RSAI NEWS – February 2015

17/02/2015

RSAI NEWS

Words of welcome by Andrés Rodríguez-Pose, new RSAI President

Dear friends and colleagues,

As every two years, 2015 brings a change at the helm of the RSAI. Following the established system of rotation among the supra-regions of the organisation, I have taken over from Jean-Claude Thill as president of the RSAI on January 1^st.

2015 is a good year to take over. With close to 4500 members worldwide, the RSAI is stronger than ever. Regional Science congresses are buzzing events which attract regional scientists from all over the world and where cutting edge research is unveiled and discussed. Multiple workshops, seminars and other events are also being conducted by national and linguistic sections and the growing number of summer schools is making sure that young talent is emerging and finding adequate fora to develop their research interests and capabilities. Many Regional Science schools are well established, while others are appearing the world over. The standing of journals has clearly increased in recent years and, last but not least, our say in the conception, design, implementation, and monitoring of public policies in our areas of interest has certainly grown.

This is a far cry from where Regional Science was 20 years ago. The perception of organisation which, when I joined, was extremely homogenous – dominated by spectacled middle-aged men dealing with extremely complicated formula – is now long-gone. Regional Science and the RSAI are far more vibrant and diverse than they has ever been.

That we have reached this point is mainly thanks to all of you – the Regional Science community. The relentless hard work of individual regional scientists, editors, national and linguistic sections, and the supra-regional organisations over the years has contributed to take our community to new heights and to make it much more visible than hitherto. This has undoubtedly been a collective effort, meaning that naming individuals may be unfair to countless others who have contributed to this feat. I, however, cannot resist showing my gratitude to the outgoing President of the RSAI, Jean-Claude Thill. Jean-Claude has steered the organisation through what have been challenging times and has come out of it on top. With the invaluable support of the Executive Director, Tomaz Ponce Dentinho, and his team, he has further extended the reach of Regional Science and overseen the expansion of the organisation. The RSAI, in general, and me, in particular, are indebted to him and to the extremely able executive team based in the Azores for their achievements. I am also glad that that the RSAI will be able to count on Jean-Claude’s advice, not just as Chairman of the Long-Range Planning Committee, but also informally, making the most of his knowledge, generosity, and devotion to Regional Science.

However, despite the health of Regional Science, a number of important challenges remain. In my opinion, there are three challenges which need to be tackled head on during my two years of tenure as president: a) forging tighter relations within the Regional Science community; b) continuing the expansion of Regional Science to areas of the world where our presence remains limited; and c) nurturing new talent in order to ensure the future vitality of Regional Science.

Regarding the first challenge, I am really proud that Regional Science is not really an organisation, but a community of scholars. This sense of community has made it thrive and helps attract new scholars to our conferences, congresses and workshops. I am also proud that, in contrast to many other academic disciplines, there is no strict hierarchy in the way we are governed. The different organisations in which the Regional Science community is structured – from the national and linguistic sections, through the supra-regional organisations, to the RSAI – share the same aims and objectives and have a long history of fruitful collaboration. My intention is to make, with the help of all of you, the links that bind us even stronger, building bridges that will reinforce our sense of purpose and our goal of promoting the presence and visibility of Regional Science across the world.

Regional Science is also well-established in many parts of the world. Although there is always room for improvement, the prominence of Regional Science in Europe and North America is beyond doubt. There is also a long and fruitful Regional Science tradition in many parts of East Asia. The regular conferences organised by the supra-regions are a perfect testimony of this vitality. I am also extremely glad about the rapid developments which have taken place in Latin America and the Caribbean. Existing sections in the region have been developing new and exciting activities, while new sections have been created. It is extremely likely that we be in the next two years welcoming a new Latin American-Caribbean supra-region. Yet, our presence in other areas of the world – and, especially, in Africa, the Middle East, and many parts of Asia – remains limited. In particular, there is enormous intellectual energy bubbling in places like China and Southeast Asia. There is already a rapprochement under way, but we need to go further. My intention is to continue to promote Regional Science in those parts of the world where we are already established, but also to enlarge the regional science community in areas of the world where our presence is still limited. This would imply, working together with local regional scientists and helping them to reach out to our global community.

