Professor Lisa De Propris

Business School
Professor of Regional Economic Development

Contact details

Telephone: +44 (0) 121 414 6258
Email: l.de_propris@bham.ac.uk

Address: Birmingham Business School
University of Birmingham
University House
Birmingham
B15 2TT

Lisa's research interests include knowledge economy, innovation, and technological change; innovation systems, clusters, and industrial districts; regional development and competitiveness. In parallel, I have always been concerned with the role of the government and institutions including innovation and industrial policies and EU regional and cohesion policy.

Qualifications

1994-99 PhD Economics, University of Birmingham Title: “Flexibility and Innovation in District-type Clusters”

Biography

Lisa has published consistently and extensively in top-ranked journals including Journal of Economic Geography, Cambridge Journal of Economics, Urban Studies, Regional Studies, European Planning Studies, International Journal of the Economics of Business, Journal of Public Policy, Journal of Common Market Studies, and Policy Studies. Her reputation in the field of industrial and regional economics has enabled me to develop an international network of contacts and joint research which has led to published outputs such as edited volumes and journal special issues.

Most recently, through her research on creative industries she has been a keynote speaker at high profile events organised by the Committee of the Regions and European Commission. She is currently involved in two FP7 Project called ‘Welfare, Wealth and Work for Europe ’ and ‘SmartCulture’, an INTERREG Project called ‘ NICER-DISTRICT+’ and an AHRC funded project called ‘Cultural intermediation: connecting communities in the creative urban economy’.

Teaching

Economics for Business (UG year 1)
Business Economy and Government (UG year 2)
Globalisation Innovation and Competitiveness (UG, year 3)

Postgraduate supervision

Industrial districts
Networks and clusters
Economic development and global value chains
Innovation and industrial policy
EU regional policies

Lisa is currently interested in supervising PhD projects on technological change; digitalisation and green transitions; regional economies; economic development and global value chains, innovation and industrial policy; EU regional policies.

Research

Selected grants

January 2016-December 2018

Horizon 2020 Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions- RISE

MAKERS - Smart Manufacturing for EU Growth and Prosperity, 15 Partners in Europe, US and Singapore. Euro 1,000,000.

September 2015-September 2017

Horizon 2020 Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions- Individual Fellowships.

Skillup. Skill development and firm upgrading to sustain the competitiveness of the EU manufacturing sector”. Euro 183,455

Jan 2015- Dec 2016

EPSRC-ESRC Building sustainable local nexuses of food, energy and water: from smart engineering to shared prosperity (The Local Nexus Network). £62,000 to UoB as a Network Partner out of £500,000 overall.

April 2012 – June 2016 FP7 Large-Scale Integrating Project

Towards a New Growth Path: Welfare, Wealth and Work for Europe

The objective of the project is to provide the analytical basis for the need, the feasibility and the scope of a socio-ecological transition, to derive policy instruments for shifting Europe to a new "high road path", and the institutional changes needed at all policy levels. The work package I am responsible for focuses on industrial policy. The project involves 18 partners across the EU27 in Austria, Hungary, France, Germany, Italy, Slovakia, Hungary, Belgium, Czech Republic, Sweden, and Spain. Co-investigator (Lead at Birmingham). Sum awarded €164,000.

April 2012 – June 2016 AHRC - Communities, Cultures and Creative Economies

Cultural intermediation: connecting communities in the creative urban economy

The project looks at the value of cultural intermediation and how this activity can be enhanced to create more effective connections between communities and the creative economy. The objectives of the research are: to create new ways of measuring value; to analyse the historic development of cultural intermediation to inform current practice; to examine how intermediation fits within the existing policy landscape and the governance of relations between the different actors; and to explore the effectiveness of intermediation activity from a community perspective. The project involves five partners across the UK. Co-investigator. Sum awarded: £25,000.

