Category Archives: PhD

Retail Focused Funded PhD Available – Suburban Mobility: Shopping and Older People

Posted on July 1, 2019 by Leigh Sparks

A fully funded three year PhD is available for Autumn 2019 start. This research project explores features of the retail environment that enable older people to use local neighbourhood and high street shops as well as participate and keep mobile in … Continue reading →

Posted in Academics, Ageing, Architecture, Community, Consumers, Design, Health, Healthy Ageing, High Streets, Older consumers, PhD, Places, Planning, Public Realm, Scotland's Town and High Streets, Shopping, Streets, Streetscapes, Town Centre Living, Town Centres, Towns, Uncategorized, University of Stirling | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Benefits of Collaboration

Posted on May 16, 2017 by Leigh Sparks

Last week I gave two presentations – well to be more exact I did that academic thing and did two versions of the same presentation.  The first was a presentation to a UKCGE workshop on Collaborative Doctorates; the audience was … Continue reading →

Posted in Academics, Collaboration, Competition and Markets Authority, Consumer Change, Data, ESRC, Local Data Company, PhD, Places, Retailing, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Fully Funded ESRC Collaborative PhD Studentship on Scottish convenience store retailing

Posted on April 29, 2016 by Leigh Sparks

  Three Year Fully Funded ESRC Collaborative PhD Studentship on ‘Scottish convenience store retailing; understanding local impacts and cost drivers to enhance performance’ – Now Open for Applications A few weeks ago I gave preliminary notice of our success in obtaining … Continue reading →

Posted in Academics, Association of Convenience Stores, Convenience stores, ESRC, Food Retailing, Independents, PhD, Retail Economy, Retailers, Scotland, Scottish Grocers Federation, Scottish Local Retailer, Sustainability, University of Stirling | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Announcement: ESRC PhD Studentship 2016

Posted on March 1, 2016 by Leigh Sparks

Fully Funded ESRC PhD on Scottish convenience store retailing; understanding local impacts and cost drivers to enhance performance Last week I had one of those great emails, bringing good news.  I had been successful again in the ESRC Scottish Graduate … Continue reading →

Posted in Academics, Association of Convenience Stores, Community Grocer, Convenience stores, Costs, ESRC, Food Retailing, Local Multiplier, Local Retailers, PhD, Retail Economy, Scottish Grocers Federation | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Retail Thought Leadership

Posted on May 20, 2015 by Leigh Sparks

Regular readers of this blog will know about the work we do with the Local Data Company (LDC). As a University we are not alone in this. A couple of weeks ago I attended the LDC/CDRC Retail Thought Leadership event … Continue reading →

Posted in Academics, Data, Education, ESRC, Local Data Company, PhD, Relationships, Retailers, Town Centres, Towns, Understanding Scottish Places, University of Stirling | Tagged , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

The Wrong Vocabulary?

Posted on March 3, 2015 by Leigh Sparks

One of the recurring themes within this blog, and some of the writings and papers it has reported on, is the inexactitude of many of the terms and concepts that we use in discussing retail change. Going beyond that, I … Continue reading →

Posted in Academics, Bill Grimsey, Community, ESRC, High Streets, Local Data Company, Mary Portas, PhD, Places, Scotland's Town and High Streets, Town Centre Review, Town Centres, Towns, Vacancies | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Pretty Vacant

Posted on December 5, 2014 by Leigh Sparks

              On the 2nd December we launched our second Retailing in Scotland’s Towns and Cities report, at what we hope will become an annual Retail Summit date in the calendar. Our partnership with the … Continue reading →

Posted in ESRC, Government, High Streets, Local Data Company, Longitudinal Data, PhD, Places, Retailers, Scotland's Town and High Streets, Scotland's Towns Partnership, Start-ups, Town Centre Action Plan, Town Centre Review, Town Centres, Towns, Vacancies | Tagged , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Fully Funded ESRC PhD Studentship Available

Posted on August 1, 2014 by Leigh Sparks

As I have blogged before, we have been successful in obtaining a fully-funded ESRC Phd Studentship to study Scotland’s Town Centres. This is a three year collaborative award with myself and Anne Findlay as the Academic Supervisors and Matthew Hopkinson … Continue reading →

Posted in ESRC, Local Data Company, PhD, Retailers, Scotland's Town and High Streets, Town Centres, Vacancies | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Three Year ESRC Collaborative PhD Studentship Open for Applications

Posted on April 27, 2014 by Leigh Sparks

A few weeks ago I gave preliminary notice of our success in obtaining an ESRC Phd Studentship to study Scotland’s Town Centres. This is a three year collaborative award with myself and Anne Findlay as the Academic Supervisors and Matthew … Continue reading →

Posted in High Streets, Local Data Company, Longitudinal Data, PhD, Scotland's Town and High Streets, Scotland's Towns Partnership, Town Centres | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment