City-REDI Associates

Nayara Albrecht is a Visiting Assistant Professor at the Federal University for Latin American Integration (UNILA, Brazil) and a Visiting Fellow at Newcastle University (UK). She holds a PhD in Political Science and is pursuing an MBA in Data Science. With over a decade of experience bridging academia and practice in public policy, her research examines bureaucracy, governance, and the application of data and artificial intelligence (AI) in the public sector, drawing on quantitative, qualitative, and computational methods. She has previously worked as a Research Associate at the University of São Carlos (Brazil), Aston University (UK), and Newcastle University (UK), as well as a civil servant at Brazil’s Ministry of Culture and a research consultant for the United Nations. She currently chairs the International Political Science Association’s Research Committee on Politics and Business and co-leads projects on bureaucratic politicisation, data and AI use in government, and AI methods for qualitative analysis.

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Iwona is an economist with 13 years of international policy experience at the World Bank, the European Commission, the London School of Economics and Political Science, NGOs and the private sector. Iwona has been working with governments in Europe and Central Asia, in particular, on reforms and programs targeting entrepreneurship, public research commercialisation and private sector competitiveness including formulation of innovation strategies, institutional capacity building, development of executive agencies supporting private sector innovation, design and supervision of the implementation of programs for financing innovation. Iwona holds a PhD in economics from Warsaw School of Economics in Poland in collaboration with George Washington University, USA.

In her thesis, Iwona investigated innovation and learning patterns across sectors of the West Midlands region with implications for the region's innovation policy.

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John Bryson is a Professor of Enterprise and Economic Geography at the University of Birmingham. He is an internationally recognised scholar who has made significant contributions to understanding and explaining the complex ways in which economic activities are organized through space and in place. Recently, he has made major contributions to understanding the functional economic geographies of city regions by exploring the dynamics of economic activities located in large and small towns.

He has published seven books and over 120 journal articles, research reports, and book chapters and he is also editor of the book series on Services, Economy and Innovation published by Edward Elgar. 

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Andre Carrascal-Incera is an Assistant Professor in Economics at the University of Oviedo (Spain) and a Researcher in REGIOlab. Previously, he was a Research Fellow at City-REDI at the University of Birmingham (UK) from July 2018 to November 2020, where, among other things, he worked on developing a Multiregional Socio-Economic Impact Model for the UK (SEIM-UK).

His research is focused on different fields like Economic Modelling, Regional Economics, Labour Economics and Multisectoral Analysis. Some of the topics he studied during the last years deal with the distribution of income and interregional disparities, the main determinants of youth unemployment in Europe and its micro and macroeconomic consequences, and some methodological advances in the field of multisectoral modelling.

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Chris has over 25 years of experience in town and city centre management, gained from working in over 120 UK locations, and has a cutting-edge knowledge about the economics of towns and cities, having gained an MSc in Place Management & Leadership and being appointed as a Fellow of the Institute of Place Management.

A longstanding member of the Association of Town & City Management and one of the founders of The Place Coalition, Chris was also appointed as one of the select number of national High Streets Task Force Experts, and is currently in the final stages of research for a PhD. Being based in Knowle, Chris is perfectly located to support a range of City-REDI projects

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Dr Zhaoya Gong is a quantitative human geographer and Geographic Information Scientist. His research interests centre on two interwoven themes, namely leveraging computational and data sciences to advance geographic information science, and dynamic processes of urbanisation and complex modalities of spatial structures generated at various scales, as articulated by interactions of land use and transportation/mobility systems, with respect to the social, economic, and environmental sustainability of resulting urban settlements.

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Catherine Harris is Senior Research Fellow at UCL Social Research Institute, where she is a member of the Thomas Coram Research Unit.

Her interdisciplinary research is grounded in economic geography with a particular focus on labour migration, ethnic entrepreneurship and empowerment of disadvantaged and marginalised communities. Her work centres on ethnically diverse urban communities and with children and their families.

