The Regional Science Academy (TRSA)in Corkon the occasion of the annual ERSA conference, August 28 – August 31:

For those who will attend the ERSA conference in Cork, August 28-31, 2018:

Dear colleagues/friends:

In less than 2 weeks from now we will have 3 interesting events:

• ABC (Advanced Brainstorm Carrefour) of The Regional Science Academy (TRSA), in Cork, on the occasion of the annual ERSA conference (to be held from August 28 – August 31). This open-access ABC will be held in the premises of the University and will start on Monday, August 27, from 13:30 to 17:00; this ABC will continue on Tuesday morning (08:45), August 28, till noon (13:15); after lunch the ERSA opening ceremony will start. We will address a special theme this time, viz. The Entrepreneurial City.  Please find attached the final ABC programme.

• Special Academic Session (SAS)of TRSA on ‘The New Geography of Happiness’, during the ERSA conference in Cork, on Thursday, August 30, from 16:30 to 18:00 in room: WGB_G09 (see ERSA programme: S49-S1).

• Elevator Pitch Festival on Thursday, August 30, from 18:15-19:45, where we will solicit short pitch contributions (3-5 min.), on the theme of ‘Urban Crisis and Rural Nostalgia’, in a nearby pub. See attached information on the pub location; registration for the Elevator Pitch Festival is necessary (see attached invitation letter + programme).

We will be pleased and honoured to have you with us in these events.

If you are unable to participate, you are more than welcome to send us your ideas for future activities or plans. 

We look forward to seeing you all soon at one of our forthcoming meetings.

Best personal regards,

RSAI is pleased to announce the election of the following Fellows in 2018:

Janet E. Kohlhase University of Houston, USA	Alan T. Murray University of California at Santa Barbara, USA
Dan Rickman Oklahoma State University, USA	Andrés Rodríguez-Pose London School of Economics, UK

Dear Regional Scientist,

We would very much appreciate your input for the RSPP lecture at the ERSA conference in Cork this August!

Therefore, we want to invite you to fill in a short survey about your research focus and interest. The results will be used for the RSPP lecture at the ERSA conference in Cork and a subsequent article.

The survey will take 4 minutes to complete. Please, follow this link to access the survey.

The deadline is the 24^th of August.

Many thanks,

Prof.dr. Eveline van Leeuwen,

Urban Economics group, Wageningen University

Assistant/Associate Professor

Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics

College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

The Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics (ACE) seeks to fill a position for an Assistant or Associate Professor in International Trade and Food Security.

This position is part of an initiative in the College of ACES to contribute to the improvement of global human and environmental health via the food system. We intend to dramatically strengthen and expand our capacity in this arena through a seven-position cluster hire focused on Food and Agricultural Systems for Global Health. Faculty hired into these positions will lead collegewide efforts in food security and global health, and participate in related campus priorities, including the Nutrition and Food Security theme of the campus strategic plan (blogs.illinois.edu/view/7831/601847), the Interdisciplinary Health Sciences Institute, Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology, and Carle-Illinois College of Medicine, among others.

The Department of ACE conducts an internationally recognized applied economics program with specialization in the areas of commercial agriculture, price analysis, development economics, environmental economics, regional economics and public policy. We invite candidates conducting research in international markets and trade as they apply to agriculture, food, nutrition, food security, natural resources, and/or rural economies. Applicants should have a strong scholarly record of applying economic theory and/or empirical methods to study factors and/or policies affecting trade, and international agricultural markets. In addition, the successful candidate must be able to work collaboratively with faculty and students of the department, the college, and the university in areas relevant to this position.

Primary Duties include:

• Develop a nationally prominent research program with publications in leading peer-reviewed scientific journals and extramural funding
• Contribute to the department’s undergraduate and graduate teaching programs through teaching (generally two courses per year) and student advising
• Collaborate with colleagues to address societal problems that require complex, multidisciplinary approaches

All candidates must hold a Ph.D. in agricultural/applied economics, economics, finance, or related field. Candidates should show potential for a strong research and teaching program in their area of specialization, and have completed their degree before the start date of the appointment. 

