| Fiona Wishlade appointed to Regional Studies Editorial Board |
 Fiona Wishlade has been appointed to the Editorial Board of ‘Regional Studies’, one of the most prestigious and high-impact journals in the regional studies field. Taking over from Dr Stephanie Dühr, Fiona will be the Policy Debates Editor of the journal, editing contributions which cover empirical or theoretical reflections on topics of relevance to policy-making or practice. Recent contributions to Policy Debates have covered the governance of sustainability appraisal, financial accountability of EU Cohesion policy, policies for managing migrant workers, and the influence of climate change on transport planning. |
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| EPRC Evidence to the House of Lords |
 Professor John Bachtler gave evidence to the House of Lords on the reform of EU Cohesion policy on 20 December 2011. The evidence session was organised by the EU Sub-Committee of the Economic and Financial Affairs and International Trade select Committee to consider the European Commission’s proposals for Cohesion policy after 2013, and will inform the Select Committee’s inquiry into the EU Financial Framework 2014-2020. John Bachtler’s evidence covered the Commission’s proposals for a new regional architecture, policy objectives, thematic concentration, conditionalities, absorption capacity and use of innovative financial instruments. |
Contact: John Bachtler
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| First Prize for Laura Polverari in EU Thesis Competition |
 Congratulations to Dr Laura Polverari on being awarded First Prize by the EU Committee of the Regions in their 2011 Thesis Competition! Since 1996, the Committee has awarded an annual prize for doctoral theses focusing on the local and regional dimension of the EU. This year, the competition received an exceptionally high number of entries from across Europe with 170 doctoral theses being submitted of which 20 were shortlisted. The selection board, chaired by Mr Marek Woźniak, President of the Polish Delegation to the Committee of the Regions, ultimately selected the five best theses and awarded the First Prize to Laura Polverari for her thesis "Uncovering accountability in devolved regional policy - a comparative analysis of the evolution of European cohesion policy governance and implementation in Tuscany and Scotland following devolution". Laura was presented with the award by Mercedes Bresso, President of the Committee of the Regions, at a ceremony in Brussels on 14 December 2011. |
Contact: Laura Polverari
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| Presenting Lessons from Inter-Regional Cooperation in Latvia |
 The results of EPRC evaluation and research on inter-regional cooperation, as well as direct experience from the IQ-Net Network here were presented by John Bachtler in Riga at the 2nd International Conference of the IPP Project ‘Perspectives on Interregional Cooperation’ on 15 December 2011. The Interregional Partnership Platform (IPP) here is an INTERREG project which brings together partners from Latvia, Sachsen-Anhalt (Germany), Valencia (Spain) and Észak-Alföld (Hungary). John Bachtler’s invited presentation drew on the lessons of 15 years of IQ-Net inter-regional cooperation as well as other studies on territorial cooperation conducted, emphasising the essential elements for effective cooperation and positive learning outcomes. |
Contact: John Bachtler
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| 31st IQ-Net Conference (Aachen) discusses financial instruments in Structural Funds programmes |
IQ-Net partners from 17 EU countries, together with representatives of DG Regio of the European Commission, met at the 31st IQ-Net conference in Aachen, Nordrhein-Westfalen on 7-9 December 2011. The conference was hosted by the Ministry for Economy, Energy, Construction, Housing and Transport of the Land Nordrhein-Westfalen.
The main focus of the conference was on the experiences of IQ-Net partners with planning and implementing financial instruments under their Structural Funds programmes, including experience with the EU Jeremie and Jessica initiatives. Discussions also covered current programme implementation issues, with a focus on the future, specifically the European Commission’s proposals for the new Structural Funds regulations.
During the conference, partners viewed several projects which have benefited from European funding: the NRW/EU.Mikrodarlehen micro loan instrument, a revolving fund supporting start-ups in Nordrhein-Westfalen; a zero-emission hybrid electric fuel cell bus; a fully transplantable artificial heart project developed by the Institute for Applied Medical Engineering located in the Helmholtz Institute, Aachen; and the StreetScooter affordable electric vehicle prototype.
