Lancaster University, Lancaster LA1 4YD, UK.
E-mail: ias@lancaster.ac.uk

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Major Research Activities

Current interdisciplinary research projects which are either affiliated to the IAS or have been supported by initial seed-corn funding from the IAS include:

UK-China Networks of "Low Carbon" Innovation

Research staff:

• James Wilsdon - Royal Society of Arts
• David Tyfield - IAS/Sociology
• John Urry - Sociology
• Brian Wynne - Sociology/CESAGen

Funder: ESRC/AIM Targeted Initiative on Innovation

ESRC Seminar Series

Changing Cultures of Competitiveness: Conceptual and Policy Issues

Research staff: Ngai-Ling Sum - Politics & International Relations

Funder: ESRC

This series of six seminars will cover the following themes:

• Theme 1 - Cultures of Competitiveness: Discourses and Knowledge Brands
• Theme 2 - Financialization of Competitiveness
• Theme 3 - Competitiveness, Global Production and Labour Relations
• Theme 4 - Changing Cultures of Competitiveness in Education
• Theme 5 - Changing Cultures of Competitiveness: Social and Environmental Dimensions
• Theme 6 - Social Exclusion and Socially-Creative Spaces

These timely themes are selected because they:

(i) reflect 'changing cultures of competitiveness'; and (ii) represent a range of areas in which competitiveness, its preconditions, and its effects are significant.

The first theme explores the branding of distinct bodies of knowledge and practice concerned with competitiveness. It provides a distinctive framing for themes 2-3, each of which deals with a substantive area for which competitiveness is central and each of which is organized by relevant experts who will be able to mobilize their own networks to the advantage of all participants. The final three themes reflect the social dimensions of competitiveness and act as observatories to examine the political and policy implications of 'changing cultures of competitiveness'.

The series' main aim is to provide a context for presenting and promoting interdisciplinary ana-lyses of 'competitiveness' as a body of knowledge and related policy.

Full details can be found on the seminar series website.