Dear RSAI members, 

it gives me great pleasure to announce that at the latest RSAI Council meeting, held electronically on Nov. 11, 2021, two importand decisions were made. 

First, the Council elected Prof. Hans Westlund (KTH Stockholm) as President Elect of the RSAI. Hans will become Vice President as of January 2022, and will work along Prof. Eduardo Haddad, current RSAI President, for the benefit of the Association. Good luck Hans! 

The Council also elected a new Editor-in-Chief of Papers in Regional Science, our flagship Journal. After nine years of service, Prof. Roberta Capello (Politecnico di Milano) steps down, and Prof. Rosella Nicolini (Universidad Autonoma de Barcelona) begins a three years term as Editor-in-Chief of the Journal. To Roberta goes the Association’s gratitude. Over the past nine years, PiRS grew steadily in terms of quality of scientific output and impact as testified also by its Impact Factor. To Rosella, the Association’s best wishes to walk on these steps of excellence, and to further enhance the journal’s positioning in the field. 

I also take the chance to welcome Prof. Tomaz Dentinho (University of the Acores) as Councillor-At-Large of the RSAI. Tomaz was elected with an online ballot, that also involved other excellent candidates. This is another example of the active role played by RSAI members in the life of the Association. 

Thank you all in advance for your attention, 

Kind regards, 

Andrea Caragliu

Associate Professor of Regional and Urban Economics 

Politecnico di Milano, ABC Department 

RSAI Executive Director 

Hans Westlund 

Dr. Hans Westlund is born in 1957. Since 2007, he is Professor in Regional Planning, Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), Stockholm, Sweden, and Professor in Entrepreneurship, Jönköping International Business School, Jönköping, Sweden. He received a PhD in Economic History from the University of Umeå, in 1992.  

His involvement with Regional Science activities and institutions is multifaceted and long-lasting. He acted as Chairman of the Local Organisation Committee for the European Regional Science Association's (ERSA) legendary 50th Anniversary congress, in Jönköping 2010. 2006-2014 he served as Member of the European Organising Committee of the European Regional Science Association. Since 2005, he has also been member of the board of directors of the Western Regional Science Association, for which he served as president 2013/14 and became lifetime Fellow 2018. He has served as Councillor-at-large of the Regional Science Association International, RSAI and he has been chairing ERSA’s Epainos Prize Committee and the WRSA’s Tiebout Prize Committee. 

Beyond Regional Science, he is member of the Swedish Prime Minister’s National Innovation Council; co-editor of the Springer book series Advances in Spatial Science; member of the China Urban Science Research Association’s Resilience City Expert Committee; and member of the International Geographical Union’s Commission for Agricultural Geography and Land Engineering. 

Among all his commissions, he has been a member of the Bank of Sweden Tercentenary Foundation´s Sector Committee for Research on the Civil Society; chairman and founder (together with Professor Kiyoshi Kobayashi, Kyoto University) of the International workshop “Social Capital and Development Trends in Japan´s and Sweden´s Countryside”; member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Agriculture and Forestry's Committee for Rural Development; and member of the Swedish research council Formas’ Scientific Council. Together with co-author Tigran Haas, he was given the Routledge Best Book Award 2018 for the book In the Post-Urban World, which also has been translated to Japanese. 

His research interests include urban and regional development, social capital, innovation, entrepreneurship, and peripheral and rural regions. 

Rosella Nicolini 

Prof. Nicolini is Associate Professor of Applied Economics at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, where she also act sas Coordinator of the PhD program in Applied Economics. Rosella received a PhD in Economics from the Université catholique de Louvain, 2000. Her PhD thesis entered the final draw for the annual prize of the EU’s Committee of Regions.. In 2007, she was recipient of the XI Premi Catalunya d'Economia. Her involvement in Regional Science activities and institutions has been continuous. Since 2018, she acts as Councilor-at-large of the RSAI. She i salso currently ERSA secretary, and previously served as Associate Editor for Papers in Regional Science. She is also Associate Editor of the RERU; and member of the Editorial Board of RSPP and Investigaciones Regionales. In the past, she was visiting professor at Boston University, at the University of South Wales (Sydney) and at Gretha (Bordeaux). 

Her research focuses on the determinants of location (for both consumers and firms) from a regional perspective. She has authored and co-authored articles published in the major journals in the field (Regional Studies, Journal of Urban Economics, PIRS, Journal of Regional Science, International Regional Science Review, Spatial Economic Analysis). 

Tomaz Dentinho 

Prof. Tomás Ponce Dentinho has a Degree in economics from Universidade Católica Portuguesa (1975-1980); Three years of the Agronomy course and two years of the Course in Landscape Architecture at the Technical University of Lisbon (1976-1979); Master in economics, specializing in regional economics, from the Higher Institute of Economics and Management of the Technical University of Lisbon (1985-1987). PhD from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne (1990-1994). Postgraduate studies in Environmental Economics from the Harvard Institute for International Development (1999). 

Tomaz has been Professor at the University of the Azores since 1987. Coordinator of the Master in Nature Management and Conservation (2000-2018). Coordinator of the PhD in Interdisciplinary Landscape Management (2008-2018). Representative of the Association of Higher Planning and Planning Schools (AESOP) at the University of the Azores. 

He is a member of the Portuguese Association for Regional Development (APDR), the Regional Science Association International (RSAI) and the Portuguese Association for the Development of Operational Research (APDIO). 

He was President of the Portuguese Association for Regional Development (2008-2015), Member of the Council of the Regional Science Association International and Executive Director of the Regional Science Association International (2011-2018) having brought the headquarters of this association to Portugal in July 2011. He acted as Editor-in-Chief for Regional Science Police and Practice since 2017. 

His research focuses on regional economics, urbanism, operational research, environment and agriculture.