Professor Hall’s fellowship will analyse the uneven nature of the economy across UK regions and how they are impacted by significant global economic changes. Professor Hall will analyse policy interventions aimed at supporting local economies, including today’s announcement regarding the second round of funding from the government’s levelling up fund.

Her research will examine a number of locations, including Mansfield (Nottinghamshire), Belfast and Teesside to understand how firms and households are responding to changes in the UK economy such as Brexit and the cost of living crisis.

Professor Hall has also been appointed as Deputy Director of UKICE, where she intends to expand the organisation's connections to the wider social scientific communities and policy audiences.

Dr Sarah Hall, Professor of Economic Geography in the School of Geography at the University of Nottingham said:

We know that the UK economy is being affected by a number of changes: the post-Brexit UK-EU trading relationship and the UK’s evolving trade strategy with other countries, changes in global supply chains (partly related to Brexit but also shaped by the ongoing Covid economic recovery), energy price shocks related to the war in Ukraine, and political commitments to deliver a net zero economy by 2050.

The implications of these geopolitical changes for the UK economy are often the source of intense public and political debate. This Fellowship will provide impartial, accessible knowledge about these issues, grounded in social scientific research that is accessible to policy makers, businesses and the wider public.

Given the fact that the UK has been identified as the most uneven national economy within the G7, and the government is committed to a policy of ‘levelling up’, it is particularly important that such analysis includes regional and local scale analysis.

Find out more: Read the press release