Forthcoming Event: Understanding Brexit – Brexit and migration: implications for Birmingham

Tuesday 2 May 2017, 18.00 – 20.00  Impact Hub Birmingham, 58 Oxford Street, Digbeth, Birmingham, B5 5NR  This event will discuss the implications of Brexit for Birmingham in terms of migration. Birmingham is one of the most diverse cities in the UK, having experienced major migration flows over many decades. What does Brexit mean for … Continue reading “Forthcoming Event: Understanding Brexit – Brexit and migration: implications for Birmingham”

City REDI at the American Association of Geographers (AAG) Annual meeting 2017

The AmericanAssociation of Geographers Annual meeting 2017 was held from 5-9 April in Boston, USA. It featured over 6,900 presentations, posters and workshops by leading scholars, experts, and researchers. In attendance from City REDI, and giving papers and organising sessions, were Dr Catherine Harris and Professor John Bryson. Catherine’s paper contributed to a session entitled … Continue reading “City REDI at the American Association of Geographers (AAG) Annual meeting 2017”

WMCA Productivity and Skills Commission Launch – Call for Evidence

Achieving the scale of ambition… Today was the launch of the West Midlands Combined Authority Skills and Productivity Commission call for evidence. The WMCA Productivity Leadership Group, led by Dr Andy Palmer and bringing together business leaders from across the LEPs, will ensure that WMCA plans to drive productivity are designed by and for local … Continue reading “WMCA Productivity and Skills Commission Launch – Call for Evidence”

Developing Citizen-Centric Urban Services: End-user Innovation in Birmingham

Citizens have direct experience of the ‘problem spaces’ within urban systems and are more likely to be motivated to change existing services than incumbent providers (Noveck, 2016; Borgers et al., 2010). Consequently, it has proven valuable for the public sector to co-create with citizens (users or consumers), through capturing their ideas and integrating users’ knowledge … Continue reading “Developing Citizen-Centric Urban Services: End-user Innovation in Birmingham”

The problem with women; versus the solution of women

Reflections from Rebecca Riley on the world of work for International Women’s day 2017. As a woman, I find the attitude that women are a problem to be solved frustrating as it sees half of the population as an issue to be dealt with, a generalisation which of course isn’t true. As someone interested in … Continue reading “The problem with women; versus the solution of women”

Data from the producer perspective: Two days with the ONS

City-REDI’s Tasos Kitsos is back from attending the International Economic Statistics Conference hosted by ONS. Here he provides a round-up of his experience. These are some of my favourite ingredients for a conference; A line-up of great speakers, An audience full of interesting people, A great balance between talking, debating, questioning and breaking up for … Continue reading “Data from the producer perspective: Two days with the ONS”

Research on Economic Resilience in UK Local Authority Districts

Since the 2008 downturn, ‘resilience’ as a concept has re-entered daily discussions in both policy and academia. The notion of a place which is able to grow despite what lies in its path however, though very appealing, has proven exceptionally difficult. Here, City-REDI’s Tasos Kitsos discusses the findings of his latest research paper which can be … Continue reading “Research on Economic Resilience in UK Local Authority Districts”

AnalystFEST post-event review: “Standing Room Only!”

In this post, Tasos Kitsos provides a round-up of City-REDI’s AnalystFEST event which took place last week. The event brought together policy and academic researchers in the West Midlands to celebrate the use of evidence. This was an activity packed day that provided the chance for a number of high profile speakers to reflect on … Continue reading “AnalystFEST post-event review: “Standing Room Only!””

AnalystFEST Event

The City-Region Economic Development Institute (City-REDI), University of Birmingham, is delighted to host their free event ‘AnalystFEST’ on Tuesday 24 January 2017, 9.00am-3.00pm, at the University of Birmingham. This event aims to bring together policy and academic researchers in the West Midlands and make links to national researchers, to celebrate the use of evidence. With the aim … Continue reading “AnalystFEST Event”

Urban Living Birmingham: Challenges facing the City

The Urban Living Birmingham (ULB) Consortium brings together the expertise of four universities (University of Birmingham, Birmingham City, Aston and Warwick); working in partnership with public, private and third sector agencies. ULB is funded by RCUK via the Urban Living Partnership initiative and Innovate UK. There are over 40 project partners or stakeholders working with … Continue reading “Urban Living Birmingham: Challenges facing the City”