A workshop was held in the Court Senate Suite on January 17 to mark the retirement of Professor Kim Swales (Fraser of Allander Institute, Department of Economics). Sixty delegates from across academia and policy attended a day of presentations from leading international figures in regional economics.
Introducing the workshop, Professor Peter McGregor (Head of Department of Economics) extended a warm welcome to Kim's colleagues from the academic and policy communities, noting that, "We are here to celebrate Kim's outstanding contribution to regional economic analysis during a career that has spanned four decades. His research has been, and continues to be, marked by the highest standards of academic rigour, but while theory-informed, was invariably marked by its direct relevance to contemporaneous policy debates. Furthermore, Kim had championed pro-active knowledge exchange long before the term had gained its current usage, in part through his long-term contributions to the British and Irish Regional Science Association, and reflected most recently in his Advisory role within the Office of the Chief Economic Adviser. Despite his retirement Kim continues to exert a very influential role on FAI's wide portfolio of research projects, which are funded from a variety of prestigious external sources."
Presentations were made by Graeme Roy (Head of the Office of the Chief Economic Adviser, Scottish Government) and professors from a range of Higher Education Institutions, including: Peter Batey (University of Liverpool), Jack Parr (University of Glasgow), Calvin Jones ( University of Cardiff), Geoff Hewings (University of Illinois), Karen Turner (Heriot Watt University), Deborah Roberts (University of Aberdeen and James Hutton Institute). The day culminated in Kim presenting a paper on economic modelling of the impact of the Commonwealth Games, followed by an extremely enjoyable social event and dinner.