2021 RSA Europe Student and ECR Winter College

Summary

REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT and PUBLIC POLICY

 November 30 – December 1, 2021, Online

Globalisation processes and technological change, as well as the on-going crises due to the COVID-19 pandemic, pose new challenges and traditional top-down development policies seem not to be suitable to address all these effectively.  At the same time, a territorial and participatory approach to economic development based on the mobilisation of local actors, resources and competitive advantages can prove successful only in those regions that have strong institutional settings. Both research and policy are increasingly focusing on the types of platforms needed to facilitate cross-actor, technology and industrial sector collaborative engagement, in an attempt to integrate top-down and bottom-up approaches to local development. The objective of the RSA Europe Student and ECR Winter College was to critically consider various novel regional policy approaches, while bringing together a variety of disciplinary dimensions and perspectives. RSA Europe’s 2021 Student and ECR Winter College aimed to coach students and early career researchers to collaborate and work across disciplines in order to tackle these and related, societal challenges.

Click here to find out more about the Regional Studies Association and its membership offer for students and Early Career Researchers.

Feedback from this year's participants:

"The Winter College was a great experience, two days with amazing fellow researchers and talented speakers. Thanks to the RSA and all its staff for this opportunity, hope to attend again in the future!” Luca Serafini, University of Cagliari, Italy

"Suppose you are passionate about the economics of geography and regional public policies. In that case, the RSA Winter college is an excellent international opportunity for Ph.D. students and early-stage researchers to share and receive feedback for the current research from a multidisciplinary point of view. Thanks to all the comments I received these days, I will improve my Ph.D. research. Last but not least, the speakers' presentations gave me a more profound knowledge of the contemporary questions in regional sciences and the different advice I received will help me to publish my future work." Deivyd Alexander Velasquez, University of Bordeaux, France

"I felt very privileged to attend the event as an early career researcher, and I think it is a prime example of how the RSA actively supports ECRs through various events. The Winter College was very valuable in creating opportunities for engagement between fellow ECRs and experienced academics and policymakers. The event was very well organised and combined excellent keynote speakers with very interesting presentations across the different tracks. Although it was a shame that we could not meet in person this year, I believe that the format worked very well online." Robert Bowen, Swansea University, UK

Impressions from this year's event, including informal networking on gather.town (middle):