The Travel Award from the Regional Studies Association has been used to help cover the cost of travel expenses for attending the National Convention of the American Association for Advancement of Slavic Studies which took place in Philadelphia, PA, between the 20th and 23rd November 2008. This is a major academic event focussing on research on central and Eastern Europe attracting more than 1,800 scholars and experts.
Participation in this event provided me with an excellent opportunity to disseminate the findings of my ongoing PhD research on the impact of the EU Structural Funds on the regional policy actors in Poland. The paper was presented as part of the panel on policy making in Eastern and Central Europe and spurred an interesting and insightful debate on regional development in this region. I believe that the feedback on my findings which I received as part of the panel ad well as the contacts I fostered throughout the conference will be helpful in completion of my thesis and future research.
The award was used entirely for the travel expenses, that is transfer to and from the airports (by car and bus), flights and local transports in the USA (subway). As the travel award from the RSA is up to £200, the remainder of expenses mentioned in the form was covered with funding from my institution as well as my own budget.
I would like to express my gratitude for the RSA for its support without which my participationin the confoerence would not be possible