Four more DERREG films: 9 films in total

Earlier I reported (see post) on the five short films made of the DERREG case study areas. Next to  films of Comarca de Verin (Spain), Alytus (Lithuania), Westerkwartier (Netherlands), Roscommon (Ireland) and Regierungsbezirk Dresden (Germany), four more have been uploaded at the You Tube DERREG Films Channel:  a second one on Regieringsbezirk Dresden, one on Saarland (Germany), the South Moravian region (Czech Republic) and one on Oevre [...]

DERREG Special Issues European Countryside

The EU FP7 funded project DERREG has come to an end, but various publications are foreseen. The first set of 11 articles are published in two Special Issues of the European Countryside, an open access Journal, edited by Michael Woods and John McDonagh: Special Issue 1: Volume 3, Number 3 / 2011 Special Issue 2: Volume 4, Number [...]

5 DERREG films: Dresden (G), Roscommon (Irl), Comarca de Verin (Sp) and Westerkwartier (NL)

Students from the University of Aberytswyth, assigned by DERREG coordinator Michael Woods and instructed by the respective partners, made video clips of four case study areas to highlight some of the particular developments in these rural regions. The video clips of Comarca de Verin (Spain), Roscommon (Ireland), the Westerkwartier (NL) and the two video clips of Regierungsbezirk Dresden Part 1 en Dresden Part 2 (Germany), are [...]

On the trail of regional learning in rural Colombia

Over the last two and a half years, we have been investigating arrangements to support regional learning in various rural areas across Europe (EU-project DERREG). This intense period of field work and data analysis has given me a first idea of just how complex this subject is, how diverse supportive arrangements can be, and how [...]

DERREG – Final conference and proceedings

Two weeks ago, from October 12-13, we had our final conference of the EU-funded research project DERREG (www.derreg.eu)  in Murska Sobota, Slovenia. Here the major findings of the project were presented. DERREG coordinator prof. Michael Woods first presented (see presentation) an overwiew of the project and an interpretative model (see below) on how regions are affected by and respond [...]

DERREG Policy Seminar in Brussels

Last Thursday March 31, a Policy Seminar had place to discuss the relevancy of the results from the EU-funded reserach project DERREG for EU-policies.  Although the project and the work is not yet completed, emerging outcomes and policy recommendations were presented by the project coordinator prof. Michael Woods and the four coordinators of the respective workpackages on Rural business networks, Rural migration patterns, [...]

Rural regional learning in ‘Upper Lusatia’ (Oberlausitz), Germany

Following my visit to Alytus County, Lithuania in October, I travelled to Leipzig, Germany to visit our DERREG project partners Michael Kriszan, Robert Nadler and Joachim Burdack (Leibniz Institute for Regional Geography) in their case study area ’Upper Lusatia’. In this blog, Michael, Robert, Joachim and I would like to share some of our experiences. [...]

Inspiring encounters in the Westerkwartier

On Wednesday evening, I participated in a Plattelandscafé (countryside-café) at the Natuurboerderij Lammerburen (nature development farm) in Oldehove, Westerkwartier, Groningen. The aim of the gathering was to present results of past projects, ongoing projects and project ideas aimed at ensuring the sustainability of the predominantly rural Westerkwartier. Jan Oomkes, chairmen of the LAG Westerkwartier (LEADER) [...]

DERREG-website is online

The website of the EU-funded research project DERREG (see blog of January 22) is now online: www.derreg.eu. Basic information about the project is now available and further information will be published as the project proceeds.