November saw the RSA’s first globetrotting event series called RSA Global. The programme brought together the regional studies and science communities from around the world for three hour programmes organised by and for the RSA’s global networks. The online format allowed us to meet and discuss latest research and policy developments in times when we cannot travel.
Traveling with the sun, we started on 2nd November in Australasia with a plenary and panel on the future of tourism and a training session on fieldwork in times when regions are in lockdown. The programme was organised by our Australia Ambassador Melissa Nursey-Bray, the University of Adelaide and Ambassador to New Zealand Paul Dalziel, Lincoln University.
3rd November was all about China with a plenary on electronics and global production networks and panel on the Belt and Road initiative. The thirds session a professional development session focussed on publishing in international journals. The programme was kindly developed in cooperation with the RSA’s China Division and was led by the Division’s Chair Weidong Lui, Chinese Academy of Sciences.
On Friday the 6th November, we travelled on to Russia where we run a paper session highlighting diversity and inequality in urban and regional development. The session was part of the Annual Conference on Inequality and Diversity of the St Petersburg School of Social Sciences and Area Studies of the National Research University “Higher School of Economics” and was organised in cooperation with the RSA’s Russia Division and led by the Division’s Chair Leonid Limonov, Leontief Centre and NRU HSE-St Petersburg.
Europe was the destination of RSA Global on Monday 9th November with a plenary on places that don’t matter and their policy implications, a panel on place based leadership and a second panel on the role of universities in innovation and regional development. The programme was developed in cooperation with the RSA’s Ambassador to Norway Marte C.W. Solheim, University of Stavanger, Norway.
Traveling on, we reached Africa which marked the first RSA event ever on the continent. Sessions were developed and delivered by our ambassadors in Egypt (Yehya Serag and Abeer Elshater, Ain Shams University), Nigeria (Oladayo Ramon Ibrahim, Lagos State Polytechnic and Lookman Oshodi, International Development and Urban Governance) and South Africa (Ivan Turok, Human Sciences Research Council) and panels addressed post-conflict reconstruction in North Africa and the Middle-East and planning, integration and security in Nigeria. The closing plenary addressed urbanisation, economic density and the pandemic.
On Friday 13th November, we arrived in Latin America for a plenary on urbanization in the Global South, a panel on local economic development in Latin America and a professional development session on academic publishing. The programme was developed and led by the outgoing Chair of the RSA’s Latin America Division Sergio Montero, Universidad de Los Andes, Colombia.
Coming full circle and feeling slightly sad, we reached the end of our around the word trip on Monday 16th November in North America. The programme featured a plenary and panel with the overarching theme on migration and a professional development session on how to communicate research to policymakers. The programme was developed in partnership with Michael R. Glass, University of Pittsburgh.
Recordings are available via the RSA Lounge on demand for current RSA members. To access these, go to https://members.regionalstudies.org/lounge, go to ‘Community’ and click on ‘Events on Demand’. You will also find all previous Professional Development and Regions Cities Industry Webinars’ recordings there.
Not yet an RSA member? More details on RSA membership can be found at https://www.regionalstudies.org/about/memberships/ or by emailing membership@regionalstudies.org.
Final words and thanks
This has been a very exciting virtual journey around the world and we hope you enjoyed the insights and meeting the global RSA community. If you have feedback on RSA Global, please get in touch with Daniela Carl at daniela.carl@regionalstudies.org. Please also get in touch if you wish to develop similar programmes with us in the future.
We like to take this opportunity to thank our territorial representatives who worked with us on RSA Global, all speakers, chairs, supporters and all participants for making this series possible. Thank you!