Professor Riccardo Crescenzi 
Department of Geography and Environment – SERC

His research focuses on three main areas. First, the investigation of the link between innovation and regional economic growth as shaped by local innovation systems and knowledge spill overs. Second, the comparative analysis between the European Union and the United States in order to highlight the differences in the territorial determinants of innovative performance. And third, the analysis of the structure and impact of EU regional policy.

Professor Paul Cheshire 
Department of Geography and Environment

He co-authored a book, Urban Economics and Urban Policy Challenging Convential Policy Wisdom. The authors aid the understanding to why economic growth has emerged so unevenly across space and why this pattern persists. The failure to understand the forces leading to uneven development underlies the ineffectiveness of many current urban policies. The authors conclude that future urban policies need to take better account of the forces that drive unevenness and that their success should be judged by their impact on people, not on places – or buildings.