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A diverse community of
leading experts, policymakers
and practitioners

The Institute’s key research themes
are led by ten academic partners
spread across the UK.

We’re a UK-wide research
organisation exploring what
productivity means for business

Businesses are crucial to solving
the UK’s productivity problems.

Professor Philip McCann

Chair of Urban and Regional Economics at Alliance Manchester Business School

Committees: Executive Team
Research Theme: Geography and place (lead)

Career

Philip McCann specialises in spatial economics and economic geography and is one of the UK’s most highly cited social scientists. He has also been a Special Adviser to two European Commissioners, an advisor to the European Commission, the OECD, the European Investment Bank, as well as government ministries and research institutes in several countries. He joined The University of Manchester in July 2022 from the University of Sheffield. In May 2024, he was appointed the Sir Terry Leahy Chair  in Urban and Regional Economics. For more details, read his full CV.

Philip was a member of Labour’s Commission on the UK’s Future, led by former Prime Minister Gordon Brown. He gave evidence to the Report of the Commission on the UK’s Future about the UK’s geographical inequality.

Research project

Research output