Catherine is experienced in project management, evaluation and all stages of the mixed method research process. She specialises in qualitative research, particularly through participatory research and creative methodologies. She is passionate about giving a voice to all in the research process and is experienced in designing and leading peer researcher programs.

She currently works on the NIHR funded project: Healthier Wealthier Families in East London.

Catherine Harris Profile | University College London

Professor Hewings was the founding Director of REAL, the Regional Economic Applications Laboratory at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He served in this position until August 2016 and is now the Emeritus Director. He has received Fulbright and Woodrow Wilson awards and was Executive Director of the Regional Science Association International which recognized him with an award for Service to Regional Science. His major research interests lie in the field of urban and regional economic analysis with a focus on the design, implementation, and application of regional economic models. He has devoted considerable time to the way in which these models might become useful in policy formation and evaluation.

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Calvin is a specialist in regional development, sustainability and energy economics. He holds a PhD in the Economics of Tourism and Major Events and is a specialist in economic and environmental accounting and modelling. He has been involved in the development of a number of measurement tools for sustainability. He manages Jones the Numbers Ltd, and additionally is Adjunct Professor at Cork University Business School and a non-exec Director at Natural Resources Wales. He has written and spoken extensively on sustainable development, regional policy and energy transformations. Possibly too extensively.

Calvin is a failed novelist, rock star and screen writer, but served a successful and rewarding (if short) period in Nelson Mandela's security detail. He is a winner of both the Moss Madden Medal in Regional Science, and the People's Choice Award at the 1996 Milwaukee International Snow Sculpting Championships, representing Cymru.

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Lisa Knight is Head of Innovation and Enterprise at Liverpool John Moores University, where she provides strategic leadership for enterprise, innovation, and external engagement. Lisa’s research centres on developing and implementing systems and place-based leadership across the public sector, with a particular focus on health and social care, exploring how systems leadership and evidence-based decision-making can improve service design, governance, and cross-sector collaboration. Lisa is passionate about pedagogical frameworks that underpin leadership development, examining how professional learning and educational strategies shape effective leaders in complex environments. As a Senior Fellow of Advance HE and the Chartered Management Institute, Lisa champions inclusive, ethical leadership and sustainable innovation.

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Tasos Kitsos is an Associate Professor in Economics at the Department of Economics and International Business at Aston University and a fellow at the Centre for Business Prosperity. His research focuses on the spatial footprint of socio-economic phenomena with an emphasis on regional economic inequalities, resilience and growth; the digital and creative economies. He has worked as a Primary Investigator, Co-Investigator and researcher in several projects supported by public and private funders such as the ESRC, AHRC and Facebook. He has previously worked in the private and public sector as well as in the London School of Economics, Plymouth University and the University of Birmingham where he remains an associate of City-REDI.

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Henry Lucas is a Senior Consultant at Ramboll, a global architecture and engineering consultancy, with over three years of experience in socio-economic analysis, economic planning, economic development, social impact assessments, and wellbeing economics. His diverse background includes working with international asset managers, private developers, and local governments on high-profile NSIP and DCO projects across various sectors. Henry has a proven track record in developing strategies for local government departments, conducting local need analyses for international asset managers, and undertaking socio-economic impact assessments on green energy projects. His work supports both local and national government bodies, providing valuable insights and solutions. A University of Birmingham alumni, Henry holds a BSc focusing on Economic Geography. He is an Associate Member of the Institute for Sustainability and Environment Practitioners and the Institute of Economic Development, showcasing his commitment to advancing sustainable and economic practices in the built environment.

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Chris Lonsdale has worked in the area of procurement and supplier management for over 30 years at the University of Birmingham. As well as teaching at all levels of study there, he has published over 50 books, chapters and papers; received grants from ESRC, EPSRC and NIHR; been awarded fellowship of the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply; and worked in various capacities with a range of public and private sector organisations including IBM, Rolls-Royce plc, Department of Health, Oxford Radcliffe NHS Hospital Trust, Novelis and Molson Coors Beverage Company. In the case of the latter, he is currently a member of the Procurement Leadership Team of the North America procurement function, as well as supporting the company’s European procurement function.

