Professor Philip McCann joins TPI headquarters

One of the most highly cited regional economists globally, Professor Philip McCann, has joined the headquarters of The Productivity Institute, being appointed Chair of Urban and Regional Economics at Alliance Manchester Business School. He takes up his post on 1 July this year.

Professor McCann is already the ‘Geography and Place’ theme leader at TPI which is exploring how the productivity differences between leading and lagging places have evolved in the UK, and how this relates to the provision of public services, health and educational outcomes. The research is specifically investigating the reasons for the mixed performance of interventions, comparing them with international practices.

He is currently Professor of Urban and Regional Economics at the University of Sheffield Management School, while he is also an Associate Faculty Member at the Blavatnik School of Government at the University of Oxford and an Honorary Professor of Economic Geography at the University of Groningen.

Said Professor McCann: “I am totally delighted to be joining the TPI team at the Alliance Manchester Business School. The recent Levelling Up White Paper demonstrates the centrality of regional productivity challenges in our national economic questions, and joining Manchester will allow my work on these issues to be scaled up even further. It is a very exciting time for me.”

Bart van Ark, Professor of Productivity Studies and Director of The Productivity Institute, said: “We are very pleased that Philip is joining The Productivity Institute’s headquarters at Alliance Manchester Business School. As former Co-Director of the Productivity Insights network and current lead of the Geography and Place theme, his contributions have already had a distinct impact on the Institute’s activities. We envisage this to be further strengthened with this appointment.”