Dear Colleague,

We have the pleasure of inviting you to the 5th Winter Seminar of Regional Science that will traditionally take place in the mountain resort of High Tatras on 11th – 14th March 2015.

Enclosed you can find more information about the conference.

The main objective of the annual Winter Seminar is to bring creative academic debate on actual issues of regional science and practice of regional policy by an attractive environment and relaxed atmosphere.

Accepted articles will be published in the conference proceedings "5th Winter Seminar of Regional Science 2015” with ISBN. Selected papers will be invited to publish in the peer reviewed journal Region Direct in 2015.

Important Dates:

Abstract submission deadline:                       December 31, 2014

Paper submission deadline:                January 31, 2015

Participation fee payment deadline:  January 31, 2015

Winter Seminar:                                 March 11 - 15, 2015

One-page abstract should be sent to Valeria Szitasiova (e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) until December 31, 2014. In case of any questions, please, do not hesitate to contact us via e-mail This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Yours sincerely,

Winter Seminar´s Organizing Committee

Stefan Rehak, Miroslav Sipikal, Valeria Szitasiova, Tomas Cernenko Slovak Section of ERSA

Dear NECTAR friends,

The deadline for abstracts for the Cluster 1 workshop "Enhancing the network efficiency: air transport and sustainability" to be held during the days 7-8 of May 2015 in Cranfield, United Kingdom, has been extended until the 15/1/2015.

Please find attached the new call for papers.

Kind regards

Ana Condeço-Melhorado

NECTAR secretary

NECTAR Newsletter                                    November 2014

Dear NECTAR friends

NECTAR is in the midst of preparations for the 2015 NECTAR international conference in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States, June 14-16, 2015. The conference will have keynote sessions on the conference theme “Smart Transport, Smart Planning”, special thematic sessions organized by the different NECTAR clusters, general sessions on other topics within the NECTAR field, and a specialized subconference on bringing Accessibility-Based Evaluation from Laboratory to Practice. This newsletter will announce the call for papers for the seven cluster thematic sessions and the launch of the new NECTAR website domain.

I am also happy to announce the start of the biannual NECTAR PhD award! In many NECTAR meetings, workshops and conferences, PhD students present and discuss their work. With this award, we want to recognize the high quality of the research conducted by the best of the PhD students supervised by
NECTAR members. The award is also inspired by Professor Piet Rietveld, who chaired NECTAR in the years 2002-2007 and who with his exceptional academic abilities inspired and stimulated many young re­searchers, PhD students and the NECTAR community in general.

There is also news from Cluster 4. Cluster 4 revised its cluster name to “Travel, Migration, Housing, and Labour Markets”. These topics are strongly linked, and better reflect the broad focus of NECTAR research on transport activity.

Furthermore, this newsletter presents workshop reports from Cluster 4 workshop in Sweden and the Clus­ter 6 WSTLUR/NECTAR special session organized in Delft. We close the newsletter with a very nice list of upcoming NECTAR events.

Karst Geurs, NECTAR chair, October 2014.

Thematic cluster sessions at the 2015 international conference

Smart transport network investments and smart outcomes? With this theme, cluster 1focuses on the topic of smart transport network investments and their outcomes. Topics of interest include emerging

network modelling of smart transport and smart transport policies, the effectiveness and efficiency of transport demand strategies for both freight and passenger transport, and the effectiveness of evaluation and appraisal frameworks/methods (e.g., CBA, MCA, etc) in transport. The call for papers is found here.

The Environmental, Planning and Policy Implications of Advanced Technologies.Cluster 2 seeks to attract papers on the impact of expected social and demographic changes and technology developments on the sustainability of our future transportation systems. Topics of interest include the contribution of ad­vanced smart transportation technologies (autonomous vehicles, advanced control system, new forms of public transport) to sustainable transport and the potential of new services, applications, and urban mobili­ty groups (ride sharing, taxi sharing, PRT, car clubs, etc.) to shift travelers to more sustainable modes. The call for papers is found here.

Smart freight transport: the way forward. Cluster 3 focuses with this theme on how big data can
improve logistics planning.  Topics of interest include collaboration along the supply chain-the physical internet, sharing capacity by sharing data, big data in logistics and freight transport and the contribution of advanced smart transportation technologies (autonomous vehicles, advanced control system, etc.) to
sustainable logistics. The call for papers is found here.

The Dynamics of Migration, Housing, and Labour Markets in Land Use. Cluster 4 organizes a themat­ic session on the temporal dynamics of migration, housing and labour markets. Topics of interest include regional mobility, housing choice, job-housing (im)balance, methodological frameworks for modelling land use and daily travel patterns, impacts of land use on travel and accessibility for various social and age groups, and spatial concentration of immigrant population, spatial mismatch, and understanding their transportation needs and solutions. The call for papers is found here.