The start date will be August 16, 2019. This is a full time, 100%, 9 month tenure-track appointment. Salary will be commensurate with experience.

To ensure full consideration, candidates should apply by November 15, 2018. The search will remain open until suitable candidates are identified. Candidates may be interviewed before the closing date; however no hiring decision will be made until after that date. To apply, please create a candidate profile at https://jobs.illinois.edu/ and upload a cover letter, curriculum vitae, a sample of written work, a research statement, a teaching statement and three letters of reference. Applicants who are currently graduate students or post-doctoral fellows must also submit transcripts from graduate program(s). All requested information must be submitted for your application to be given full consideration. Please contact Melissa Warmbier at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. with questions.

ABOUT THE UNIVERSITY, COLLEGE, AND DEPARTMENT

The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has a student enrollment of more than 40,000, and nearly 2,000 faculty. It’s located approximately 120 miles south of Chicago in a vibrant and diverse community of 110,000, and is easy driving distance from St. Louis and Indianapolis. Our community offers the residential advantages of a medium-sized university city, excellent cultural opportunities, and a high quality of life.

The College of ACES is recognized worldwide for its commitment to excellence in undergraduate and graduate programs, teaching, research, outreach, and international programs. We offer tremendous opportunities for students to achieve their goals and prepare for excellent careers. Our hands-on academic programs prepare our graduates for local, national, and global careers. ACES research programs are making a difference in people’s lives. Our research and education centers, located throughout the state, provide vital testing grounds where research can generate practical applications that benefit consumers, farmers, commodity groups, agricultural organizations, environmentalists, conservationists, government agencies, industry, and business. University of Illinois Extension connects the university to people, businesses, and communities statewide to help solve problems, develop skills, and build a better future. ACES faculty and staff are leaders in international engagement, addressing global challenges and impacting lives around the world.

The Department of ACE is one of seven departments in the College of ACES with 700 undergraduate students, 80 graduate students, 30 tenure-track faculty members and 80 non-tenure track staff. Disciplines include ag economics, economics, business, finance, and law. Nine undergraduate concentrations are offered, ranging from agribusiness markets and management to public policy and law to financial planning. The department’s research and outreach programs relate to commercial ag, the environment and natural resources, development economics, and consumer and family economics. An applied emphasis helps the department meet its land-grant mission while maintaining a high level of scholarship. Responsibilities are divided between research, teaching, and extension with annual support of about $5.3 million from state and federal recurring funds, and $10 million from grants, contracts, and gifts. Six endowed chair positions have been established in the fields of marketing, futures and options (2), finance, policy, and law.

The University of Illinois conducts criminal background checks on all job candidates upon acceptance of a contingent offer.

The University of Illinois is an Equal Opportunity, Affirmative Action employer. Minorities, women, veterans and individuals with disabilities are encouraged to apply. For more information, visit http://go.illinois.edu/EEO. To learn more about the University’s commitment to diversity, please visit http://www.inclusiveillinois.illinois.edu

The event will be held on November 27, 2018 from 4:00pm to 8:00pm
George Mason University, Founders Hall Auditorium, Room 134.  A reception will follow in the Art Gallery.

Hosted by George Mason University's Schar School of Policy and Government and its sponsors, the Hays Outside the Box Competition seeks to support innovative and “outside the box” solutions to challenges in transportation.

In the ever-evolving world of transportation and transportation challenges, it is imperative that we foster the development and implementation of new ideas. Instead of offering the same old solutions – turning the proverbial wheel but not moving forward – we challenge you to think creatively and offer “outside-the-box” solutions to the complex challenges of passenger and freight mobility, accommodating new urbanism, acknowledging environmental impacts and climate change, understanding the role of transportation in economic competitiveness, responding to the rapid change in technology, the re-imagining of global supply chain networks, and promoting opportunity for all communities through transportation infrastructure, system management, and new transportation products and services.

How can you affect change? Are you up to this challenge?

If you are, then we want to see your best ideas in Transportation Policy and System Management, and Innovations in Transportation Products and Services submitted to the Cameron Rian Hays Outside-the-Box Competition.

