Tag Archives: ESRC

How is consumer spending around Christmas 2023 likely to affect retailers?

Posted on December 15, 2023 by Leigh Sparks

Retailing has been going through a challenging time in the last three or four years. The restrictions and disruption of Covid have given way to an extreme cost-of-living crisis and an almost apocalyptic sense of uncertainty on a geo-political level. … Continue reading →

Posted in Christmas, Consumer Change, Consumers, Cost of Living, Economics Observatory, Energy Costs, ESRC, Government, Inflation, Office for National Statistics, Pricing, Retailers, Retailing, Sales, Uncategorized | 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

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

Social Science Perspectives on the High Street

Posted on November 27, 2014 by Leigh Sparks

Early in 2014, Neil Wrigley from the University of Southampton, invited myself and my colleague, Anne Findlay, to contribute two short chapters to a forthcoming collection of pieces exploring social science perspectives on the Evolving High Street. In particular he … Continue reading →

Posted in Academics, Closure, Community, Competition, Consumer Change, Data, ESRC, Government, High Streets, Online Retailing, Regeneration, Resilience, Retail Planning, Town Centres, Towns, Vacancies | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

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

Early Warning: PhD Student Wanted!

Posted on March 21, 2014 by Leigh Sparks

One evening last week I had one of those great emails, bringing good news.  I had been successful in the ESRC Scottish Graduate School for the Social Sciences Collaborative Studentship Competition.  With only 10 awarded across the whole of Scotland … Continue reading →

Posted in Academics, Churn, High Streets, Local Data Company, Resilience, Retailers, Retailing, Scotland's Town and High Streets, Shopping Centres, Town Centres, Vacancies | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment