Newcastle Business School academic Dr Lee Pugalis has been appointed as new Early Career Editor to the editorial board of the flagship Open Access journal Regional Studies, Regional Science.
Launched in November 2013 by the Regional Studies Association, the journal offers a unique ‘mentored paper’ route for its early career members, where contributors are assigned a named editor and work with the editor intensively to prepare the manuscript before it undergoes an editorial review process.
Lee joins the existing team of Paul Benneworth, Paul Braidford, Sabrina Lai and Marijana Sumpor. Having joined Northumbria University, Newcastle, in 2010 as a Senior Lecturer in Urban Theory & Practice, Lee secured a Readership in 2013. He is the founding chair of the Research group for Economic Development, Innovation and Entrepreneurship (REDIE) which comprises a multidisciplinary team of academics, entrepreneurs and policymakers from around the world.
His primary research interests focus on state spatial strategies, territorial development and entrepreneurial governance. Preceding his move to academia, Lee worked for local, regional and national government, and continues to be active in initiatives that seek to promote social justice and shape territorial development policy.
He is also a World Social Science Fellow and an expert advisor to the Assembly of European Regions.
Dr Pugalis said: “The Regional Studies Association continues to break new ground in regional development policy and scholarship. The new interdisciplinary journal; Regional Studies, Regional Science is no exception. As an open access journal, distinguished by its mentored submission route for early career researchers, it truly represents the future of regional development study. I am therefore absolutely delighted to be joining the Editorial Team and particularly proud to be given an opportunity to provide specific mentoring and guidance for early career submissions.
"As an Early Careers Paper Editor, I look forward to helping to develop Regional Studies, Regional Science as the preeminent medium for early career scholarship; irrespective of epistemic, disciplinary or professional affiliations.”
Paul Benneworth, lead editor of the Early Career Editorial Team added: “We are delighted that we are able to strengthen our team by adding Lee. We have had a very successful first year, already publishing eight papers through this route and with another seven planned.
"Our unique mentored paper approach demands a high level of editorial input and we are delighted to be able to augment our board with a highly committed scholar with the skill-set to help our authors best communicate their message to our demanding readership. His extensive experience in practice will undoubtedly bring an additional perspective to the mentoring process and help us to provide the best platform for our authors in voicing their contributions in the field of regional studies.”
Lee’s term runs in the first instance from 1 January 2015 to 31 December 2017, and the first papers which he will mentor are planned to appear in Autumn 2015.
To submit a paper proposal to the Regional Studies, Regional Science mentored paper route, consult the call for abstracts. For informal inquiries about the Early Career section, contact Paul Benneworth. For general queries about Regional Studies, Regional Science, contact the Alasdair Rae, Editor-in-Chief.
