University of Birmingham

We are very pleased to announce that the University of Birmingham has recruited three new staff to join City-REDI. This is an investment to strengthen and expand our work on regional growth and levelling up, complementing the responsible business focus of Birmingham Business School and research expertise across the College of Social Sciences.

Professor Fumi Kitagawa, from the University of Edinburgh Business School is an expert in entrepreneurship and regional innovation systems and joins us in April. Donald Houston, from the University of Portsmouth is a Professor of Economic Geography specialising in labour market inequalities and will also join us in April. Dr Darja Reuschke, from the University of Southampton is an Associate Professor researching self-employment, micro-enterprises and employment and joins us in June.

With over 25 staff, City-REDI, incorporating WMREDI, is one of the leading centres for research on the challenges of improving productivity, inclusivity and sustainability across different UK regions. Since 2015 we have grown a portfolio of projects on skills and labour markets, R&D and innovation, and the civic role of universities. Our expertise in monitoring and evaluating investments and interventions underpins advice to policymakers about the impacts of shocks on businesses and communities. We help local agencies and national government develop more precise policy interventions to drive local growth opportunities.

We look forward to working with our new colleagues to expand and extend our research and policy engagement as we establish City-REDI as a leading international research centre in these areas.