Other activities

Tutor to BSc International Business with Italian
Member of the Marketing Advisory Group in The Birmingham Business School

Publications

Recent publications

Article

Pegoraro, D, Chidlow, A & De Propris, L 2025, 'Exploring factors influencing manufacturing home-shoring strategies: Insights from three diverse geographical regions', Journal of International Business Policy. https://doi.org/10.1057/s42214-024-00207-1

Bailey, D, De propris, L, De ruyter, A, Hearne, D & Ortega-Argilés, R 2023, 'Brexit, trade and UK advanced manufacturing sectors: a Midlands’ perspective', Contemporary Social Science: Journal of the Academy of Social Sciences, pp. 1-16. https://doi.org/10.1080/21582041.2023.2192700

Yin, T, De Propris, L & Jabbour, L 2021, 'Assessing the effects of policies on China’s outward foreign direct investment', International Business Review, vol. 30, no. 5, 101818. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ibusrev.2021.101818

De Propris, L & Bailey, D 2021, 'Pathways of regional transformation and Industry 4.0', Regional Studies, vol. 55, no. 10-11, pp. 1617-1629. https://doi.org/10.1080/00343404.2021.1960962

Pegoraro, D, De Propris, L & Chidlow, A 2021, 'Regional factors enabling manufacturing reshoring strategies: a case study perspective', Journal of International Business Policy. https://doi.org/10.1057/s42214-021-00112-x

Bellandi, M, De Propris, L & Santini, E 2019, 'An evolutionary analysis of industrial districts: the changing multiplicity of production know-how nuclei', Cambridge Journal of Economics, vol. 43, no. 1, bey012, pp. 187-204. https://doi.org/10.1093/cje/bey012

Harrison, J, Delgado, M, Derudder, B, Anguelovski, I, Montero, S, Bailey, D & De Propris, L 2019, 'Pushing regional studies beyond its borders', Regional Studies, vol. 54, no. 1, pp. 129-139. https://doi.org/10.1080/00343404.2019.1672146

Chapter (peer-reviewed)

Chidlow, A, Pegoraro, D & De Propris, L 2020, De-globalisation value chains and reshoring. in Industry 4.0 and Regional Transformations. Routledge.

Conference contribution

Chidlow, A, Pegoraro, D & De Propris, L 2023, The Choice of Manufacturing Home-Shoring for Bolstering MNE’s Global Strategy: A Comparison of Pulling Factors in Three Sub-national Regions. in K Asakawa & T Kiyak (eds), Proceedings of the 65th Annual Meeting of the Academy of International Business "International Business Resilience under Global Disruptions". Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Academy of International Business, Academy of International Business, pp. 319-319, AIB 2023 Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland, 5/07/23. <https://www.aib.world/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/AIB-2023-Conference-Proceedings.pdf>

Pegoraro, D, De Propris, L & Chidlow, A 2022, Manufacturing Reshoring as a Strategic Choice in the International Chessboard: Evidence from Veneto, West-Midlands and California. in Proceedings of the European International Business Academy 48th Annual Conference. BI Norwegian Business School, pp. 38-38, 48th EIBA Annual Conference 2022, Oslo, Norway, 8/12/22. <https://www.bi.edu/contentassets/59deeaa048004a87a348faa8b260e2ad/proceedings-eiba-2022.pdf>

Chidlow, A, Pegoraro, D & De Propris, L 2020, Manufacturing Reshoring: A Cross-Countries Comparative Study. in Academy of International Business (AIB), Florida International University, Miami (2-6 July)..

Chidlow, A, De Propris, L & Pegoraro, D 2019, Manufacturing Reshoring: The Case Study of Veneto. in XL Annual Scientific Conference, Associazione Italiana di Scienze Regionali, L'Aquila, Italia (16-18 Sept.)..

Editorial

Bailey, D, Clark, J, Colombelli, A, Corradini, C, De Propris, L, Derudder, B, Fratesi, U, Fritsch, M, Harrison, J, Hatfield, M, Kemeny, T, Kogler, DF, Lagendijk, A, Lawton, P, Ortega-Argilés, R, Otero, CI & Usai, S 2020, 'Regions in a time of pandemic', Regional Studies, vol. 54, no. 9, pp. 1163-1174. https://doi.org/10.1080/00343404.2020.1798611

Other contribution

Chidlow, A, Pegoraro, D & De Propris, L 2020, Sub-national motives for manufacturing reshoring strategies: A comparative study..

Paper

Pegoraro, D, De Propris, L & Chidlow, A 2020, 'A Bottom-up Approach to Manufacturing Reshoring Strategies: A comparative study', Paper presented at 2020 – Virtual Conference - SASE, 18/07/20 - 21/07/20.

View all publications in research portal