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David is an experienced, visionary Chief Executive (of a metropolitan local authority, a Regional Development Agency, and now his own company), Chair/NED, and economic development professional.

Since 2008, David has become one of England’s leading advisors on local economic growth. He has worked widely on devolution agreements, city and growth deals; on leadership, governance and institutional development at national, city-region and local levels; strategic economic plans and European (ESIF, H2020 etc) programmes; industrial strategy; Futures/ Foresight exercises; and university-place relations.

In the last two years, he has completed projects with the national government, the two largest new Mayoral Combined Authorities, all tiers of England local government at the most senior levels, LEPs, both a Russell Group and a small specialist University on anchor institution developments and a range of national intermediary and business bodies. He even led the UK government’s strategic recovery planning team to the British Overseas Territories in late 2017 in the aftermath of hurricanes Irma and Maria.

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After a recent retirement from a senior position at the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), Allan joins the University as an Honorary Professor and brings his extensive knowledge of Whitehall, local government, and the European Commission and member states.

His area of expertise aligns closely with City-REDI, including understanding cities and urban transformation, understanding urban economies and environments, and policy aspects of Smart Cities, including the development of the Government’s strategy in this area, which was published in October 2013, and BSI’s strategy for developing a suite of smart city standards. He has been a member of Birmingham City Council’s Smart City Group and was instrumental in the development of the Greenwich Smart City Strategy, which was published recently.

An industrial economist by training, he was, until December 2013, Head of the BIS Services Policy Unit with particular responsibility for developing policies to enhance the knowledge-intensive service economy, with the active support of the Professional and Business Services Group, Chaired by Sir Michael Snyder. As a result of his policy work in this field, he was invited to Chair the EU Expert Panel of Service Innovation, which reported to Vice President Tajani in 2011, and whose recommendations have been substantially implemented by the EU Commission. He remains closely linked to European innovation policy networks.

He had a formative role in the DTI/Treasury Innovation review of 2002/2003. During this review he developed a more coherent Government Technology Strategy including the establishment of the Technology Strategy Board (TSB) and was responsible for developing the TSB strategy, until the Board moved to Swindon in 2007. His involvement with the TSB provides him with an unusual understanding of British innovation policy. Moreover, his experience in running the UK’s International Technology Service has given him a broader understanding of innovation worldwide.

Current interests include developing holistic policy responses to the challenges posed by the automation of services, where he is a member of an Advisory Group to the Foundation for Progressive European Studies(FEPS) a Brussels based Think Tank. His work on smart cities and the transformation of service systems has also led him to examine the role and importance of devolution as a factor in regional economic performance.

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Max is an Associate Professor in Applied Urban ScienceUniversity College London, Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis and before academia, co-founded the Centre for Cities think tank and the What Works Centre for Local Economic Growth.

He is an economic geographer with a background in public policy. His research focuses on urban economic development, in particular the economics of immigration and diversity; innovation systems and tech clusters; and public policy for cities, especially policy design and evaluation.

Max has over 15 years’ public policy experience in think tanks, consultancy and government, including at DCLG as an ESRC-DCLG Senior Policy Adviser. Max also co-founded the Centre for Cities, where he ran the research programme for the Centre’s first three years.

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Massimiliano joined City-REDI as a Research Fellow in February 2019 after more than 10 years of academic experience in Italy and Germany. He is an applied economist with a background in policy and management (MA/MSc) and information economics (PhD).

His research interests cover different topics on urban and regional studies, but in particular, he has specialized in the cultural and creative industries, cultural-driven economic development, cultural consumption and consumer behaviour. His social sciences perspective is sincerely multidisciplinary combining approaches and theories from economics, sociology and geography.

