EPRC celebrates 30 years of regional policy research

http://www.eprc.strath.ac.uk/news/eorpa09b2.jpg <img src="http://www.eprc.strath.ac.uk/news/eorpa09b.jpg" width="184" height="103" border="0" align="left An international conference held this week at Loch Lomond celebrated 30 years of research on regional policy in Europe by EPRC. Attended by high-level government officials from nine European countries (Austria, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Sweden and the United Kingdom), the EPRC conference marked three decades of comparative regional policy research under the EoRPA research programme. Chaired by Professor Douglas Yuill, the three-day conference was the setting for intensive discussions on the regional dimensions of the financial and economic crisis. New EPRC research examining the impact of the crisis on Europe's regions, and the regional policy responses, was presented by Dr Sara Davies, with a further paper delivered by Fiona Wishlade on the role of State aid as part of government measures. <p> http://www.eprc.strath.ac.uk/news/eorpa09a2.jpg <img src="http://www.eprc.strath.ac.uk/news/eorpa09a.jpg" width="184" height="103" border="0" align="right Other EPRC papers presented at the conference dealt with longer term strategic developments in regional policy (Dr Irene McMaster), the demographic challenges facing European regions (Dr Martin Ferry) and the debate on reforming EU Cohesion policy (Professor John Bachtler). The guest speaker, Vasco Cal, from the European Commission's Bureau of Economic Policy Advisers, provided insights into the new political guidelines put forward by Commission President Barroso and the directions of the forthcoming EU budget review. The http://www.eprc.strath.ac.uk/eorpa/default.cfm EoRPA research programme is unique in Europe, having attracted funding to EPRC from a multinational consortium of government ministries continuously for 30 years to support policy-relevant research and knowledge exchange undertaken by EPRC.