Competition Funded PhD Project (Students Worldwide): Place-Based Industrial Strategy and Regional Growth
About the Project
We welcome applications from highly motivated PhD candidates interested in place-based industrial strategy, regional development, innovation, and economic growth.
Industrial strategy has re-emerged as a central policy agenda in the UK, Europe, and globally. Governments increasingly seek to address regional inequalities, stimulate innovation, support industrial transformation, and respond to major societal challenges such as climate change, digitalisation, demographic change, and economic resilience. At the same time, industrial policy has become more place-based, recognising the importance of regional capabilities, institutions, industrial specialisms, and leadership in shaping development outcomes.
Research in this area examines how places build and sustain competitive advantages, attract investment, foster innovation, and navigate techno-economic transitions. It also considers whether place based industrial strategies effectively support lagging regions or inadvertently reinforce the advantages of already successful places.
We are interested in supervising projects that seek to bring together pertinent issues from this broadly area. For example (and not exhaustively):
- Place leadership and the role of anchor institutions, including universities, businesses, and public bodies (i.e. organisations and their role in regional growth/industrial strategy).
- Place-based industrial strategy and regional economic development i.e. subnational units of analysis.
- Regional innovation systems, innovation ecosystems, and entrepreneurial ecosystems.
- Clusters, industrial districts, sectoral specialisation, and agglomeration.
- The role of formal and informal institutions in regional development and policy implementation
- Deindustrialisation, economic restructuring, and regional resilience.
- Mission-oriented policies, social innovation, and responses to societal grand challenges.
- Just Transition, sustainability, competitiveness, and inclusive growth.
- The evaluation of industrial, innovation, skills, or regional development policies.
- Public and private investment, productivity, and regional growth.
- Technological complementarities, knowledge spillovers, and innovation across priority sectors such as advanced manufacturing, digital technologies, AI, defence, clean energy, creative industries, life sciences, and professional services.
- Innovation, industrial policy, and regional development in the UK, Europe, and comparative international contexts.
We are particularly interested in projects that contribute to contemporary debates on how industrial strategy can promote innovation-driven, sustainable, and inclusive regional development. Proposals that engage with policymakers, practitioners, businesses, universities, and other regional stakeholders are especially welcome.
We are open to proposal using qualitative, quantitative, or mixed-methods approaches.
Applicants with interests that align broadly with these themes are encouraged to get in touch to discuss potential research ideas.
Candidate requirements:
Applicants must have, or be about to obtain, a UK Honours degree First Class or 2:1, or international equivalent. A master’s level qualification would also be advantageous. Non-UK applicants must meet the programme’s English language requirement .
Applicants must declare any use of AI in the preparation of their proposal, specifying the purpose (e.g., drafting, editing, idea generation, or literature/citation sourcing etc.,) and identify the AI system and version used.
All PhD students must commence registration and PhD training in 4 October 2027.
URSA deadline – 26 th February 2027 at 23:59 GMT
Equality, Diversity and Inclusion
We value a diverse research environment and strive to be an inclusive university, where difference is celebrated and respected. We encourage applications from under-represented groups.
If you have circumstances that you feel we should be aware of that have affected your educational attainment, then please feel free to tell us about it in your application form. The best way to do this is a short paragraph at the end of your personal statement.
The Disability Service ensures that individuals with disabilities are provided the support that they need. If you state if your application that you have a disability, the Disability Service will contact you as part of this process to discuss your needs.
Funding Notes
Please note that this project is also accepting self-funded/externally funded applicants. If you would like to apply for funded studentships (i.e., URSA and CSC), please follow the deadlines for the specific funding competitions and indicate which scholarships you would like to apply for in the application form. Any application without selecting the right scholarships from the drop-down list may cause delay or not being considered. More information about funding, please see Find funding for Doctoral research . If you’d apply for funding and English is not your first language, you must meet our English language entry requirement before the application deadlines.
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