City-REDI (Regional Economic Development Institute), University of Birmingham (UK), is embarking on the development of a set of analytical tools to assist stakeholders in the West Midlands region to address significant policy challenges over the next several decades. We have two fully-funded PhD studentships (3 years full-time equivalent) to support City-REDI quantitative research team led by Professor Raquel Ortega-Argilés under the topics of regional economic systems and microdata analysis.  Deadline 23 of February. More information can be found here:  https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/schools/business/research/city-redi/new-opportunities.aspx

Dear Colleagues,

Sorry for cross-posting.

Please see below a Call for Papers for a Special Session at this year's ERSA Congress in Cork:

Registration details: https://ersa.eventsair.com/QuickEventWebsitePortal/58th-ersa-congress-cork-28-31-august-2018/ersa2018/ExtraContent/ContentSubPage?page=2&subPage=3

Abstract submission deadline: 28th February
Abstract submission: https://ersa.eventsair.com/PresentationPortal/Account/Login?ReturnUrl=%2FPresentationPortal%2F58th-ersa-congress-cork-28-31-august-2018%2Fsa

Special Session: http://bit.ly/2BtZCEn 

S15 Entrepreneurship and regional development: new perspectives on a complex relationship

Convenor(s) Felix Modrego; Maria Giulia Pezzi

There is currently a widespread consensus that entrepreneurship plays a key role in contemporaneous regional development. Evidence from diverse national contexts point at positive effects of entrepreneurship on a wide range of regional development outcomes, such as employment creation (Acs and Arminton, 2004), local innovation (Acs and Plummer, 2005; Beugelsdijk, 2007), competitiveness (Bosma et al., 2011), growth (Stephens et al., 2013), structural transformation (Gries and Naud, 2010) and poverty reduction (Tmavada, 2010). Such evidence has stimulated the implementation of numerous regional development policies, involving sizeable resources, targeted to the promotion of entrepreneurship and business creation around the world (Johnson, 2005; Sternberg, 2012; Stephens et al., 2013).

The relationship between entrepreneurship and regional development is, however, far from being straightforward, and compelling arguments challenge the unequivocally positive role of entrepreneurial activity on local development outcomes. Shane (2009), for instance, argues that most start-ups create few and precarious jobs, are non-innovative and face a high probability of failure. Van Praag and Versloot (2007) based on an ample meta-analysis of empirical studies conclude that many of the supposed effects of small and new businesses are not larger than those of large/old/incumbent firms. Economic models of entrepreneurship and growth usually arrive at the result that there are optimal levels of entrepreneurship in the economy, and point at the risk of an excess of entrepreneurship leading to a sub-optimal allocation of human (Michelacci, 2003) or financial (Meza and Webb, 1987) resources. From an operational point of view, some authors point at methodological problems obscuring the relationships between entrepreneurship and development, such as ill-constructed definitions (Carree and Thrurik, 2003), imperfect metrics of regional entrepreneurship (Parker, 2009), and/or endogeneity problems obscuring the attribution of causal effects (Glaeser et al., 2015). These arguments have even led some authors to make emphatic calls to discourage, instead of encourage, current entrepreneurship support initiatives (Shane, 2009; Parker, 2007).

Given the intellectual interest and the policy relevance of the topic, a critical, evidence-based reflection on the role of entrepreneurship for regional development seems timely and necessary. After all, entrepreneurship is only one among many possible regional ‘growth regimes’ (Audretsch and Fritsch, 2002), and there is no a priori reason to believe that it is more effective than other alternative paths, such as, for instance, one based on the growth of local incumbent firms.

The session aims at contributing to the reflection on the roles of entrepreneurship for regional development. It proposes a cross-disciplinary approach to the understanding of the potential and challenges for entrepreneurship as a tool for strengthening regional and local economies. The session encourages, particularly, the submission of papers addressing innovative aspects and methodological advancements to the study of the relationships between entrepreneurship and regional/local development. This includes (but does not limit to):

• Broadening the understanding of the effects of entrepreneurial activity on regional development outcomes (e.g. on poverty, inequality, small firms’ productivity, work and life satisfaction, etc.).
• Evidence stemming from developing and emerging economies.
• Theoretical and practical approaches to the study of local entrepreneurship as a form of resilience to the implications of geographical and economic marginality.