Accessibility, Vulnerability and Resilience. Cluster 6 organises, together withRSAI (Regional Science Association International) a thematic session to discuss and create a perspective on the state of the art in defining and measuring the links between accessibility, resilience and vulnerability concepts. Topics of interest include the role of accessibility measures in resilience/vulnerability analyses in transport and socio-economic networks, supply chains, and tourist systems. The call for papers is found here.

Smart Securing of Transportation Activities. Cluster 7 organises a thematic session to discuss and create a perspective on the state of the art on smart securing of transport activities as well as on recent advances concerning the potential applications in a transport, communication and socio-economic context. Topics of interest relate to methodological and technical issues in transportation security, unimodal and multimodal transportation security procedures, transport security policies, transport security at hubs and economic estimation and evaluation of transportation security policies and procedures. The call for papers is found here.

Big data and mobility: a digital framework of human communications for smarter cities.Cluster 8 organises a session on the utilization of big data which enable researchers to capture and model human mobility in very precise temporal and spatial resolution. This special session seeks to attract papers which will provide insights both from a conceptual and an empirical perspective, on how cities can utilise the breadth of various and heterogeneous sources of big data to provide a smarter urban environment. The call for papers is found here.

1^st NECTAR PHD award

At the NECTAR international conference in Ann Arbor, the 1^st NECTAR PhD Award will be awarded for the best recent PhD thesis work in the NECTAR field. PhD thesis work can be submitted only by a PhD
supervisor who is a NECTAR member. The 1st NECTAR PhD award will consider PhD theses which have been or will be defended between January 2013 and June 2015. To be considered, the PhD thesis should be in the general realm of NECTAR research, including topics from the fields of regional economics, urban economics, urban/regional planning, geography, transport planning and transport engineering. The author of the winning paper must present the research at conference in Ann Arbor and will receive a reimburse­ment for travel and accommodation cost for the conference. The call for submissions is found here.

NECTAR workshop reports

On June 12-13, 2014, a Cluster 4 meeting was held in Sweden. At the peaceful and tranquil Sigtuna Foundation, 20 scholars met to present ideas, drafts and more or less finalized papers dealing with the interaction between and nexus of Commuting, Migration, Housing and Labour Market. The meeting was organized and sponsored by Umeå University (through the research program ‘Geographical Mobility and Regional Development’ and the Transport Research Unit).

Professor Olle Westerlund opened the meeting with a speech on ‘Mobility research – for whom’, which led to a vivid (and sometimes humorous) discussion on the dash for the cash etc. Among the 13 presentations issues such as housing markets and segregation, spatial planning, location of industries and commuting were discussed. The participants all engaged in the discussions, which covered details in methods as well as more general implications of the research.

At the World Symposium on Transport and Land Use Research (WSTLUR) Conference, 24 — 27 June 2014, Delft, The Netherlands, a special NECTAR Cluster 6/WSTLUR session was organized by Karst Geurs, NECTAR chair, and Ahmed El-Geneidy, McGill University, Canada. Sixteen papers, authored by researchers from around the world (Australia, France, Italy, the Netherlands, USA, Poland, Portugal and the UK), were presented and discussed in 8 sessions during 2 days. The theme of the special session was “Accessibility and Evaluation”. A selection of papers will be published in a special issue of the Journal of Transport and Land Use.

Upcoming NECTAR Events

16 — 17   April  2015 NECTAR Cluster 3 Meeting on “Sustainable freight transport – are cities willing and ready for the recent advances in transport technologies?”

7 — 8     May   2015   NECTAR Cluster 1 workshop “Enhancing the network efficiency: air transport and sustainability”, Cranfield, United Kingdom

14 — 16  June 2015  NECTAR international Conference, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, United States of America

NECTAR Cluster 6 Special Issue

The journal “Computers, Environment and Urban Systems” has just published online the NECTAR speci­al issue “Accessibility modeling, transport networks and location behaviour” (issue January 2015) Guest Edited by Karst T. Geurs, Andrea De Montis & Aura Reggiani. Find this publication here  

18^th Uddevalla Symposium 2015 on:

Regional development in an international context
Regional, national, cross border and international factors for growth and development

June 11-13, 2015

Venue: University of Southern Denmark, Alsion, Sønderborg, Denmark

Abstract Submission Deadline: January 16^th, 2015

Further information about the symposium can be found at the symposium website www.symposium.hv.se 

LAST CALL FOR ABSTRACTS

RAMIRAN 2015

16th International Conference Rural-Urban Symbiosis

8 – 10 September 2015

Hamburg University of Technology

Hamburg, Germany

Dear Mr Conicella,

Agriculture produces bioresources for food and increasingly also for material and energy provision. The majority of agro-products are used in urban areas where they are connected with waste and wastewater generation.

