Placecast Podcast Por City-REDI University of Birmingham arte de portada

Placecast

Placecast

De: City-REDI University of Birmingham
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Welcome to Placecast, a Local Policy Innovation Partnership Hub production based at the University of Birmingham.

Placecast is essential listening for those keen to explore the ins and outs of knowledge mobilisation for influence in central and local government, based on the view that it is only through animating the power of place-based leadership that the wicked problems of 2025 can become more manageable.


Whether you're a researcher, citizen scientist, an activist, a professional working within the public sector, a civil servant, politician, analyst or entrepreneur we think that it is through our networks that most solutions can be assembled, tested, and the learning shared before we go again and that universities can act as the repositories and observatories of these efforts. We are based in City-REDI and rooted in the LPIP programme funded by the ESRC and Innovate UK.


This podcast aims to highlight knowledge and evidence-based ways of working and the strategies needed to make a real impact on the decisions that shape our society.


Our guests are changemakers from across the UK, with stories about how influence can be achieved. We focus in particular on some of the connective tissue within and between sectors for clues as to how to animate place-based leadership, as innovating is a team sport, best done in the open.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

City-REDI, University of Birmingham
Ciencia Política Economía Política y Gobierno
Episodios
  • Placecast Eps 12: Long Games and Local Places: How Rural Policy Really Changes
    Mar 17 2026

    In the latest episode of Placecast, Professor Michael Woods, Director of the Cymru Wledig LPIP (Rural Wales), offers a rich and thoughtful journey through Welsh devolution, rural policy, and the power of deeply embedded place-based research. It’s a conversation that blends decades of academic insight with a grounded understanding of how communities, policymakers, and researchers mutually shape one another.


    Placecast is a Local Policy Innovation Partnership (LPIP) Hub production based at City-REDI, University of Birmingham. Our new podcast is essential listening for those keen to explore the ins and outs of knowledge mobilisation for influence in central and local government, based on the view that it’s only through animating the power of place-based leadership that the wicked problems of 2026 can become more manageable.




    Guest speakers

    Professor Michael Woods is the Director of the Cymru Wledig LPIP (Rural Wales), the Local Policy and Innovation Partnership for Rural Wales. It connects academic researchers, public bodies, third and private sector organisations and communities to enhance the use of research and innovation to support effective policy-making, sustainable regional development, and the wellbeing of people and places across rural Wales.


    Michael Woods joined Aberystwyth University as a Lecturer in Human Geography in 1996, became Professor in 2008, and has since held major leadership roles, including Director of the Institute of Geography and Earth Sciences and Professor of Transformative Social Science. A leading rural and political geographer, he co-directs WISERD@Aberystwyth, has led major international projects such as the ERC-funded GLOBAL-RURAL and Horizon 2020 IMAJINE, and previously co-directed the Wales Rural Observatory. He is Editor of the Journal of Rural Studies, a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences and the Learned Society of Wales, and an award‑winning researcher with visiting posts in China, Slovenia and Australia, as well as service on the Welsh Government’s Independent Review of Student Finance.


    Find out more about Michael



    Host

    Dr Nicola Headlam has over 20 years of experience working across all aspects of the multi-helix innovation system, including central and local government, civil society and campaigning, academic research and knowledge mobilisation, and industry. Along the way, she has honed her expertise in urban and regional subnational economic development, the roles of government in shaping place, and in utilising data and evidence for transformation.


    In 2024, she became a freelance economic advisor on the role of leadership and partnerships, urban and living lab forms for research, future of cities and foresighting methods, urban transformations, place-branding and urban regeneration and the spatial consequences of public policy.


    Find out more about the LPIP Hub.


    Transcript from the podcast

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    Más Menos
    46 m
  • Placecast podcast - Episode Eleven - How Yorkshire Is Rewiring Civic–Academic Collaboration: A Conversation with Kersten England
    Feb 24 2026

    In the latest episode of Placecast, Dr Nicola Headlam sits down with one of the UK’s most respected place‑based leaders: Kersten England, former Chief Executive of Bradford and York, Chair of the Young Foundation, and Co‑Investigator on the Yorkshire Policy Innovation Partnership (YPIP).