• Innovative experiences and approaches to enhance the pro-development effects local entrepreneurship.
• Considerations on regional gender variations in entrepreneurship and the factors influencing them.
• Rigorous and comprehensive evaluations of place-based interventions aimed at spurring local entrepreneurial activity and/or of entrepreneurship support programs pointing at kick starting local/regional development processes.
• Assessment of the conditions that influence (e.g. favor or hinder) the emergence of Community-Based Enterprises in regions, and how CBE impact on grassroots efforts toward local development.
• Methodological innovations, such as innovative data sources and/or research designs that tackle major challenges obscuring the relationship between entrepreneurship and regional development outcomes (e.g. definitions, metrics, endogeneity problems). 

Maria Giulia Pezzi, PhD Social Anthropology
Post-Doc Researcher - Social Sciences Unit 

University of North Carolina at Charlotte
Funded Ph.D. Positions to Study Public Policy

We are recruiting our 2018 Public Policy Ph.D. Cohort. We have a number of funded graduate assistant positions which include a stipend, tuition, and health insurance. 

The priority deadline for applicants seeking funded positions is Feb. 15th, and we will continue reviewing applications on a rolling basis until all positions are full. To learn more about our program and students see our webpage at https://publicpolicy.uncc.edu/

Dear Colleagues,

The next Applied Economics Meeting will take place in Alcalá de Henares (Madrid) the 7th and 9th of June, 2018. You can find additional information in the website: http://encuentros.alde.es/en

We inform you that the deadline for submitting the complete paper has been extended until next 8th March, 2018:

https://editorialexpress.com/cgi-bin/conference/conference.cgi?action=login&db_name=EcuentroXXI

Kind Regards,

Mariam Camarero                                                 Mª Josefa García Grande

Scientific Committee Coordinator                        Local Committee Coordinator

"The Geography of craft beer brewing and consumption: local entrepreneurialism and tourism development” is the title of the next RSAI-GSSI Summer Workshop organized by the Gran Sasso Science Institute (GSSI) area of Social Sciences, in cooperation with the Regional Science Association International (RSAI), the North American Regional Science Association (NARSC) and the University of Toledo.

The event is intended to provide a unique opportunity to pre-doctoral students and early career scholars (Associate Professors or below) to actively participate in a 2-day workshop focused on the role that craft breweries can play in economic and tourism development at a variety of scales - neighbourhood, city, and regional. The last session of the workshop will be dedicated to the pre-doctoral students, who will have a chance to present their research topics and receive feedback from internationally renowned Professors and early career scholars working on similar topics. In addition to that, two relevant case studies will be presented by local entrepreneurs: Apecchio and L’Aquila. Located in the Marche region of Italy, Apecchio is the home to three craft breweries and has used their existence to leverage the village’s tourism industry. L’Aquila is home to two craft brewery (Anbra - Anonima Brasseria Aquilana, and Alkibia). Moreover, the students will have the chance to meet and exchange ideas with the 30 Ph.D. candidates currently enrolled in the “Urban Studies and Regional Science” program at GSSI and 7 postdocs, in an international, multidisciplinary and stimulating environment. GSSI, in collaboration with RSAI and NARSC, will offer 10 scholarships to 2nd or 3rd year doctoral students for an intensive, two-day program with in-depth working sessions on topics related to the practical and theoretical significance of craft-beer brewing in regional development and on local entrepreneurialism. The final aim of this workshop is to provide 10 pre-doctoral and 10 early career scholars (associate professors or below) working on similar research topics with a chance to create a research network on this growing area of research. Favouring informal knowledge exchange (during lunches, social events and a craft beer tasting event) will be an integral part of the workshop. We also plan a number of follow-up activities. These include a special issue of a refereed academic journal and the organization of special sessions at regional science conferences such as NARSC and ERSA. The Workshop format is a 2-day meeting. It includes time for research, discussion and paper presentations – combining conventional parallel workshop sessions, plenary sessions and keynote speeches, where the participants can present their current research projects. 

Call for papers is now open, the deadline for applications is March 31st 2018. 

For more information on the full programme and how to submit your application, please read here: http://www.gssi.it/seminars/seminars-and-events-2018/item/2229-rsai-gssi-summer-workshop-the-geography-of-craft-beer-brewing-and-consumption-local-entrepreneurialism-and-tourism-development

Maria Giulia Pezzi, PhD
Social Anthropology

PostDoc Research Fellow, Social Sciences Unit
GSSI - Gran Sasso Science Institute
Via Michele Iacobucci 2
67100 L’Aquila (AQ), Italy

Dear all,
 
Please see below a Call for Papers for a Special Session at this year's ERSA Congress in Cork:
 
