2025

Zhiwu Wei is chosen the 2025 winner of the RSAI Dissertation Award for his PhD dissertation "Empirical Essays on Spatial Inequality".

The dissertation engages with one of the most pressing issues in contemporary Regional Science and makes an outstanding contribution, engaging with relevant theoretical work as well as robustly applying a range of quantitative and causal inference methods across multiple empirical contexts and countries. The research results are clearly presented and rigorously discussed in light of the current literature, demonstrating a deep understanding of both theory and empirical evidence. The dissertation provides novel insights into the causes and consequences of spatial inequality in both Global and Global South contexts. The findings provide valuable implications for place-sensitive policy design, particularly in addressing inequality and fostering inclusive regional development. Among the key findings of the dissertation is the identification of the causal impact of exposure to urban density during a person’s “impressionable years” on outcomes later in life, suggesting that more time in urban areas during these years makes respondents more supportive of immigrants and gender equality later in life. The dissertation also presents a new measure of spatial inequality for regions in Global South countries and examines its association with georeferenced social protests. The analysis suggests that regions with higher levels of spatial inequality experience more frequent protests. The research also examines the extent to which the Brexit vote triggered polarization in economic expectations and spending intentions between pro- and anti-Brexit voters and identifies strong polarization effects between these two groups. Another key highlight of the research is the analysis of the impact of the Brexit vote on regional aggregate consumption suggesting divergence in consumption of automobiles and housing transactions between regions with different shares of leave voters.  Overall, the dissertation represents an extremely high-quality, relevant, and impactful contribution to the field of Regional Science and beyond.

Dr Wei was awarded his PhD (viva passed with no corrections) in Land Economy from the University of Cambridge in October 2024. He was supervised by Dr Davide Luca.

2024

 2023

Felix Pot is chosen as the winner of the RSAI dissertation award in 2024 for his work ''The Extra Mile: Perceived Accessibility in Rural Areas'.

The dissertation presents a novel conceptual and methodological approach to the analysis of perceived accessibility and it shows that a lower provision of services and amenities in rural areas does not necessarily translate to lower levels of perceived accessibility compared to urban areas. The research employs both quantitative and qualitative methods to examine perceived accessibility to daily activities in rural areas in the Netherlands, contributing to the normative evaluation of spatial inequalities in accessibility. The PhD dissertation includes chapters that are already published in high quality peer-reviewed international journals, including highly cited articles in the Journal of Transport Geography.

Dr Pot received his Doctorate from the University of Groningen on 7 September 2023 (https://research.rug.nl/en/publications/the-extra-mile-perceived-accessibility-in-rural-areas) and was supervised by Prof Taede Tillema and Prof Sierdjan Koster. Congratulations! 

Dr Yunyu Tian is chosen as the winner of the RSAI dissertation award in 2023 for her PhD dissertation entitled “Earth Observation data for assessing global urbanization-sustainability nexuses”, which was successfully defended (with a cum laude distinction) on 6 June 2023 at Wageningen University and Research.

The cum laude distinction (only given to around 5% of all PhD students at Wageningen University) was awarded by an extended evaluation committee of nine persons.  Dr Tian’s PhD dissertation made significant contributions towards the knowledge of urbanization and environmental changes at the global scale. The thesis included highly innovative methodological features such as the use of multi-source (and high quality) Earth Observation data and social data, contributing to academic and policy knowledge relating to global urbanization and sustainability as well as their nexus at the neighbourhood level. Part of the thesis has already been published in the form of academic peer-reviewed papers in the journals Landscape and Urban Planning (2022) and Environmental Research Letters (2022). 

The RSAI congratulates Dr. Tian and her supervisors Professor Martin Herold and Professor Eveline van Leeuwen (Wageningen University).

2022

 2021

The selection committee for the RSAI Best Dissertation award has unanimously agreed to declare the PhD thesis of I Gede Nyoman Mindra Jaya entitled ‘Bayesian Spatiotemporal Modeling and Mapping of Infectious Disease: Methodology and Application to Dengue disease in Bandung and COVID-19 in West Java, Indonesia’ as winner of the 2022 RSAI Best Dissertation Award.

This thesis has already been published in the form of four academic peer-reviewed papers in the Journal of Regional Science (2021), Geographical Analysis (2021) and the Journal of Geographical Systems (2020 and 2022).  It was also unanimously awarded the cum laude (honours) distinction (for outstanding ability to conduct independent research) by the assessment and review committee (comprising Professors P. McCann, R. Bivand, A. Anshory Yusuf,J. LeSage, M. Fischer)  as well as the Tiebout Price of the Western Regional Science Association in 2019.

The RSAI congratulates Dr. Jaya and his supervisors, Prof. L.J.G. van Wissen and Prof. H. Folmer (Groningen University).

