Levelling up? Implications and impacts of changing geopolitical landscapes for the UK's economic geography

This Fellowship aims to provide independent analysis of the changing nature of the UK's economic geography as it responds to a number of significant geopolitical changes including

- the new post-Brexit UK-EU trading relationship and the UK's evolving trade strategy with other countries outside the EU
- changes in global supply chains, partly related to Brexit but also shaped by the ongoing post-Covid economic recovery
- energy price shocks related to the war in Ukraine
- political commitments to deliver a net zero economy by 2050.

Not all of these developments are unique to the UK. However, the particularities of the UK economy means that its response differs in important ways to other international comparators.

In particular, the Fellowship examines how these geopolitical changes are impacting the UK economy in regionally uneven ways. This is important because recent figures from the Office for National Statistics show that between January and March 2022 London's economy grew by 1.2% but at the same time, all other regions apart from Northern Ireland are yet to recover to pre-pandemic levels. This suggests that the Government's ambitions to 'level up' the UK post Covid could be difficult to achieve with longstanding regional economic inequalities potentially become further entrenched.

In response, this Fellowship aims to provide independent and rigorous analysis of the regional implications of geopolitical changes on the UK's economic geography. The Fellowship will combine analysis of secondary reports, policy documents, social scientific research and official data with real time tracking of economic performance across the UK and in-depth qualitative research in five contrasting locations across the UK (Belfast, London, Milton Keynes, Teesside and Mansfield). By adopting a comparative approach, the Fellowship will be able to evaluate what lessons can be learnt from different regional development policies and suggest ways in which policy interventions can be best developed to address the UK's uneven economic geography in the future.

The Fellowship aims to

1. Synthesise understandings of the impacts of the UK's changing geopolitical landscape for its economic economy

2. Chart the ongoing changes in the regional development of the UK economy in real time

3. Transfer and disseminate knowledge, analysis and understanding to a range of stakeholders within the UK and internationally including politicians, journalists, civil servants, local policy makers, businesses, civil society and the UK public thereby raising the profile of UK social science

4. Enhance and extend the work of the UKICE hub beyond London to the regions, working closely with the Director, UKICE's office and other fellows

The Fellowship will involve working closely with a range of stakeholders at the national and local level as well as members of the UK in a Changing Europe research network. This includes the Cabinet Office, the Treasury, the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, the City of London Corporation, the London Assembly, The Midlands Engine, Local Economic Partnerships and the Department for the Economy, Northern Ireland.

Outcomes will be shared and discussed with policymakers, practitioners, journalists, civil servants and the wider public through: a state of the art report on the UK's contemporary economic geography, regular blog and social media reports, seminars across the UK and materials for Schools. Findings will also be shared with interdisciplinary academic audiences in economic geography, sociology, international political economy and British politics through a series of peer reviewed academic papers.