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| EPRC participation at EU meeting of Ministers on Cohesion policy |
 The Polish Presidency organised an Informal Meeting of Ministers on 25 November in Poznan for Member States and European institutions to exchange views on the reform of Cohesion policy following the publication of the draft legislative package by the Commission. The discussion was based on two Presidency documents: ‘Presidency Conclusions on the territorial dimension of EU policies and the future Cohesion policy’; and the ‘Roadmap towards promoting and enhancing an integrated, territorial approach based on the Territorial Agenda of the European Union 2020’. A report on the meeting, prepared by John Bachtler and Carlos Mendez, summarises the key messages and is available here |
Contact: John Bachtler
or Carlos Mendez
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| EPRC participation at Polish presidency conference ‘Cohesion Policy and Catching-up Regions’
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 John Bachtler and Martin Ferry were invited speakers at an international conference on Cohesion Policy and Catching-up Regions which was held on 17-18 November in Lublin, Poland. Organised under the Polish Presidency of the Council of the European Union, it provided a forum for discussion about marginalisation processes in the EU and their multidimensional territorial character, as well as the most effective support mechanisms for problem areas available within the framework of the EU Cohesion policy. John’s presentation looked at National interpretations of EU Cohesion Policy for the problem regions while Martin’s contribution focused on the impact of demographic trends on processes of regional development. Conference proceedings will be available from here. |
Contact: John Bachtler
or Martin Ferry
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| Finnish visit to EPRC: Structural Funds in the Tampere Region in Finland. |
 On 18 November, Esa Halme and Jukka Alasentie from the Council of Tampere Region gave a presentation on the implementation of Structural Funds in their region. They underlined the importance of innovation for the region and explained how the challenge of transforming research into concrete innovation is addressed. Instead of using Structural Funds contributions as a discount on already existing activities, the region views that European funding should be used to “purchase change”. They also showed that research activities are not always correlated to innovation. While some regions perform well in innovation terms, their R&D expenditure can be comparatively low. Regional innovation policy is not necessarily linked to regional research institutions, since research can be bought in from the outside. Finally, they concluded with a brief outlook on the 2014-20 programme priorities.
The presentation slides of the seminar are available here.
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Contact: Jukka Alasentie
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| EPRC Seminar: Flying the flag for Europe: The effect of exposure to the EU flag on public attitudes. |
 On 9 November, EPRC hosted a seminar by Prof Laura Cram and Dr Stratos Patrikios from the School of Government and Public Policy. They presented the results of their ESRC-funded research on real-life impact of subliminal exposure to EU symbols on political attitudes. They carried out online experiments with 4,350 participants in England, Wales, Scotland and the Republic of Ireland and concluded that exposure to EU symbols does indeed affect attitudes. However, this effect only occurs when respondents consider the EU flag instrumentally/ functionally, the flag has no symbolic/ affective effect. Furthermore, it only occurs amongst Welsh and Scottish respondents. Amongst these respondents the EU flag does have a polarisation effect: an already existing positive attitude towards the EU will become even more positive, while negative attitudes will in turn become more negative.
The presentation slides of the seminar are available here. |
Contact: Laura Cram
or Stratos Patrikios
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| Double European project success for EPRC |
 EPRC has been awarded two studies in competitive tenders relating to EU Cohesion policy. Collectively worth some €1.7 million, the EPRC’s success reinforces its position as one of the leading research institutes in Europe for the study of regional policy.
One the studies will involve the first major research project to assess the long-term economic impact of the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) from 1989 to the present. Led by Professor John Bachtler, Dr Laura Polverari and Professor David Charles, the 18-month study will be undertaken in collaboration with the London School of Economics and a network of nine other research institutes across Europe and will involve a mix of in- depth quantitative and qualitative research in 15 case study regions in 10 countries.
The second study involves an ex post evaluation of how EU Cohesion policy interventions, worth €33.6 billion, financed by the EU Cohesion Fund (and the former Instrument for Structural Policies for Pre-Accession, ISPA) have been managed and implemented. Led by Professor John Bachtler and Frederike Gross, working together with Fraser Associates, the study will examine the management capacity for effective administration of EU funding, mainly in Central, Eastern and Southern European countries.
Both studies will seek to shed new light on contested questions relating to the effectiveness and efficiency of EU Cohesion policy and contribute to policymaker thinking on the design and delivery of interventions in the 2013-20 period.
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Contact: John Bachtler
or Laura Polverari or David Charles
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