Andreas Diemer is chosen as the winner of the RSAI dissertation award in 2021 for his work "Essays in the Spatial Economic Analysis of Social Interactions." The dissertation develops an interdisciplinary approach to identify the role of social networks in determining economic outcomes of both people and places, and discusses how social and geographical spaces interact to shape the fortunes of individuals and regions, using big data. The committee found his dissertation to be novel and creative in the research framework, analysis and implications. He received his Doctorate from London School of Economics, and was supervised by Professor Simona Iammarino and Prof. Michael Storper. Dr. Diemer is now at Swedish Institute for Social Research. Congratulations!

2020

2019

In 2020 the winner of the RSAI dissertation prize was Daria Denti for his Thesis entitled “Essays on the Economic Geography of Oppressive Violent Deviant Behaviours". She was supervised by Professor Alessandra Faggian (GSSI), and Professor Simona Iammarino (London School of Economics and Political Science). Congratulations!

In 2019 the winner of the RSAI dissertation prize was Mingshu Wang for his Thesis entitled “Polycentric Urban Development in China”. He was supervised by Professor Marguerite Madden from the University of Georgia. Congratulations!

2018

2017

In 2018 the winner of the RSAI dissertation prize was Justin Delloye for his Thesis entitled “Urban Morphodynamics: Reconciling Location Theory and Complex”. He was supervised by Professor Dominique Peeters and Professor Isabelle Thomas from Université Catholique de Louvain. Congratulations!

In 2017 the winner of the RSAI dissertation prize was Mirjam Schindler for her dissertation entitled “Spatial modelling of feedback effects between urban structure and traffic-induced air pollution - Insights from quantitative geography and urban economics”. She was supervised by Professor Geoffrey Caruso, Institute of Geography and Spatial Planning, University of Luxembourg. Congratulations!

2016 

2015 

In 2016 the winner of the RSAI dissertation prize was Michiel van Meeteren for his dissertation entitled “From Polycentricity to a Renovated Urban Systems Theory: Explaining Belgian Settlement Geographies”. He was supervised by Professor Ben Derudder, Department of Geography, Ghent University. Congratulations!

In 2015 the winner of the RSAI dissertation prize was Tate Twinam for his dissertation entitled “The Economics of Zoning”. He was supervised by Professor Arie Beresteanu, University of Pittsburgh and Professor Randall P. Walsh, University of Pittsburgh. Congratulations!

 2014

 2012

In 2014 the winner of the RSAI dissertation prize was Zhenhua Chen for his dissertation entitled “Transportation and Regional Output in the Northeast Megaregion: A Spatial Econometric Computable General Equilibrium Assessment”. He was supervised by Professor Kingsley Haynes, George Mason University. Congratulations!

In 2012 the winner of the RSAI dissertation prize was Carlianne Elizabeth Patrick for her work "Essays in Economic Growth and Development Policy". She was supervised by Prof. Dr. Mark Partridge. Congratulations! 

 2011

 2010

In 2011 the winner of the RSAI dissertation prize was Tijs Neutens for his work "Space, time and accessibility: Analyzing human activities and travel possibilities from a time-geographic perspective". He was supervised by Prof. Dr. Philippe De Maeyer, Prof. Dr. Frank Witlox and Dr. Tim Schwane. Congratulations!

In 2010 the winner of the RSAI dissertation prize was Frank Neffke from Erasmus School of Economics for his dissertation “Productive Places: The Influence of Technological Change and Relatedness on Agglomeration Externalities” at Utrecht University. Congratulations!

 2008

 2006

In 2008 the winner of the RSAI dissertation prize was Maarten Bosker of Groningen University. Runner-up was Nancy Lozano of Arizona State University. Congratulations to both!

The RSAI presented its annual Dissertation Competition award at the 2006 North American meetings in Toronto to Dr. Eric Delmelle for his thesis entitled “Optimization of Second-Phase Spatial Sampling Using Auxiliary Information.” Dr. Delmelle received his Doctorate from the State University of New York at Buffalo and was supervised by Prof. Peter Rogerson. Honourable Mentions were awarded to Drs. Georgeanne Artz (PhD: University of Iowa) and Julie Hwang (PhD: SUNY at Buffalo).

 2005

 2004

The RSAI presented its annual Dissertation Competition award at the 2005 North American meetings in Las Vegas to Dr. Ikuho Yamada Analysis for her work "Spatial Clusters when the Phenomenon is Constrained by a Network Space". Dr. Yamada received her Doctorate from the State University of New York at Buffalo, and was supervised by Prof. Jean-Claude Thill.

Sjoerd Beugelsdijk received the 2004 RSAI dissertation competition award for his work "Culture and Economic Development." Dr. Beugelsdijk received his Doctorate from Tiburg University and was supervised by Professor Noorderhaven.

 2003

2002

Jun Koo received the 2003 dissertation competition award for his work "When Technology Spillovers Are Localized: Importance of Regional and Industrial Attributes." Dr. Koo received his Doctorate from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and was supervised by Professor Harvey Goldstein. Koo is now at Cleveland State University.

Adelheid Holl received the 2002 dissertation competition award for her work entitled "Transport Infrastructure in Lagging European Regions."