Degrees may include a coursework element and can be taken on a full- or part-time basis. Prospective applicants are invited to apply, outlining their research interests.
Learning and teaching
Research students normally have a lead supervisor and a co-supervisor who meet regularly with the student to review and guide their work.
Each research student agrees with their supervisor(s) a programme of training tailor-made to their needs and previous experience. A programme may include:
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Research methods modules offered by the University, which students are expected to attend unless they have previously received equivalent training
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Any module offered by CURS related to their research
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Modules and programmes in other departments
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Personal development and skills training provided through the University's Graduate School on subjects including computing, time management, thesis writing, writing for publication, and teaching
All research students give an annual presentation on their work in progress. These take place in research student workshops. These occasions are also opportunities to hear presentations and share views and experiences with other research students and academics and practitioners from the ‘outside world’. In addition, students present their work to a research supervisory panel as another means of gauging progress.
We help research students to produce publications arising from their work and encourage them to publish as single authors when appropriate. Many research students are aiming for academic careers and we recognise the importance of providing opportunities for them to be involved in teaching and tutorial work, without compromising their obligations as research students.
Related links
Centre for Urban and Regional Studies website: www.curs.bham.ac.uk
Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences website: www.gees.bham.ac.uk/
• Urban and brownfield regeneration policies; Culture-led regeneration; Planning and sustainable development; Comparative planning in Europe (especially France, Great Britain and Switzerland).
Contact: Dr Lauren Andres
Tel: +44 (0)121 414 5021
Email: l.andres@bham.ac.uk
• City centre regeneration; City living and gentrification; Inter-city competition and co-operation; Comparative urban development in Britain, Europe and North America.
Contact: Dr Austin Barber
Tel: +44 (0)121 414 2984
Email: a.r.g.barber@bham.ac.uk
• Planning and Urban regeneration policy; Community involvement; Community/University partnerships.
Contact: Dr Mike Beazley
Tel: +44 (0)121 414 3278
Email: m.j.beazley@bham.ac.uk
• Industry clusters, EU regional policy and governance; Innovation, industrial competitiveness and the regional economy; Automotive and the food industries; Labour market change.
Contact: Gill Bentley
Tel: +44 (0)121 414 4984
Email: g.a.bentley@bham.ac.uk
• Development of quantitative and qualitative research methodologies, particularly the use of survey-based economic valuation techniques (contingent valuation and choice modelling); Contribution of creative and knowledge-intensive industry to urban and regional development; Industry networks and clustering.
Contact: Dr Julie Brown
Tel: +44 (0)121 414 5025
Email: j.brown@bham.ac.uk
• Economic development (economic restructuring, creative industries, digital city); Public policies (governance, cluster policy and transport policies); Urban transportation (in developed and developing countries); Quantitative and qualitative methodologies.
Contact: Dr Caroline Chapain
Tel: +44 (0)121 414 2292
Email: c.a.chapain@bham.ac.uk
• Urban geography; Spatial planning; Urban regeneration and management; Sport and cultural-led development; The politics of mega-events; Planning for risk and resilience; National security and counter-terrorism; Post-conflict reconstruction
Contact: Professor Jon Coaffee (Director of CURS)
Tel: +44(0)121 414 7421
Email: j.coaffee@bham.ac.uk
• Regional and local economic change; Evolving patterns of governance and state organisation at different scales; The use of spatial scale analysis as a conceptual tool in the examination of economic and political change.
Contact: Chris Collinge
Tel: +44 (0)121 414 3783
Email: c.j.collinge@bham.ac.uk
• European urban and regional studies; Strategic leadership in economic development, planning and regeneration.
Contact: Dr John Gibney
Tel: +44 (0)121 414 3051
Email: j.gibney@bham.ac.uk
• African Caribbean home ownership; Ethnic minority housing wealth; Return migration; Ethnic minority communities; Use of life history methods.
Contact: Dr Ricky Joseph
Tel: +44 (0)121 414 7233
Email: r.joseph@bham.ac.uk
• Housing markets and neighbourhood change; Housing and social exclusion; Issues related to concentrations of deprivation, segregation and excluded communities; Development of models of affordability at local and regional level for the purpose of housing strategy development.
Contact: Dr Peter Lee
Tel: +44 (0)121 414 3645
Email: p.w.lee@bham.ac.uk
• Knowledge economy; Innovation, automotive industry; Business strategies and their interaction with public policy; Regional economic development; Technology foresight.
Contact: Dr Stewart MacNeill
Tel: +44 (0)121 414 5007
Email: s.macneill@bham.ac.uk
• Governance, management and regulation of housing organisations; Role of the non-profit sector in public policy; Homelessness and access to social housing; New migration, equality and diversity.
Contact: Professor David Mullins
Tel: +44 (0)121 414 3348
Email: d.w.mullins@bham.ac.uk
• Urban and rural policy; Community planning; Social inclusion; Urban regeneration management; State spatiality and the geography of state power; Policies and politics of managed migration. Contact: Dr Simon Pemberton
Tel: +44 (0)121 414 2680
Email: s.pemberton@bham.ac.uk
• Planning, developing and managing sustainable communities; Community and neighbourhood governance; Delivering affordable housing options; Housing co-operatives and co-ownership housing; Regeneration of public housing estates.
Contact: Rob Rowlands
Tel: +44 (0)121 414 2243
Email: r.o.rowlands@bham.ac.uk