ESRC launches Productivity Insights Network
The establishment of a new UK interdisciplinary research network was announced today by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC).
The Productivity Insights Network, led by the University of Sheffield, involves nearly 10 universities from across England, Scotland and Wales including the University of Leeds. The Business School's Professor Gary Dymski is Co-Investigator on the project.
The Network aims to improve our understanding of the factors affecting UK productivity, informing the development of new strategies and research.
As well as providing leadership and being a forum for collaboration, the network will:
- Pull together interdisciplinary research groups and other networks in academia, policy-making and business
- Promote the use of innovative methods
- Develop a series of small-scale studies
- Complement (and collaborate with) existing research agendas, whether or not they are ESRC-funded
- Contribute to policy development
- Run small scale competitions to allocate funding to academics outside of the network to undertake relevant projects.
Professor Gary Dymski said:
This ESRC initiative will be taking on the challenge of understanding the roots of our productivity crisis, and considering how to build an inclusive, regionally-balanced UK economy fit for the future. I look forward to working closely with principal-investigators Phil McCann and Tim Vorley, and I am especially pleased that Leeds' own Dr Nick Williams of our Centre for Enterprise and Entrepreneurship Studies will play a key role in this effort.
The Productivity Insights Network is an ambitious initiative, co-producing new research-based insights with public, private and third sector partners. It will provide the government with a deeper understanding of the main causes of low productivity in the UK and how to stimulate productivity growth to make the biggest impact.
The support of the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) is gratefully acknowledged.
