The 61st Congress of the European Regional Science Association (ERSA) takes place in Pécs, Hungary from August 22-26. The 61st ERSA Congress entitled “Disparities in a Digitalising (Post-Covid) world - Networks, Entrepreneurship and Regional Development” hosts a large variety of themes in entrepreneurship, social-economic, regional-urban economics, regional development and regional policy topics, including local governance and institutions. With approximately 800 participants every year from all continents, the ERSA Congresses have become the largest academic conferences in regional science worldwide.
The last two conferences were held online with remarkable success. This year the Congress returned to in-person participation, complemented with online and hybrid sessions. The agenda comprises approximately 400 on-site presentations at Pécs and 314 online sessions featuring close to 40 topics and numerous special sessions. Following the traditions of ERSA, the Congress pays special attention to young and early career researchers with several online and on-site events and sessions dedicated specifically to them. The Institute for Regional Studies of the ELKH Centre for Economic and Regional Studies (KRTK RKI), the Faculty of Business and Economics of the University of Pécs and the Hungarian Regional Science Association are the local co-organizers of the event. Zoltán Gál serves as the Co-Chair of the Local Organising Committee (LOC) and Balázs Páger is the Secretary of the LOC, both colleagues of KRTK RKI. The researchers of the Institute hold more than 40 online and on-site presentations and serve as chairs or co-chairs in almost 20 sessions.
The Congress has also the ambition to strengthen the fruitful co-operation with international organisations and institutions, e.g. the European Commission and the OECD. ERSA has become a key point of interaction with these institutions, which is of utmost importance to enhancing the linkage between science and policy, leading to higher societal relevance of regional science research and increasing impact of regional and local policies.
More information and the Agenda of the Congress is available here.