Dr Charlotte Hoole

The Department of Strategy and International Business
Research Fellow II

Contact details

Email: c.hoole@bham.ac.uk
Twitter: @CJHoole

Address: City-REDI
Birmingham Business School
Ash House
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston, Birmingham
B15 2TT

Charlotte Hoole is a Research Fellow at the City-Region Economic Development Institute (City-REDI). Her research broadly considers the geographical and political economy of local and regional development, governance and policy. Her current work focuses on English devolution and public funding allocation in the UK. Prior to this, she has worked on projects looking at the impact of governance structures in the formulation of place-based policies and central-local relations, and their role in shaping regional disparities.

Qualifications

PhD, Urban Studies and Planning, University of Sheffield, 2018
BA (Hons), Geography, University of Sheffield, 2012

Biography

Charlotte received her undergraduate degree in Human Geography from the University of Sheffield in 2012, followed by a PhD in Urban Studies and Planning from the University of Sheffield in 2018. Her doctoral research examined sub-national leadership and governance in England, with a particular focus on city-regionalism, devolution, and austerity politics since 2010.

Throughout her career, Charlotte has carried out research that aims to inform and influence local, regional and national policymaking. For this she has received funding from the Economic and Social Research Council, local and national government in England, and a number of UK-based charities. Her practical policy experience includes an internship with Sheffield First Partnership in 2015 funded by the ADH Crook Fellowship Scheme, and two years as a Policy and Data Analyst at City-REDI within the Birmingham Business School.

Following her PhD, Charlotte was awarded an ESRC Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of Sheffield to extend her research on city-regions and local governance. Then in 2019, she joined City-REDI as a Co-Investigator on the ESRC-funded LIPSIT project examining the impact of the UK’s governance structures in the formulation of place-based policies and central-local relations. Currently, she leads an ESRC-funded project focused on ways to improve public funding allocation in England to reduce geographical inequalities.

Research

Research interests

Local and regional economic development
Governance and devolution
Region-building and soft spaces of planning

Publications

Recent publications

Article

Newman, J, Hoole, C, Warner, S, Nochta, T, Eckersley, P & Richards, D 2026, 'Building place-based capacity in an asymmetric system: supporting England’s devolution periphery or fuelling political spatial inequality?', Contemporary Social Science, vol. 21, no. 1, 2716760. https://doi.org/10.1080/21582041.2026.2716760

Hoole, C, Taylor, A & Green, A 2025, 'Covid-19 sub-regional economic recovery partnerships: Soft spaces of governance in action', European Urban and Regional Studies. https://doi.org/10.1177/09697764251404298

Lyons, M, Green, A & Hoole, C 2025, 'Megatrends and regions: a case study of the English Midlands', Policy Studies. https://doi.org/10.1080/01442872.2025.2498110

Newman, J & Hoole, C 2024, 'The intersection of productivity and governance capacity in spatial inequality: the case of England's devolution periphery', Contemporary Social Science: Journal of the Academy of Social Sciences. https://doi.org/10.1080/21582041.2024.2435440

Tilley, H, Newman, J, Connell, A, Hoole, C & Mukherjee, A 2023, 'A place-based system? Regional policy levers and the UK’s productivity challenge', Regional Studies, vol. 57, no. 10, pp. 2102-2114. https://doi.org/10.1080/00343404.2022.2152436

Newman, J, Mukherjee, A & Hoole, C 2023, 'Constraints and enablers of regional environmental policy: governance challenges in England and Wales', Journal of Environmental Policy and Planning. https://doi.org/10.1080/1523908X.2023.2297793

Hoole, C, Collinson, S & Newman, J 2023, 'England's catch-22: institutional limitations to achieving balanced growth through devolution', Contemporary Social Science: Journal of the Academy of Social Sciences. https://doi.org/10.1080/21582041.2023.2203122

Commissioned report

Hoole, C, Hassan, S, Chaytor, S, Mycock, A & Renberg-Fawcett, K 2026, A review of place-based academic-policy engagement in the UK. Universities Policy Engagement Network (UPEN). <https://upen.ac.uk/resources/a-review-of-place-based-academic-policy-engagement-in-the-uk/>

Hoole, C, Ribaudo, D, Kitsos, T & Billing, C 2025, Building Winners: Strengthening the UK Innovation Ecosystem. Innovation and Research Caucus. <https://ircaucus.ac.uk/publications/building-winners-strengthening-the-uk-innovation-ecosystem/>

Hoole, C 2025, Exploring the concept of governance capacity. The Local Policy Innovation Partnership Hub. <https://lpiphub.bham.ac.uk/exploring-the-concept-of-governance-capacity/>

Hoole, C, Pike, A, Green, A, Agarwal, S, Ayres, S, Davies, C, Davies, J, Emmerich, M, Gilmour, J, Mutibwa, DH, Russell, M, Taylor, A, Velthuis, S & Burchell, J 2025, Improving public funding allocation to reduce geographical inequalities.

Other report

Shaw, J, Billing, C, Diamond, P, Hoole, C, Kitagawa, F & Stevens, A 2026, From Local to Global: A New Framework for Devolution and Diplomacy. University of Birmingham. <https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/research/centres-institutes/city-region-economic-development-institute/publications/2026/from-the-local-to-global-a-new-framework-for-devolution-and-diplomacy>

Green, A, Taylor, A, Billing, C, Hoole, C, Ramcharan, M, Read, H & Lyons, M 2026, Inspiring Futures. Improving outcomes for young people in Birmingham.

Lyons, M, Ma, H, Arriaga Garcia, GJ, Green, A, Houston, D, Kollydas, K, Taylor, A, Riley, B, Cepeda Zorrilla, MR, Rafique, A, Hoole, C, Read, H, Bramley, G & Burton, T 2025, Birmingham Economic Review 2025. University of Birmingham. <https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/research/centres-institutes/city-region-economic-development-institute/publications/2025/the-birmingham-economic-review-2025-1>

Riley, B (ed.), Green, A (ed.), Kitagawa, F (ed.), Bramley, G (ed.), Billing, C, Kollydas, K, Lyons, M, Davies, J, Hassan, S, Ma, H, Taylor, A, Pugh, A, Read, H, Blake-Carr, R, Houston, D, Kitagawa, F, Ramcharan, M, Blake-Carr, R, Hoole, C, Rafique, A, Schwarz, J & Cepeda Zorrilla, MR 2024, The WMREDI Story: Successes, Challenges, Achievements and Impact.

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