“The Summer Institute has become a right of passage in economic geography. It’s the can’t-miss, traveling genius loci where young scholars in the field can forge connections across continents that produce conference panels, special issues and other collaborations for years to come. It’s been less than a year since I attended and it’s already responsible for one conference panel, and a special issue is in the works.”

Mark Kear, PhD, Assistant Professor, School of Geography and Development, University of Arizona

“As an alumnus of the first Summer Institute (2003), and a recent featured speaker (2014), I can say that it is one of the most significant and valuable professional events held regularly in the field of economic geography. Not only does the Institute provide participants with an opportunity to engage in intensive, stimulating, collegial, and highly substantive discussions about the field and emerging research agendas, it also serves a valuable role by helping current and recently graduated PhD students to understand the academic enterprise and the challenges of, among other things, navigating the publishing and professional worlds we work in. Several of the friendships and professional ties that began at the Institute I attended in 2003 have played a central role in my career development and I have seen many alumni emerge as leaders among the current and next generation of economic geographers. This is a vital initiative, one that strengthens and sustains the field by imbuing in its participants a sense of purpose, identity, and commitment to research and teaching that can deploy economic geography concepts and theories in ways that help us better understand the causes and potential solutions to pressing socioeconomic, political, and environmental issues worldwide.”

James T. Murphy, PhD, Associate Professor, Graduate School of Geography, Clark University

“As a Ph.D. candidate at a school with a small Ph.D. program, the Summer Institute In Economic Geography was a perfect way to develop a group of peers in the field. Everyone was capable and interesting, and someone you could talk with for hours. The sessions were engaging and the faculty terrific—and very supportive.”

Peter Wissoker, doctoral researcher, Department of City & Regional Planning Cornell University

“The Summer Institute in Economic Geography is a fantastic venue to engage with emerging debates and practices in the discipline and to network with both early career and established scholars. As a participant at the Institute (2014) I gained practical knowledge about teaching and professionalization that has greatly aided my development as a new faculty member. I also made academic connections that have led to collaborative research projects with colleagues from around the world.”

Theresa Enright, PhD, Assistant Professor of Political Science, University of Toronto

“The Summer Institute in Economic Geography has been a very rich experience for me. Its mixture of different perspectives on the field, involving productive debate and engagement between them, creates new and exciting inputs for theory, methods and practice which are especially important for those of us in the beginning of our academic trajectories. The spaces for informal interactions during the event also open up productive dialogues and help strengthen contacts between participants. In my specific case, working outside the Anglophone and northern academic circuits, it has been not only an opportunity to interact directly with researchers inserted in those contexts, but also with other global south academics, with whom we tend to have difficulties in engaging directly (due to still weak south to south connections).”

Felipe Magalhães, doctoral researcher, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brazil