ESR3: European and national regional and innovation policies reproducing peripheries? – A critical analysis (Tartu, Estonia)

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Host: University of Tartu, Tartu/Estonia

1 PhD position, full-time

Duration: September 2014 – August 2017

Recent EU regional policy is often said to intensify regional polarisation. Studying regional and innovation policies in the Baltic States, East Germany and the Slovak Republic, this project (supported by STU and IfL) will analyse whether regional policy has gone through Europeanisation (convergence with EU programmes and values) or retained own development paths (divergence) and whether this has had an impact on the efficiency of regional policy or helped reproducing peripherality in CEE.

The fellow will be integrated in the PhD curriculum in Geography at the “Doctoral School in Economics and Innovation” of the University of Tartu.

Secondments are foreseen at the Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava/Slovakia, the Leibniz-Institute for Regional Geography in Leipzig/Germany and Geomedia in Tartu/Estonia.

Tasks:

–          comparative analysis of national and EU cohesion policy measures and institutions targeted on regional                  and innovation policies for regional economic restructuring and creating relevant knowledge institutions                  (regional innovation system)

–          use process based policy analysis as a central methodological tool including statistical overview of the                      dynamics of regional differences, policy documents analysis, mapping stakeholder’s and their                                      responsibilities and conducting small number of expert interviews

Requirements:

–          Masters’ degree in political sciences, geography, economics, sociology or another discipline corresponding            to the topic of the project

–          good knowledge of statistics

–          fluent in English

–          knowledge of CEE  languages would be positive

–          good knowledge of IT-based communication tools

–          readiness to participate in secondments, conferences and workshops

–          excellent communication skills, capacity for teamwork, flexibility and an interest in interdisciplinary                            research

The fellow should contribute to the outreach of the project, especially by:

–          elaboration of a PhD thesis

–          participation in project and WP monographs, joint publications in high ranked journals

–          active participation at scientific conferences, policy workshops etc. at national and EU level

–          participation in media communication, in development of a web-based glossary, in creation of video clips                 and podcasts and in spreading project information on EU level using European Commissions’                                      communication tools