ethnic backgrounds as they are currently under-represented at this level in this area. All appointments will be made on merit or skill and […]

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 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 […]

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.

Ignazio is Professor of Regional Economic Development at Newcastle Business School, Northumbria University. He is also Head of the Accounting and Financial Management Department (AFM), and Research Fellow at the EU*Asia Institute, ESSCA School of Management, Angers (France). Ignazio’s work addresses multiple themes and topics in the economics and environment fields, with particular emphasis on […]