Two Competitions:

• Transportation Policy and System Management – Submission Deadline: October 1, 2018
• Innovations in Transportation Products and Services -  Submission Deadline: Spring 2019

First prize: $10,000
Second prize: $5,000
Third prize: $2,500

More information can be found here - https://schar.gmu.edu/current-students/scholarships-funding/cameron-rian-hays-outside-box-competition

Dear Colleagues,

The Extremadurian Regional Science Association (AExCR) is delighted to announce the II Seminar for New Academic Researchers (SNAR) at the University of Extremadura in Plasencia (Cáceres) next October 5th. 

This meeting is mainly intended to guide and offer advice to young researchers (PhD students or graduates) in developing their research lines and consolidating their long-term careers. 

In this edition, we are again counting on the valuable presence of Geoffrey J.D. Hewings, Professor of Economics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and other senior researchers eager to share their knowledge and provide New Academic Researchers with valuable comments, ideas and advices. 

Likewise, we are proud to count with the support of RSAI, ERSA and AECR. 

The topics of interest include, but are not limited to, questions related to urban economics, regional science, spatial analysis and input-output models. 

Abstracts intended for presentation should be sent in Doc or Pdf-format, with a maximum of 500 words, including author's name(s), affiliation(s), main topic and 3-5 keywords to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. by August 20th 2018.

Deadlines:

Submission of abstracts:  20^th August 2018

Notification of acceptance:  5^th September 2018

If you have any questions, don't hesitate to contact me (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)! 

More information about the Seminar (exact location of the Seminar Venue, accommodation options, tourist info, etc.) will be coming soon!

Come to check it out and spread the word!  There are no fees for participants of the Seminar! 

Looking forward to seeing you soon, in Plasencia (Cáceres).

Best, 

Alberto Franco Solís

Topic: Building resilient cities in the shrinking paradigm: A UK and China comparison using new sources of big data

Funding eligibility: Funding is available for UK residents (fees + stipend) and EU residents (fees only).

Application closing date: August 15, 2018

Project description: Urban shrinkage is a common phenomenon throughout the world despite urbanisation being a well-established trend. With increasing globalisation, cities in both developed and developing counties experience economic downturn, population decline, de-urbanisation. Reasons and solutions of urban shrinkage have been discussed and documented extensively for developed countries (e.g. UK, US, Germany, and Japan). However, deeper understanding of urban shrinkage issues and how to resolve them in the developing world, especially in China with a large number of fast growing cities, is still lacking. Insights from developed countries could be learned in order to better address the challenges for building resilience into shrinking cities of the developing world. Northeast China provinces, including Liaoning, Jilin, and Heilongjiang, now known as the “rust belt” in China, have topped the chart in the number of shrinking cities due to resource depletion, deindustrialization, and demographic changes. Similarly, most of the top UK declining cities are in the north of England as a strong indication of the North-South divide. Core cities of North England, such as Liverpool, Manchester, Leeds, Sheffield and Newcastle, share some common characteristics with their counterpart in Northeast China in terms of industrial legacy, aging population, and loss of growth power to support surrounding areas. Insights could be gained for those cities in both countries by a comparative study of their resilience to internal and external changes.

With a focus on Northeast China cities, this project seek to 1) identify and better understand the spatial, economic and social issues of shrinking cities and the underpinning mechanisms in relation to other Chinese cities, and 2) design adaptive strategies to build resilience into these cities through a comparative study of urban shrinkage in China and UK. This project will expand the existing research by combining the spatial, economic and social dimensions of human mobility and urban interactions and considering the interplay of all three dimensions in defining a multidimensional measurement and assessment of urban resilience. Furthermore, this project will promote the collaboration between the UoB research team and the Chinese stakeholders in order to incorporate local interests and benefit decision-makers with both general and place-based strategies in policy-making.

This project will facilitate the identification and acquisition of various traditional and novel sources of data, which can be leveraged them to gain better insights by leading-edge big data analytics and AI techniques. The substantive and methodological knowledge that this PhD project will generate will directly contribute to the UK Industrial Strategy Grant Challenge of Artificial Economy and the Data Economy as well as on the Key Policies on Infrastructure and Places. Moreover, this PhD project will contribute to the research objectives of the Alan Turing Institute, which the University of Birmingham recently joined. The latter signifies the broader recognition of AI and the Data Economy as a research priority for the University of Birmingham.