    Across a rich, wide‑ranging conversation, Kersten reflects on her 30‑year career in local government, her early academic foundations, and the lessons she’s learned about building alliances, mobilising evidence, and rewiring the relationship between universities and place.


    Placecast is a Local Policy Innovation Partnership (LPIP) Hub production based at City-REDI, University of Birmingham. Our new podcast is essential listening for those keen to explore the ins and outs of knowledge mobilisation for influence in central and local government, based on the view that it’s only through animating the power of place-based leadership that the wicked problems of 2026 can become more manageable.



    Guest speakers

    Kersten England CBE is the former Chief Executive of Bradford and York, Chair of the Young Foundation, and Co‑Investigator on the Yorkshire Policy Innovation Partnership (YPIP).


    Passionate about building community, social justice, equality, diversity and healthy democratic practice, her career over four decades has included work in the voluntary and community sector, higher education, central government and more than 30 years in local government.


    Find out more about Kersten



    Host

    Dr Nicola Headlam has over 20 years of experience working across all aspects of the multi-helix innovation system, including central and local government, civil society and campaigning, academic research and knowledge mobilisation, and industry. Along the way, she has honed her expertise in urban and regional subnational economic development, the roles of government in shaping place, and in utilising data and evidence for transformation.


    In 2024, she became a freelance economic advisor on the role of leadership and partnerships, urban and living lab forms for research, future of cities and foresighting methods, urban transformations, place-branding and urban regeneration and the spatial consequences of public policy.



    Find out more about the LPIP Hub.


    Transcript from the podcast

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    Más Menos
    1 h y 2 m
  • Placecast Podcast - Episode Ten - What the UK Can Learn from Japan: Local Governance, Finance, and Place Leadership
    Jan 14 2026

    In this episode of Placecast, Nicola Headlam speaks with Abigail Taylor (City-REDI) and Jeff Matsu (City-REDI Fellow) about their groundbreaking comparative research on governance and fiscal devolution between Japan and the UK. Their work, supported by international partnerships and field visits to Osaka and Tokyo, offers fresh insights into how decentralisation and collaborative leadership can shape better outcomes for regions.


    Placecast is a Local Policy Innovation Partnership (LPIP) Hub production based at City-REDI, University of Birmingham. It is essential listening for those keen to explore the ins and outs of knowledge mobilisation for influence in central and local government, based on the view that it’s only through animating the power of place-based leadership that the wicked problems of 2026 can become more manageable.




    Guest speakers

    Jeffrey Matsu is a former Chief Economist at the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) and a Fellow at the Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford. He is a City-REDI Fellow and is also on the Delivery Team for the Local Policy Innovation Partnership Hub.


    With extensive experience in connecting policy with practice through evidence-based research, he works with partner governments, accountancy bodies and the public sector around the world to advance public finance and support better public services.


    Jeff holds degrees in economics from the University of Washington and Johns Hopkins University.


    View Jeff’s LinkedIn profile

    Dr Abigail Taylor is a Research Fellow at City-REDI, University of Birmingham, and leads on several themes for the Local Policy Innovation Partnership (LPIP) Hub. Abigail’s research interests lie in regional and local labour markets, skills, institutions, employment support policy and place. Sub-interests include future skills mismatches, lifelong learning, funding flows and governance structures. Abigail has extensive experience in comparative international research.


    View Abigail’s online profile




    Host


    Dr Nicola Headlam has over 20 years of experience working across all aspects of the multi-helix innovation system, including central and local government, civil society and campaigning, academic research and knowledge mobilisation, and industry. Along the way, she has honed her expertise in urban and regional subnational economic development, the roles of government in shaping place, and in utilising data and evidence for transformation.


    In 2024, she became a freelance economic advisor on the role of leadership and partnerships, urban and living lab forms for research, future of cities and foresighting methods, urban transformations, place-branding and urban regeneration and the spatial consequences of public policy.


    Find out more about the LPIP Hub.


    Transcript from the podcast

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    Más Menos
    46 m
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