Charlotte Hoole

Dr Charlotte Hoole is a Research Fellow II at the City-Region Economic Development Institute (City-REDI), within the Department of Strategy and International Business at the University of Birmingham's Birmingham Business School. Her research centers on the geographical and political economy of local and regional development, governance, devolution, and public funding allocation in the UK.

Education:

• PhD in Urban Studies and Planning, University of Sheffield, 2018
• BA (Hons) in Geography, University of Sheffield, 2012

Her research interests include local and regional economic development, governance and devolution, region-building, soft spaces of planning, and geographical inequalities. She has been awarded an ESRC Postdoctoral Fellowship and currently leads an ESRC-funded project focused on improving public funding allocation to reduce geographical inequalities in England.

The recent publications reflect a strong trend in regional policy analysis, particularly around devolution, levelling up, and the governance challenges in England and Wales. Her work combines political economy perspectives with empirical analysis of policy implementation and institutional design, often with direct relevance to current UK policy debates.

Funding and Policy Engagement:

• Funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)
• Worked with local and national government in England
• Collaborated with UK-based charities
• Policy and Data Analyst at City-REDI
• Internship with Sheffield First Partnership funded by ADH Crook Fellowship Scheme

Advising and Grants: Charlotte has received significant research funding from the ESRC and has contributed to major policy reports on levelling up and regional development. She has collaborated on projects examining place-based policies and central-local relations, demonstrating a strong record of policy-relevant research.

Labs and Teams: She is a key member of the City-REDI research team at the University of Birmingham, which focuses on city-region economic development and policy innovation. She collaborates extensively with researchers such as John Newman, Sarah Collinson, and others on projects related to devolution and regional governance.