About Us
The Centre for Urban and Regional Development Studies (CURDS) is a major research hub in this field.
CURDS is based in the School of Geography, Politics and Sociology
Its aims are to produce academically rigorous and policy relevant research in urban and regional change, development and policy. Since its establishment in 1977, CURDS has generated over 拢35 million of research income from:
- national research councils
- public and private bodies
- international organisations
- UK national, local and regional government and institutions
CURDS contributed to Geography鈥檚 submission to the UK鈥檚 Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2021. It ranked a remarkable 95% of research in Geography and Environmental Studies at 缅北禁地 as 鈥榳orld leading鈥� (40%) or 鈥榠nternationally excellent鈥� (55%) in originality, significance and rigour.
CURDS provided two of Geography鈥檚 five Impact Case Studies for REF 2021. Looking at 鈥榠mproving subnational economic development in the UK鈥� and 鈥榮etting international standards for official labour market boundaries鈥�.
Our history
John Goddard pioneered the University's Centre for Urban and Regional Development Studies in 1977.
It aimed to bring together academics and others interested in furthering understanding of urban and regional development problems.
Since then, among other achievements, CURDS has gone on to:
- generate about £30m in research income from a wide range of national and international sources
- engage more than 160 staff, many who now occupy leading policy and academic positions
- award more than 50 PhDs for research, with 100 graduating from our Master's programmes
- be ranked one of the most influential places globally for study of economic geography
- receive the 2011 Regional Studies Association’s inaugural Institutional Award
In addition to John Goddard, there are now 27 people associated with CURDS who have gone on to be awarded professorial positions, with six still at CURDS.
Past achievements
In addition, we have produced our CURDS 1977-2016 timeline (PDF: 1.7MB) booklet, providing a year-by-year summary of our research projects, publications and researchers.