Transforming regions: When the most prominent mind gather at SEB

On Friday, 16  June, at the School of Economics and Business Ljubljana the astonishing RSA conference gathering was happening, hosting the largest researchers’ networking and knowledge exchange in 2023. There were more than 500 presentations and high-profile plenary speakers, several specially convened sessions and workshops, and of course plenty of time for networking sessions. Starting from June 14 and running until June 17, the 2023 RSA Annual Conference, Transforming Regions: Policies and Planning for People and Places took place at SEB LJ. Four days when the most prominent minds in the field of regional transformation presented research, developed ideas and simply networked.

“My impression is that the conference is really informal and I like that because it’s easy to approach whoever, everybody is talking to everybody. I come from a background of risk- and environmental studies and environmental issues and sustainability are connected to many of the presentations. My topic is transformative learning, so I wanted to come here to present it and discuss it.” said Kristin Gustafsson, Lecturer and PhD student in Risk and Environmental Studies Karlstad University, Sweden.

Gaia Matilde Ripamonti, PhD research fellow from the University of Trieste, who was just about to present her research on the relationship between Italian regions and national governments was happy to share that “I expect to receive nice feedback because it is my first time at this kind of conference and it is the first time for me where everybody is merging the same topics as mine, so I think they are the experts, not me. I am very curious about it.“

Olga Shevchenko, department head and lecturer at Kyiv National Economics University, who came to the conference to present her research in regional inequalities and has been at the RSA conference many times before, was happy to share with us, “I like this format, it’s mixed and balanced between sitting and listening and ‘speaking, speaking, speaking’. And it’s not like a normal one-day conference, it’s four days, it’s beautiful.” When asked what the best thing about it is, besides presenting the research, she replied “I think, new ideas for my articles, and new friends, colleagues and new ideas on how to travel next year.“

On the main point of participating in the conference like this, besides presenting his research, dr. Johan Miörner from Lund University in Sweden added “It’s kind of getting a sense of what is going on in this community, I think most of us have one foot here and one foot there and it is really nice to get a sense of what is going on, and you can see how some key topics move through the field. For example, the aspect of sustainability is very prominent this year …”

Danica Tajčman, EFnews

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