Levelling Up Left Behind Places (PDF)

Ron Martin is Emeritus Professor of Economic Geography at the University of Cambridge, UK, and Emeritus Professorial Fellow of St Catharine's College, Cambridge, UK. From 2015 to 2020 he was President of the Regional Studies Association. He is also a Research Associate of the Centre for Business Research, Judge Business School, University of Cambridge, UK. Ron has published some 25 books and more than 275 journal papers on economic geography, regional and urban development, the economic resilience of regions and cities, the geographies of money and finance, and spatial policy. He has undertaken research for the European Commission, the OECD, the UK Government, and national and regional institutions. He is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences, and a Fellow of the British Academy. In 2016 he was awarded the Royal Geographical Society's Victoria Gold Medal for his 'outstanding contributions to economic geography'. In 2018 he was selected as a 'Highly Cited Researcher' by the Web of Science.

Ben Gardiner is a Director and Chief Operating Officer of Cambridge Econometrics (CE), Cambridge, UK. He holds a Doctorate in Economic Geography from the University of Cambridge. His interests are in regional and city economic growth across Europe, regional productivity, and the economic resilience of regions and cities. He has been involved with several ESRC projects on regional and city economic growth and transformation. For several years, he was a Research Associate in the Department of Geography, University of Cambridge, and has also worked for the European Commission (DG JRC-Seville) on their regional 'RHOMOLO Model' of Cohesion Funds.

Andy Pike is the Henry Daysh Professor of Regional Development Studies, Newcastle University, UK. From 2012-2017, he was Director of the Centre for Urban and Regional Development Studies (CURDS), Newcastle University. His research interests, publications and research projects are focused on the geographical political