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Middlesex researchers to evaluate the major economic and business policy impacts of the English European Regional Development Fund

30/07/2018
Middlesex University Business School academics to evaluate one of the largest economic and business policy initiatives in England: the £2.8 billion English European Development Fund (2014-20)

Dr Robyn Owen, Associate Professor in the Centre for Enterprise and Economic Development Research (CEEDR), will head up Middlesex University’s involvement in this £1.9m project in collaboration with lead organisation Regeneris and other partners including Belmana and BMG Research.

Commenting on the research, Dr Robyn Owen from CEEDR said:

“We are obviously delighted to be awarded this contract.  The Middlesex University Business School was chosen because of our world class expertise in evaluation of large scale projects and also because of our knowledge on economic priority areas such as SMEs, social inclusion and environmental impacts.

“At a time of uncertainty with regards to European funding, this project will be an important part of justifying ongoing business support policy.”

This exciting project also brings together a range of staff from across the Business School including Dr Michaela Vecchi, Dr Ioannis Bourkakis, Dr Suman Lodh, Dr Ian Vickers, Dr Geraldine Brennan and Professor Fergus Lyon. The project builds on their prior research and also the initial work on evaluation approaches by Dr James Derbyshire and others.

"The Middlesex Business School was chosen because of our world class expertise in evaluation of large scale projects and also because of our knowledge on economic priority areas such as SMEs, social inclusion and environmental impacts."  Dr Robyn Owen from the Middlesex University Centre for Enterprise and Economic Development Research (CEEDR)

This National Evaluation will begin in August 2018, providing interim and final reports in the period 2018-2021. CEEDR will have a major role to play in the evaluation of eight key priority axes of the national programme including innovation, SME competitiveness, low carbon economy and social inclusion.

The Middlesex project team will play a key role in developing and undertaking econometric analysis for the impact evaluation elements. Dr Robyn Owen, will lead on qualitative case study work informing both process and impact evaluations throughout the research.

Find out more about the Centre for Enterprise and Economic Development Research (CEEDR)

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