University of Bath
School of Management
DARE Graduate School a big success
The annual DARE Graduate School in Economic Governance, Development and Public Policy, which was held for the first time at the School of Management this year, ended on Saturday with a workshop in which the students and academics presented their research on economic governance and development issues.
The Graduate School and Workshop were hosted by Business Economists, Dr Rob Branston and Dr Phil Tomlinson from the School of Management, while other School of Management faculty involved included Dr Alan Butt Philip and Dr Tina Chang. The students also attended lectures given by visiting academics from the Universities of Warwick and Birmingham, Centroamericana de Managua (Nicaragua), Rovira i Virgili (Spain), Tlazcala (Mexico), and Valparaiso (Chile).
The feedback on the School and workshop has been very positive, with a number of students commenting that the week has helped them in determining the focus of their PhD research and in developing new research networks and making new friends. Moreover, the students and visiting academics were very impressed with the School of Management and its hospitality, and the City of Bath proved a popular venue.
Co-Host Phil Tomlinson, commented:
“We’re delighted with the success of the first DARE Graduate School here at Bath. The school had a real international flavour, with both the student and academic participants representing over 20 different nationalities. A pleasing feature of the school was the way in which the students worked together on their team projects, sharing their different experiences and research interests. Their Workshop presentations on Saturday were excellent and reflected the growing interest in the issues of development and democracy in the global economy. Hopefully, the Graduate School has helped in nurturing future research networks (and worthwhile research) in this important and topicalarea’.
Notes to Editors
DARE (Democratic Communities in Academic Research on Economic
Development) is a community of academic and academic-related faculty focused on
understanding the possibilities for democratic economic development. Our aims
are:
- To co-ordinate and undertake research and learning in boundary spanning economic analysis of democratic development
- To increase knowledge on what it means to be democratic in the academic context, and to act on that knowledge by seeking democracy in our community
Many members of the community have been working together since the mid 1990s. We are concerned with the generation and diffusion of ideas, ways of thinking and knowledge. We use processes that are rooted in the experience and expertise of different localities, nations and generations, reflecting the variety in community members. Economics is viewed in its wide sense, encompassing ‘heterodox’ and ‘mainstream’ approaches. No deliberate limits are placed on the use of particular research methods, and eclecticism in methods and discipline is encouraged. Our objectives include:
- To nurture the intrinsic creativity of each participant in the community’s activities
- To provide a sympathetic yet challenging research and learning environment that emphasises participants’ creative interaction
Among DARE’s particular projects an evolving set of inter-related Graduate Schools is especially prominent. These build on, and take forward to the next stage, the extensive experience in designing and coordinating schools that members of the community have acquired over the last decade. A rationale underlying development of the Schools is that the open minds of new and emerging researchers are the lifeblood of creative and dynamic academic activity. Not least, young researchers and doctoral students are ideally placed to develop and nurture democratic, multi-locality and multinational academic activity in the future, especially through the institutions and localities in which they will interact in their subsequent careers.