EPRC was strongly represented at the recent Regional Studies Association Conference 'Reinventing Regions in the Global Economy' held in Pisa on 12-15 April 2003.
John Bachtler was a discussant in the second plenary session in the debate on the subject of 'EU Regional Policy - the Intensifying Challenge of Enlargement'; John's presentation took stock of the implementation of Structural Funds in the current programming period and assessed the evolving discussion on the reform of the Structural Funds, highlighting elements of the 'added value' of EU-funded programmes.
Ruth Downes presented a paper which looked at some recent trends in regional policy design and delivery, focusing in particular on the issue of decentralisation. Using some examples from Austria, the paper examined the extent to which decentralised delivery mechanisms are necessary to operationalise prevailing regional policy objectives and what the implications of this might be in the future.
Irene McMaster presented a paper entitled 'Regional Governance in Industrial Regions in Central and Eastern Europe' which was based on the results of a Leverhulme-funded research project 'The regional challenge of industrial restructuring: a Polish-Czech comparison'. The paper focused in particular on the experience of the Moravia-Silesia region of the Czech Republic.