Don J. Webber – författare

Don Webber expertly compiles responses from different research environments and practices across a range of universities, succinctly summarising those that achieve better quality research output. Highlighting collective practices as well as individual ones, he further illustrates the responsibilities placed upon academics for their own research alongside those of their peers and how these can have considerable mutual benefits.

This invigorating read will be an excellent resource for new academics who wish to learn best practice and experienced academics who may have lost their way and are wanting to get their research back on track. Research leaders who wish to have a high performing department will find this book insightful in gaining ideas on how to enable their colleagues to achieve their full potential.

Drawing on detailed biographical life-course information obtained through in-depth interviews with creative workers, this book refutes established ideas that creative workers are a unique, autonomous and highly mobile group. Documenting empirical findings, it highlights how the migration and occupation patterns of creative workers are intimately connected with their early family experiences and to their social class. Ultimately, this innovative book recommends that policy should redirect its focus away from migration and towards creating places with good schools, affordable housing, sustainable jobs and strong connections across communities.

Pairing in-depth case studies with established theoretical grounding, this book will be a fascinating read for academics, researchers and students specialising in economic geography, regional economics, migration and human geography. Its unique insights and practical policy recommendations will also be of benefit to those working in town planning, regional policy development and the creative industries.

This edited collection showcases the evolution of rural entrepreneurship research over the first quarter of the 21st Century. Contributions examine what we have learnt about different aspects of rural entrepreneurship and what still needs to be understood. Each chapter looks for inspiration from the past to consider opportunities and challenges for the future. Critiques of current understandings of the dynamic rural economic landscape acknowledge the need for agility and new ideas to inform future research and policy challenges.

The book has been motivated by the growing community of researchers that participate in an annual Rural Entrepreneurship Conference. Further strengthening that community, chapters are co-authored by experienced and early-career scholars, forming new connections that blend past and future perspectives to address prescient challenges facing rural economies. After 20 years of fertilising exchange of ideas between rural stakeholders and academics, this edited collection sets a marker in the timeline of the evolution of an increasingly international network of rural entrepreneurship researchers.