Finally, the vitality of any scientific discipline is ultimately measured by its capacity to attract young and diverse talent. Talented young regional scientists – many of them women – have become much more visible in recent years. Some of them are already playing an important role within our organisations. But more needs to be done. We cannot expect that this will continue on its own. Young talent needs to be groomed and nurtured and the RSAI can and should do more about it. The good thing is that we are not starting from scratch. Our partner organisations already hold a number of workshops and institutes aimed at channelling the ideas and energy of young regional scientists. These are extremely valuable endeavours and it is my intention to encourage and support these activities from the RSAI.

I am delighted to say that in pursuing these three goals I have encountered nothing but support from the RSAI Council, which in its meeting in Washington DC in November 2014 gave its approval to three agendas which reflect the challenges mentioned above and which will be shaping my presidency.

First, I am happy to announce that the RSAI, with the support of ERSA, has reached an agreement with the Turkish Regional Science Association in order to organise the 11^th World Congress, to be held in Istanbul, Turkey, between 17-20 April 2016. This congress will represent a unique opportunity to continue enhance the presence Regional Science in a country which has recently shown considerable enthusiasm towards our field, but also to contribute to expand the discipline in a broader region of the world where there is considerable room for expansion.

The Council also approved two additional programmes aimed at building bridges and nurturing new talent. In terms of building bridges, resources have been made available to facilitate the presence of researchers from those areas of the world where Regional Science lacks strong organisational structures at established Regional Science congresses. In terms of nurturing new talent, the granting of support for the promotion of institutes and workshops aimed at bringing together and training young researchers has been generously endorsed by Council. These initiatives will be soon advertised in the RSAI’s website.

These are small but qualitatively important steps aimed at addressing the challenges which I mentioned earlier. They will certainly be followed by other actions in the same direction.

As I wrote in the beginning, much has changed in Regional Science and most of this change has been for the better. Nevertheless, we cannot rest on our laurels and we must strive to make sure that Regional Science continues to grow and to have a greater say, through public policy and planning, on improving the lives of individuals wherever they live. I am counting on your help to make sure that Regional Science continues to move forward in the right direction.

Andrés Rodríguez-Pose

Nurturing new talent

The RSAI aims to promote the development of Regional Science by nurturing new talent. The council has therefore pledged resources to co-finance workshops and summer institutes intended to provide substantive training to pre-doctoral researchers, including the presentation of their work and receiving feedback from senior scholars and their peers. It is expected that the selected workshops and institutes will have considerable geographical coverage.

Organisers of workshops and summer schools fulfilling the above aims are invited to submit a two-page case for support by April 30th 2015 to RSAI (rsai@apdr.pt).

All applications will be reviewed by the RSAI Executive, who will make a decision on the candidates to fund. Their decision will be final.

Building bridges

The RSAI will facilitate the participation of researchers from low-income and lower-middle-income economies (as defined by the World Bank: http://data.worldbank.org/about/country-and-lending-groups#Low_income) at the main Regional Science Conferences: ERSA, NARSC and PRSCO.

The RSAI will pay the fees of the congress for those researchers selected. Alternative means of financing will have to be sought for travel and accommodation.

Interested researchers should upload a two-page CV plus a one-page motivation including, if available, alternative means of support, by the following deadlines:

ERSA – 8 May 2015 (55th ERSA Congress, August 25-29, 2015, Lisbon, Portugal – http://www.ersalisbon2015.org/)

NARSC – 31 July 2015 (62nd NARSC Congress, November 11-14, 2015, Portland, OR – http://www.narsc.org/newsite/conference/)

PRSCO – 8 May 2015 (24th Pacific Conference of the RSAI, 5-8 August, 2015, Vina del Mar, Chile – www.prsco.info/)

Applications can be uploaded using the following link.

Applicants should have had a paper accepted for presentation at the conference.

All applications will be reviewed by the RSAI Executive, who will make a decision on the candidates to fund. Their decision will be final.

Competitions & Awards

More News in www.regionalscience.org

News

RSAI NEWS – February 2015

The Hirotada Kohno Award

The Martin Beckmann RSAI Annual Award

The Peter Nijkamp Research Encouragement Award

The Jean Paelinck RSAI Award

The Stan Czamanski Prize

RSAI Dissertation Award

RSAI Founder's Medal

RSAI Fellows

The Benjamin H. Stevens Graduate Fellowship

Other Awards