Centre for Research in Identity, Governance, Society

This Centre furthers British and international research agendas as they relate to Identity, Governance and Society. The Centre brings together leading researchers working individually and collectively to provide two distinct takes on this theme, focusing on ‘Geographies of Learning’ and ‘Cities and States’.

‘Geographies of Education and Learning' (GEL): The centre hosts an internationally renowned group of researchers who are advancing geographical debates on learning from the pre-school environment through to higher education. Schools’ based research examines issues of social identity and social reproduction, examining the changing role schools are playing in British society. Studies in higher education examine the importance of student and academic mobility in a globalising higher education system, at the same time as they trace the impacts of educational institutions on their local communities, for example through studentification. Non-institutional learning spaces are receiving increased attention, through examinations of youth entrepreneurship and family-based learning.

‘Cities and States’: This innovative and committed group of researchers are renowned for their unique network-based approach to the study of cities and states. Working across a variety of spatial scales, their research attends to the geographies of flows in, through and between cities; city-state relations; and the un/bounding of nation states. The Centre hosts GaWC (www.lboro.ac.uk/gawc) the leading worldwide network of researchers for understanding cities in the era of globalization.