On the one hand, these residues are actually disposed or inefficiently treated, on the other they have value for agricultural production.

RAMIRAN 2015 is focusing on closing the loop linking rural production and urban consumption systems and on the development of more sustainable solutions for the handling of residues.

Topics

•Fertilizers from residues

•Soils for the future

•Advances in emission prevention

•The bioresource challenge

•Agro-products for the biobased economy

•Smart concepts for rural development

•Towards zero waste settlements

•Rural-urban sustainability cases studies world wide

Abstract submission

Deadline for abstract submission is 15 December 2014. We invite you to prepare abstracts according to the information given at:

http://ramiran2015.de/abstract-submission/

All abstracts will be evaluated by the Scientific Committe and the authors will be notified of the decision by 28 February 2015.

For more information, please visit http://ramiran2015.de

We are looking forward to welcoming you in Hamburg!

Sincerely,

Congress Chair

Ina Körner

Hamburg University of Technology (TUHH), Germany

Scientific Organisation

Ina Körner, Ralf Otterpohl

Hamburg University of Technology (TUHH), Germany Institute of Wastewater Management & Water Protection

Network Coordinators

Harald Menzi, Agroscope, Switzerland

Tom Misselbrock, Rothamsted Research, United Kingdom

RAMIRAN 2015 Conference Office

Gerlinde Löbkens

TuTech Innovation GmbH

Harburger Schlossstrasse 6-12

21079 Hamburg, Germany

Tel.: +49 40 76629-6551, Fax: +49 40 76629-6559 This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. www.RAMIRAN2015.de

Dear Colleague,

The Athens Institute for Education and Research (ATINER), a world association of academics and researchers, organizes its 3^rd Annual International Conference on Ecology, Ecosystems and Climate Change, 13-16 July 2015, Athens, Greece. Please submit a 300-word abstract before 15 December  2014, by email (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.), addressed to Dr. Nicolas Abatzoglou, Head, Environment Research Unit, ATINER & Professor, Department of Chemical & Biotechnological Engineering, University of Sherbrook, Canada, Chair Pfizer, PAT in Pharmaceutical Engineering, Director GREEN-TPV and GRTP-C & Pwelcomes.  Please include: Title of Paper, Full Name (s), Current Position, Institutional Affiliation, an email address and at least 3 keywords that best describe the subject of your submission. Decisions will be reached within four weeks of your submission. 

Should you wish to participate in the Conference without presenting a paper, for example, to chair a session, to evaluate papers which are to be included in the conference proceedings or books, to contribute to the editing of a book, or any other contribution, please send an email to Dr. Gregory T. Papanikos, President, ATINER & Honorary Professor, University of Stirling, UK (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.).

Dear colleague,

We are pleased to announce that we host the special track session “Why bother about culture in SMEs and micro firms? Innovation, culture and entrepreneurial dynamics in regional development”at IFKAD 2015 International Forum on Knowledge Asset Dynamics, forthcoming in Bari (Italy) on 10-12 June 2015.

We warmly invite you and other colleagues within your network to submit your abstract before January 25th for this track following the online submission requierements. Please find attached additional information in the corresponding track flyer.

The papers will be published in one of the journals arranged by the organizers of IFKAD (subject to evaluation criteria). We are also arranging a special issue on “Culture and innovation in SMEs and micro firms” with the journal European Planning Studies. The call for papers will be circulated in advance among the participating authors in the track session.

More information about the conference can be seen at: http://www.ifkad.org/

Important deadlines:

• 25 January 2015 - Abstracts Submission Deadline

• 28 February 2015 - Acceptance notification to authors

• 25 March 2015 - Early-Bird registration deadline

• 20 April 2015 - Full paper submission deadline

• 20 May 2015 - Registration deadline

• 10-12 June 2015 - Conference sessions

Looking forward to receive your abstract for participation in IFKAD 2015 and to meet in Bari next June, 

Kind regards,

Manuel Fernández-Esquinas

Institute for Advanced Social Studies, Spain

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

+34 957770528

Madelon van Oostrom

Tenerife Science and Technology Park, Spain

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

+34 822028588

Hugo Pinto

University of Coimbra, Portugal

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

+ 351239790500

Romanian Section

From 8 to 9 May 2015

Suceava, Romania

10th International Conference with the topic "Regional Development and “Europe 2020”

Further details please go to the website of the Romanian Section - www.rrsa.ro