Download Call for Application - Regional Studies Association

Announcing the funding of £15,000 for the
Regional Studies Association Policy Expos
Launching with funding of up to £15,000 (stg) the Regional Studies Association
seeks to support 3 Policy Expos in:
 Industrial Strategy and the Role of Industry, Employment
Apprenticeships in Cities and Regions
 Climate Change, Adaptation and Governance
 Global Migration and Regional Development
and
With this Policy Expo initiative the RSA aims to connect the work of its members and wider
communities to societal questions and policy needs. The initiative is called an “Expo” taking the word’s
meaning of a “comprehensive description and explanation of an idea or theory”.
The Expos will address issues that are important, current and having impacts for society. They will
investigate how the communities of regional studies, regional science, urban studies and related fields
respond to new societal challenges and opportunities. The Association seeks a leading and impactful
role for its community, to inform and influence policy and practice in creative and ambitious ways.
The Expos have two key deliverables. Firstly, an article in Regional Studies, Regional Science, the
Association’s Open Access (free to read) journal1. Secondly a policy focussed, clear and evidenced,
short form book. This will be given in print form to all RSA members2 and in electronic form to all
subscribers to the Regional Studies pack of 5 journals. In addition the RSA office purchase up to 100
copies for distribution and will actively assist with the book launch to the policy and practice
community. Thus the outcomes of this work will have considerable global reach.
The RSA provides funding of £15,000 (including the cost of book launch for which £2000 of the grant
will be retained by the RSA). Each Expo will be awarded to the team setting out clear policy related
questions. Expos will run for up to 18 months and need to include a number of activities including calls
for evidence and focus groups. The expos for 2017 will be organised in three themes -
Industrial Strategy and the Role of Industry, Employment and
Apprenticeships in Cities and Regions
This theme addresses how sectoral and regional-level industrial policies need to be rethought for the
‘Fourth industrial revolution’? Linked to this, it questions what challenges and opportunities might
1
Now listed in Scopus, and Graded A in the Australian Business Deans Council index used in 11 countries, shortly to be
submitted to SSCI
2 Excepting online only Chinese members who will have e-access only
arise for enhancing city and regional resilience and ‘smart specialisation’ for manufacturing cities and
regions?
The theme seeks to explore key emerging themes around distributed manufacturing,
reshoring/offshoring, global value chains, open innovation, and the most recent developments in
industrial policy thinking.
It builds on recent research on smart specialisation and recent developments in thinking on industrial
policy but critically will attempt to move the discussion on in the context of recent developments in
advanced and 'distributed' manufacturing and the opportunities these may yield for regional
'rebalancing' and manufacturing renaissance.
This theme will explore questions and issues such as:
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What are the opportunities for regional manufacturing renaissance?
How is the emergent trend of 'distributed manufacturing' impacting and what potential does
this hold for the re-emergence of small scale, regionally based manufacturing?
How far has reshoring gone and what are the opportunities and limits for its development?
What is the role of 'phoenix industries' in mature manufacturing regions, and how do they link
to trends in open innovation?
How can regional and industrial policies support regional ‘manufacturing renaissance’?
Climate Change, Adaptation and Governance
The focus of this theme is on how urban areas, regions and other sub-national entities are engaging
with the challenges of climate change in terms of adapting to the changing environmental conditions
and rethinking governance arrangements to facilitate and reflect this. Over recent years, it has become
clear, even in poor countries, that effective action to tackle climate change cannot be taken only at
the international and national scales but must involve collaborative multi-level governance despite
possible political differences. Urban local authorities are essential participants because not only are
urban areas now the source of most greenhouse gas emissions almost everywhere but the impact and
consequences are being and will be felt in them. The capacity of urban and regional authorities to
meet these challenges varies greatly, with resource and capacity constraints often largest in small and
intermediate areas, making them particularly vulnerable.
Inevitably, the easiest and cheapest actions tend to be undertaken first. These are often incremental,
with limited impact. Hence, as addressing climate change become more urgent, the scale and nature
of required actions become more expensive and challenging. As with other fields of governance,
traditional expert-led and official initiatives often lack legitimacy and wide public engagement. The
importance of finding innovative ways of addressing the challenges is widely recognised, and this
theme seeks to assist the process by addressing questions such as:
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How can innovative models of participatory or co-designed climate change governance for
urban and subnational authorities be developed to suit local circumstances?
Are there particular criteria and examples of successful experience that can be adapted to
other contexts and places?
How have particular places formulated and implemented effective climate change
interventions that integrate mitigation and adaptation in transformative ways?
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Are there particular participatory and co-designed processes that have been used successfully
to bring different stakeholder groups together to legitimise and embed more successful
collaborative local or regional climate change governance?
How have particular urban, regional and other sub-national entities addressed and
successfully overcome the real or perceived conflicts between climate change actions and
other priorities within limited budgets and resources?
Global Migration and Regional Development
This theme addresses how regional-level migrant integration policies need to be rethought in light of
the so-called migration crisis? Associated with this, it questions what challenges and opportunities
might arise for enhancing city and regional social cohesion, social justice, social inclusion and
economic development in cities and regions which have received high levels of migrants?
Much of the focus in the migration crisis has been upon securitisation and bordering. While public,
political and policy attention continues to be largely concerned with immigrant numbers attention is
needed on the ways in which the presence of new migrants within Europe can offer new opportunities
for ageing societies and regional cultural, social and economic development. While the challenges of
adjustment to large numbers of newcomers must be considered in tandem with the ways that cities
and regions have responded to these challenges, this theme also calls upon scholars to explore the
myriad of ways that cities and regions have turned the arrival of new migrants into opportunities.
Such attention should move beyond the normative economic arguments to include social and cultural
dimensions.
The theme will explore questions such as:
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What are the challenges and opportunities associated with the so-called migration crisis?
How have cities and regions responded to large numbers of arrivals?
What innovative approaches have been adopted to mitigate challenges?
How have cities and regions turned the arrival of large numbers of new migrants into
opportunities
What kind of policies can be developed to optimise opportunities associated with the so-called
crisis
How are policymakers collaborating at multiple levels, across cities and regions and with
stakeholders such as NGOs to develop policy to address opportunities and challenges
Inclusive and exclusive regions
Application Process
Applicants
should
read
the
full
scheme
guidelines
available
at
http://www.regionalstudies.org/funding/page/policy-expo-grant-scheme . It should be noted that all
applicants will need to be Regional Studies Members at the time of application and for the duration
of the grant.
Applications must be submitted on the Application Form found within the Handbook by 6th March
2017, 3pm (GMT). The Association’s Policy Committee will form initial judgements on the applications
and reserve the right to use external referees and to interview teams as part of the selection process.
The final decision will be taken by the Association’s Board and no discussions will be entered into.
Queries should be addressed to the Chief Executive, Sally Hardy on [email protected]
or by telephone on +44 (0) 1323 899698
Regional Studies Association, [email protected]
Charity Registered in England: 1084165 Company Registered in England and Wales No. 4116288