Qualification: Applicants should hold a minimum of a UK Honours Degree at 2:1 level or equivalent in subjects such as Geoinformatics, GIScience/Geocompuation, Transport Planning, Civil Engineering, Geography, Environmental Science, Computer/Data Science or Urban Planning. Applicants with skills in quantitative modelling or Python/R programming are preferred.

For further details: Please contact Dr Zhaoya Gong (Birmingham):

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

·         Telephone: +44(0)1214144240

·         Supervisory panel: Dr Zhaoya Gong (Birmingham); Dr Emmanouil Tranos (Birmingham)

Application procedure: http://www.dream-cdt.ac.uk/studying/application/

PhD programme on Develpoment, Societies &Territories (Edition 2018/19 – 2020/21): Appliances are open until 24th August

https://www.utad.pt/estudar/en/cursos/development-societies-territories/

Join us, a dynamic program, which seeks to build bridges between the "big science" and the solutions that we need for sustainable and inclusive development of territories, organizations and people. Cultivating interdisciplinary approaches to develop researchers and professionals with creative thought able to innovate "outside the box". More information in the attached brochure. The calendar of the school year of first year of the edition 2018/19-2020/21 runs  between January and July of 2019,

Lívia Madureira

(p/Direção DeST)

https://www.facebook.com/dout.DST/

We are pleased to inform you that a new issue of the Regional Statistics has been released and now it’s avaiable online.

REGIONAL STATISTICS, 2017, VOL 7, No 2.

STUDIES

Marcos Álvarez-Díaz–Beatrice D’Hombres–Claudia Ghisetti: Modelling inter- and intra-regional tourism flows in Spain – a spatial econometric approach https://doi.org/110.15196/RS070205

http://www.ksh.hu/docs/hun/xftp/terstat/2017/rs070205.pdf

Gerardo Gallo–Armando Montanari: Coastal and marine tourism: the employment system in Northern Latium at the time of the economic crisis https://doi.org/110.15196/RS070204

http://www.ksh.hu/docs/hun/xftp/terstat/2017/rs070204.pdf

Ariel Mitev–Anna Irimiás–Gábor Michalkó–Mariangela Franch: “Mind the scenery!” Landscape depiction and the travel intentions of Game of Thrones fans: some insights for DMOs https://doi.org/110.15196/RS070201

http://www.ksh.hu/docs/hun/xftp/terstat/2017/rs070201.pdf

Anton Kasagranda–Daniel Gurňák–Katarína Danielová:Congress tourism and fair tourism of Slovakia – quantification, spatial differentiation, and classification https://doi.org/110.15196//RS070206

http://www.ksh.hu/docs/hun/xftp/terstat/2017/rs070206.pdf

Lajos Bálint–Zoltán Csányi–Máté Farkas–Hajnalka Hluchány–Áron Kincses: International migration and official migration statistics in Hungary https://doi.org/110.15196//RS070203

http://www.ksh.hu/docs/hun/xftp/terstat/2017/rs070203.pdf

Ádám Páthy:Types of development paths and the hierarchy of the regional centres of Central and Eastern Europe https://doi.org/110.15196//RS070202

http://www.ksh.hu/docs/hun/xftp/terstat/2017/rs070202.pdf

Mariann Szabó: Spatial distribution of the top 500 companies on regional and county levels in Hungary – a repeated analysis https://doi.org/110.15196//RS070208

http://www.ksh.hu/docs/hun/xftp/terstat/2017/rs070208.pdf

Izabella Szakálné Kanó–Éva Kazemi-Sánta– Imre Lengyel: Territorial distribution of highly educated individuals in Hungary after 1990 https://doi.org/110.15196//RS070209

http://www.ksh.hu/docs/hun/xftp/terstat/2017/rs070209.pdf

Zoltán Bertus: Investigating the background of radical right-wing mobilization in Hungary with regional statistical methods https://doi.org/110.15196//RS070207

http://www.ksh.hu/docs/hun/xftp/terstat/2017/rs070207.pdf