Massimiliano is currently an Associate Professor in Business Economics at the Venice School of Management – Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia, where he leads the Master's Degree in Innovation and Management of Culture and Creativity (IMACC). He is also the Director of BLISS – Digital Impact Lab, where his research focuses on the impact of digital transformation and the evolving dynamics of the data-driven economy.   

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Liam was a Policy and Data Analyst at City-REDI. 

Liam is a social researcher with a proven track record on international comparative studies, having worked on academic and policy research projects across 14 countries. His current work focuses on the spatial and social manifestations of wealth inequality in the age of the polycrisis.

Liam holds a PhD in urban studies and planning from the University of Sheffield, with a project that considered the local and cross-border effects of economic development in three European offshore financial centres. His work has been published in leading journals in the field, including Urban Studies and Environment and Planning C. He is particularly interested in participatory research and using qualitative methods, and can carry out work in the English, German and French languages.

Liam is currently a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellow at the University of Latvia as part of the EU Horizon project “PRELAB”, an international study on precarious labour and informality. His institutional partner is Development Solutions Associates, an Albanian think tank working on economic and local development. Liam also continues to work as a freelance consultant on projects, particularly focusing on sustainable and inclusive development.

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Amir is a Lecturer in Strategic Management at the Birmingham Business School and previously worked at City-REDI as a Research Fellow. Amir is still closely working with City-REDI to better understand the relationship between the regional economy and specific firms. This research includes investigating multiplier effects within certain supply chains, the employment footprint of MNEs, R&D initiatives, and productivity levels.

Amir has a background in Economics and International Business, but his more recent work has focused on Operations Management and Supply Chain Management as his PhD research investigated the performance and contextual trade-offs between lean and agile organisations within the automotive industry in the West Midlands. Amir has experience teaching a wide range of modules in the domains of business strategy and operations.

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Laura Reynolds is a Senior Lecturer at Cardiff Business School, Cardiff University. Her work addresses the opportunities and challenges for stakeholders when participating in the presentation and governance of cities and regions. Her research interests include city and regional governance, stakeholder engagement, place branding, the everyday economy, and digital innovation. Recent projects examine the role of street art role in building and resisting city identities, mechanisms for supporting community engagement and embeddedness, and digital representations of Wales. Laura previously held roles as an ESRC Postgraduate Fellow, Research Associate within the Welsh Economy Research Unit and Policy and Data Analyst within the City-REDI team.

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Will is Professor of Regional Policy and Development and Director of the Centre for Economy, Policy and Place at Nottingham Business School. This centre brings together researchers working on economic and public policy issues with an emphasis on ‘place’, public and emergency services and applied economics.

Will's research interests relate to local and regional economic development, the policy process, economic and institutional path dependence. He teaches on a number of economics modules at undergraduate and postgraduate level. The main focus of his teaching is economic evaluation and regional policy where he provides a practitioner's perspective on the application of economics to policy and practice.

Will also contributes to the delivery of executive education on the East Midlands Transformational Leadership Programme, for the National Fire Chiefs Council and on Institute of Economic Development CPD Approved short courses relating to economic evaluation and economic development.

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Mark is a Research Associate within the Institute of Applied Health Research (IAHR) at the University of Birmingham. His current work primarily consists of supporting the British Heart Foundation with the production of key statistics and analysis. He has previously worked as a JSNA Officer and Knowledge Exchange Facilitator at the University, a role which combined working in a local authority public health information team, with researching epidemiology and health geography in the Institute of Applied Health Research at the University of Birmingham. He has a wealth of experience in data analysis following a number of roles across various public sector organisations including the NHS, local government and the regulatory sector. Mark has a particular interest in health geography i.e. visual and spatial epidemiology, and the use of GIS.

