Max Nathan

I work at UCL as an Associate Professor in Applied Urban Sciences, based at CASA. I'm also an affiliate in the Urban Programme at the Centre for Economic Performance, and at CAGE, IZA, and NIESR. I completed my PhD at LSE in 2011.

Before academia, I co-founded the Centre for Cities think tank and the What Works Centre for Local Economic Growth. I've also worked at the UK Department of Communities and Local Government (now DLHUC) on issues like localism, regeneration and economic development.

Research summary

I am an economic geographer who uses a lot of economics. My academic research focuses on the economics of cultural diversity, in particular the performance of diverse cities, communities and teams: I'm currently leading a major new 3-year ESRC-funded programme exploring these connections, with colleagues at UCL, LSE, and Birmingham, Insubria and Toronto Universities.

My other major interests are in innovation systems and clusters, especially in tech and creative industries; and in public policy for cities, especially policy design and evaluation.

Teaching summary

At CASA I currently co-lead CASA0008 / Smart Cities and also contribute to CASA0004/0010 / Dissertation. Both form part of CASA's Urban Spatial Science MSc.

I'm happy to hear from potential PHD students working on urban economics and local economic development, using quantitative/mixed methods to look at innovation systems and ecosystems; entrepreneurship; the economics of migration and diversity; ICT and digital technology firms; the creative and cultural industries; urban policy evaluation.

From time to time I'll also have openings for postgrad or PHD-level research assistants on projects like these.

BOOKS

• Urban Economics and Urban Policy (with P. Cheshire and H. Overman). May 2014. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.