S27 Doing regional science with new sources of big data
 
Convenors: Emmanouil Tranos, Daniel Arribas-Bel, Franciso Rowe
 
The availability of good quality, granular and longitudinal data has traditionally shaped how researchers do Regional Science. During the last 5-10 years more and more new sources of, sometimes, diverse data have become available. Although these data can be called “accidental” as they have not been designed or curated to support urban and regional analysis. They have the capacity to expand the analytical boundaries of regional science. These data tend to be georeferenced; have high level of spatial and temporal granularity; and, involve large population samples. The use of these data does not come without challenges. For instance, although sample sizes may be large, they can also suffer from biases that are difficult to control for; or, they may include noise as they have not been designed to capture urban and regional socio-economic processes. The characteristics of these data, such as their large size and unstructured nature, impose analytical challenges as more traditional methodologies are not always equipped in dealing with these peculiarities. Moreover, there is a growing hype around 'big data', and therefore researchers and policy makers may find themselves under pressure to utilise such data in a rather uncritical manner.
 
This call for abstracts for a Special Session during the ERSA 2018 Conference aims to exemplify applications, but also the challenges of using new sources of big data for urban and regional analysis. Specifically, we welcome submissions around the following points:
- Empirical applications of the of new sources of big data in regional science.
- Studies bridging the gap between traditional sources of (small) data (e.g., censuses) and new sources of (big) data
- Applications and experiences in which big data is used to inform policy decisions
- Studies that quantitatively explore the strengths and weaknesses of big data for spatial economic analysis.
 
Registration details: https://ersa.eventsair.com/QuickEventWebsitePortal/58th-ersa-congress-cork-28-31-august-2018/ersa2018/ExtraContent/ContentSubPage?page=2&subPage=3
 
Abstract submission deadline: 28th February
Abstract submission: https://ersa.eventsair.com/PresentationPortal/Account/Login?ReturnUrl=%2FPresentationPortal%2F58th-ersa-congress-cork-28-31-august-2018%2Fsa
 
Special Session: https://az659834.vo.msecnd.net/eventsairwesteuprod/production-ersa-public/3f4e19a775124b588ede218c9c08dedd
 
Best regards,
Emmanouil, Dani and Franciso

Seminário | Da Ciência Regional à Medicina do Território

No dia 19 de fevereiro, realiza-se o seminário " Da Ciência Regional à Medicina do Território", pelas 15h00, na sala Novo Banco. 

Entrada gratuita, sujeita a pré-inscrição em www.tinyurl.com/cienciaregional 

Cartaz (pdf) 

Dear All,

Please let me draw your attention to 2 lectureships in Statistical Science (Education and Research) at the University of Exeter.

Job title Lectureship in Statistical Science (Education and Research) Job reference P57874 Date posted 06/02/2018 Application closing date 13/03/2018 Location Exeter Salary The starting salary will be from £34,520 up to £42,418 on Grade F, depending on qualifications and experience Job category/type Academic Job description These new full-time posts are available immediately on a permanent basis.

The University of Exeter is a member of the prestigious Russell Group of research-intensive universities. We combine world-class teaching with world-class research, with 98% of our research rated as being of international quality in the 2014 Research Excellence Framework. The University of Exeter has over 22,000 students and 4600 staff from 180 different countries, and achieved a Gold rating in the Teaching Excellence Framework Award 2017. The University is making significant investment in data intensive research. In addition to these posts, and a new professor of Statistical Science to be appointed this year, the University has established an Institute of Data Science and Artificial Intelligence with the recruitment of eight new academic staff across statistics and computer science. The University has also recently become a member of the Alan Turing Institute.

Statistical Science at Exeter, a core component of the Department of Mathematics, is renowned for developing and applying methodological research to address some of today's most important societal challenges, including climate change, environmental risk, weather forecasting, air quality and global health. There is a strong record of enhancing the impact of research through engagement with external partners, both within the UK and internationally. Examples include the UK Met Office, the World Meteorological Organization, the World Health Organization, and leading financial organisations such as Willis Towers Watson.

We are seeking to appoint two lecturers in Statistical Science, specialising in the application of methodological research in environmental modelling and/or environmental health.

These posts will be based in Exeter and/or at our Penryn Campus, near Falmouth, taking account where possible of your preference. The posts come with additional funding for travel to enable the post holder to interact with researchers at both campuses and with The European Centre for Environment & Human Health (www.ecehh.org) which is located in Truro, close to the Penryn campus. Between the posts there will be teaching responsibilities at both the Exeter and Penryn campuses.

https://jobs.exeter.ac.uk/hrpr_webrecruitment/wrd/run/ETREC107GF.open?VACANCY_ID=244027KqZy&WVID=3817591jNg&LANG=USA