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Kelly Smith is an Associate Professor (Education) in Entrepreneurship in the Department of Management at Birmingham Business School, University of Birmingham. She is an experienced enterprise and entrepreneurship educator at UG, PGT, and MBA levels and has led both curricular and extra-curricular learning opportunities. She specialises in the development of the entrepreneurial mindset through reflection and engagement with entrepreneurial learning. Kelly has led regional initiatives to support and encourage student and graduate business start-up and has inputted into youth and graduate entrepreneurship policy based on her research into the impact of enterprise and entrepreneurship education, and her work with Enterprise Educators UK and the Institute for Small Business and Entrepreneurship.

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Mike is Managing Director of PolicyDepartment, an economic consultancy specialising in local economic development. He brings over two decades of experience at the intersection of business policy, place-based strategy, and economic performance.

He started his career in economic forecasting and regional economic development, working as a senior executive at the former East of England Development Agency. From 2011 to 2020, Mike was Director of Economics, Policy, and Research at the British Chambers of Commerce, leading the UK’s largest privately-run survey of business sentiment, and research on enterprise policy, skills, and investment drivers. There he founded the LEP Network (now the Business Board Network) aimed at improving awareness of best practices across the economic development sector. He remains passionate about building the capacity of the sector and in 2023 co-founded the podcast LED Confidential with fellow City-REDI associate David Marlow.

Since 2020, he has advised Combined Authorities, local government, national institutions, and business networks on matters relating to place-based growth. His work spans economic strategy; programme design, evaluation, and reform and skills planning. He has led multiple Local Skills Improvement Plan projects and other local labour market strategies.

Mike holds an MSc in economics from the University of Warwick.

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Ian’s experience spans commercial and technical management roles in the energy industry, strategic consulting, and academic roles in social science research. Ian has conducted research at multiple institutions including the University of Oxford, the University of the Arts London, and the University of Manchester. Ian’s previous decade of work in industry involved working directly with global energy supermajors, participating in joint industry projects with regulatory and standards bodies.

Ian’s social science research focuses on responsible business, cross-sector collaboration, and place-based approaches to regeneration. He has various well-regarded publications, including ‘The Collaboration Playbook: A leader’s guide to cross-sector collaboration’ (2023) and the ‘Partnerships in Place’ (2022) inquiry report. Ian recently sat on the steering group for a cross-government data collaboration insights study led by the Cabinet Office and the ONS. He also lectures on Innovation in Public Management at Kings College London.

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Dr Emmanouil Tranos is a Reader in Quantitative Human Geography at the University of Bristol that focuses primarily on the spatiality of the digital economy. He has published on issues related to the geography of the internet infrastructure, the economic impacts that this digital infrastructure can generate on cities and regions and the position of cities within spatial, complex networks. His research in this area led to a monograph on “The Geography of the Internet: cities, regions and Internet infrastructure”. Emmanouil has also a strong interest and expertise in the use of new sources of big data, such as data from mobile phone operators, as a means to improve our understanding of the complexities of cities and urban systems. Currently, he is doing research on (i) the role of online social media as a medium for knowledge transfer and (ii) the evolution of the digital economy in the UK by utilising the wealth of archived web data.

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Stephan Weiler is the Director of REDI@CSU, a research institute based at Colorado State University which aims to understand, analyse, and inform economic development strategies, particularly in struggling regions in both rural and urban areas, especially in Colorado. He holds the William E. Morgan Endowed Chair as Professor of Economics at Colorado State University. Stephan’s research, teaching and mentoring have spanned a variety of development and labour market issues in Africa, Appalachia, Europe, and the American West. His current work focuses on regional economic growth and development, particularly in rural and inner-city areas, combining theoretical, empirical, and policy analyses on topics such as information, innovation, industrial restructuring, land use, public/private partnerships, immigration, entrepreneurship, and the environment.

City-REDI is working in partnership with REDI@CSU to provide fresh, timely, and cutting-edge information to enhance economic growth and development prospects for regions across the globe.

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Liyun’s research focuses on the environmental impacts of economic activities and their wider societal implications. Her work spans trade, investment, productivity, innovation, regional development, and climate policy. She has recently contributed to the discussion of the Asian Development Bank’s regional strategies on green transition.

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