“An extraordinary example of how an academic meeting with mutual learning should look like. The Summer Institute is the number 1 meeting for young scholars in economic geography. The most inclusive atmosphere and the most innovative programme I have ever seen in a scientific workshop. The Summer Institute was a very important stepping stone in finding my intellectual home in economic geography.”

Márton Czirfusz, PhD, research fellow, Centre for Economic and Regional Studies, Hungarian Academy of Sciences

“The Summer Institute for Economic Geography (SIEG) is a one-of-a-kind event, bringing together researchers across a variety of themes around one of geography’s most dynamic subdisciplines. The SIEG had many strengths, but a few come to mind. SIEG was inclusive, meaning that participation was equally split between quantitative and qualitative researchers, as well as between men and women. SIEG included perspectives from around the globe (literally), and even the “expert panel” of senior scholars comprised a diversity of intellectual traditions and methodological approaches. Another strength was that delegates were evenly divided between PhD students, post-docs, and junior faculty, which made conversations about publishing, grantsmanship, and careers quite useful. The personal interactions were the most worthwhile aspect for me, and my work on gentrification was recently published in Urban Studies with a co-author that I met at the Summer Institute in Zurich.”

Thomas Sigler, PhD, Lecturer in Human Geography, School of Geography, Planning & Environmental Management, University of Queensland

“I attended the 2012 Summer Institute in Zurich, and it continues to rank among the most important professionalization experiences I have ever had. Not only did I form enduring intellectual connections and personal friendships—often with economic geographers in other subfields whose work I would not have encountered otherwise—but I gained a far better sense of how my work might help advance the discipline as a whole. As an intensive, multi-day experience with a select group of scholars, the workshop spurred a depth of engagement and discussion not possible at most conferences—I have often referred to its design for ideas on how to facilitate more substantial, genuinely transformative academic exchanges.”

Sarah Knuth, PhD, postdoctoral fellow, University of Michigan