On November 7th, the Regional Policy Research Center and CHINA REAL laboratory invited Professor Geoffrey J.D. Hewings to our University.
Hewings, a famous regional economist and director of the Regional Economics Laboratory (REAL) of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, was appointed as Honorary Director of the CHINA REAL laboratory and Adjunct Professor of our College.
Professor Hewings is currently a tenured professor at the UIUC and has served as President, Executive Director and Executive Secretary of the Regional Science Association International in the past. In 1989, Hewings founded the Regional Economics Applications Laboratory (REAL), a graduate students research center in regional science. Since then, it has become a well-known institution in Regional Economics, which has established a global scientific research network with several countries (UK, Spain, Brazil). In 2003, Prof. Hewings won the Walter Isard Award for distinguished scholarly achievements in the field of Regional Science. The Regional Science Association International created an award called the Geoffrey J.D. Hewings Junior Scholar Award, to reward young scholars who have made outstanding contributions.
Our Regional Economics laboratory has been constantly improving its internationalization and focusing on expanding its cooperation network. So far, our laboratory has been cooperating with Columbia University, Washington State University, Tokohu University (Japan) as well as other institutions. Having UIUC among our cooperation partners surely will enhance the work of our Regionals Economics laboratory.
