RSA Ambassador to Denmark Laura James

A welcome message from the RSA Ambassador to Denmark, Laura James

Laura James is Associate Professor in the Department of Culture and Learning at Aalborg University in Denmark. Laura is a long time friend of the RSA and has been on the RSA Nordic Division (NoRSA) Board for many years. She replaces Henrik Halkier who steps down after many years representing Denmark as the RSA Ambassador.

Read a welcome message from Laura below:

Kære RSA-medlem,

Som dansk ambassdør for RSA er min rolle at profilere vores aktiviteter i Danmark og bidrage til at du får mest muligt ud af de mange muligheder for netværks-aktiviteter, videns-udveksling og publikation, som bliver organiseret inden for foreningen. Aktiveterne bliver drevet af medlemmerne, og hvis du har en ide til et nyt initiativ – f.eks. et seminar eller et forskningsnetværk – er du meget velkommen til at kontakte mig.

De bedste hilsner

Laura James

Dear RSA member, As the Danish ambassador for RSA, my role is to profile our activities in Denmark and help you get the most out of the many opportunities for networking activities, knowledge exchange and publication, which are organized within the association. The activities are run by the members, and if you have an idea for a new initiative – e.g. a seminar or a research network – you are very welcome to contact me.

Best wishes,
Laura James

Upcoming Events

2023 RSA Annual Conference Special Sessions – Call for Papers

2023 RSA Annual Conference “Transforming Regions: Policies and Planning for People and Places” – Ljubljana, Slovenia – 14 June 2023

The Regional Studies Association’s Annual Conference 2023 #RSA23 will be our largest knowledge exchange and networking gathering in 2023. It is being held in partnership with the School of Economics and Business, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia. This four-day conference brings together academics and policymakers to exchange news, views and research findings from the fields of regional studies and science, regional and economic development, policy and planning.  There will be representation from around 50 different global territories as we gather both established experts and early career researchers in the beautiful city of Ljubljana.

As part of the 2023 RSA Annual Conference, there will be a number of Special Sessions running throughout the academic programme. The RSA Ambassador to Denmark, Laura James, is one of the organisers of SS33: Regional Industrial Path Development and Restructuring – Assets, Agency, and Policy

Session Description:
Economic downturns, climate change, political instabilities, and other global challenges are placing major transformative pressures on regions, which need to continuously adapt their structures and functions to remain competitive. Regional industrial restructuring has become a central concern among researchers and policy makers interested in regional development. Regional industrial restructuring is typically seen as a process by which local companies diversify into new fields, relying on a new combination of skills, knowledge and other assets accumulated in the past. While early theories have mostly considered firms and their knowledge assets, a lively academic debate has recently emerged around various drivers and mechanisms for new path development, including policy, change agency, public and private demand, institutional and innovative entrepreneurship, local and non-local knowledge linkages, and other types of firm- and system-level assets. The purpose of this special session is to advance our understanding of economic, social, and environmental transformation of regions, by focussing on assets, agency, and policy. We are interested in drivers, hinders, processes and mechanisms for regional industrial restructuring and new path development. We welcome theoretical contribution as well as empirical studies, especially, but not exclusively, from the Nordic territory.

The special session has three main objectives:
(1) to advance existing theories on regional industrial path development, with a particular focus on assets, agency, and policy,
(2) to introduce new methodological approaches to analyse and understand regional path development and structural change, and
(3) to provide empirical evidence on drivers, hinders, processes and mechanisms for regional industrial restructuring in different geographical settings.

This is an open session organised by Nordic Division of the RSA (NoRSA).

Session Organisers:
Roman Martin, University of Gothenburg, Sweden
Laura James, Aalborg University, Denmark
Markku Sotarauta, Tampere University, Finland
Marte Cecilie Wilhelmsen Solheim, University of Stavanger, Norway
Martin Henning, University of Gothenburg, Sweden

Please submit your abstract via the conference portal and indicate that you are joining the Special
Session SS33. The abstract submission deadline is 28th February 2023.
Website: https://www.regionalstudies.org/news/2023-rsa-annual-special-sessions

Click here for more information on this call: RSA Annual Conference 2023 – NoRSA Special Session CfP

Click here for more information on the 2023 RSA Annual Conference “Transforming Regions: Policies and Planning for People and Places” Ljubljana, Slovenia
14 June 2023.

Some books and articles on regional studies in Denmark