ESPON UK Network Bulletin 1/2009

26-Jan-09

Network News

The first inception reports of the successful projects for applied research in the first round of calls are available. Five UK institutions are involved in ESPON projects: UHI Millennium Institute, Newcastle University, University of Gloucestershire, Scottish Agricultural College and University of Leeds. The UHI Millennium Institute is the lead partner for the project exploring development opportunities in rural areas. Find out more...

Keep an eye on the workshops that the ESPON UK Network will be promoting this year. The chosen themes include migration, indicators for regional strategies and rural potentials. We’ll be sending out further information about these in the next bulletins. In the meantime, if you would like to express your interest, please write to us.

UK Rural Researchers Wanted: The ESPON project on Potential of Rural Regions will be tendered at the end of April. This project was put together by 3 UK “stakeholders” – North Yorkshire County Council, Dumfries and Galloway Council and the Rural Affairs Department of the Welsh Assembly Government. It also includes 2 other rural authorities – Notodden from Norway and Cesis from Latvia. The planned research project would look at the assets and development potential of these five areas (for Wales the focus is on the Cambrian Mountains). Officials from the five stakeholders will help the researchers access local data. The ESPON UK Contact Point has managed to find research institutes in Latvia and in Norway who would be interested in forming a Transnational Project Group in partnership with a UK research institute to bid for this contract. The stakeholders are also keen to have a UK presence in the research team. For further information please contact Cliff Hague at cliff.hague@espon.org.uk or on 0131 447 5265.

Cliff Hague attended the conference Achieving Balanced Regional Development: Dynamic Regions, Spatial Strategies and Collaboration in Letterkenny (Ireland) last week and sent us a report.

The network entered year 2009 with over 100 members. The database of members is available in the Members Area and contains the name, job title, skills and interests of all members who have completed their profiles. Click on the members area link to see the most recent version of it. One of the key features of the ESPON UK Network has been that members can make contact with each other directly, so please take a few moments to review your entry and ensure your details are up-to-date. You can update it via the “my profile” option on the ESPON UK Network home page if necessary. Please don’t try to register again and create a new profile. If you get stuck, do contact us.

Sign up! The ESPON Partner Café gives an opportunity for organisations to form a TPG (Transnational Project Groups) and bid for ESPON projects. The next round of ESPON calls is expected in April. Why not add your details to the Partner Cafe now? Find out how...

Update from ESPON internal seminar, December 2008: the ESPON UK Contact Point Team attended the ESPON seminar in Bordeaux. Cliff Hague reports on presentations about the territorial policy framework that ESPON is designed to inform here.

The ESPON Coordination Unit is looking for a trainee for a period of 5 months to join their international team in Luxembourg. The deadline for handing in applications is 6 February 2009 at 15:00. Learn more…

Events

RSA Annual Conference: Understanding and Shaping Regions: Spatial, Social and Economic on 6-8 April in Leuven, Belgium. More...
ESPON is organising an open ESPON Seminar in Prague on 2 and 3 June – further details will be posted on our web pages as soon as they become available.

View more events on the ESPON UK Network pages