Personal statement

John Bachtler is Professor of European Policy Studies and a Director of the European Policies Research Centre. His research experience is principally in regional and industrial development in Europe, encompassing the economic development policies of the EU28 Member States and several other European countries, the structural and cohesion policies of the European Union, EU integration and enlargement. He has led EPRC research on regional policy, rural development, territorial development, foreign investment, RTDI and policy evaluation. He has been an expert adviser to numerous government departments across Western, Central and Eastern Europe, and an adviser to European organisations (European Parliament, European Commission, Committee of the Regions, European Court of Auditors, Assembly of European Regions)as well as the OECD and Nordic Council of Ministers. He has been an Expert Adviser to ten EU Presidencies over the past 15 years on budgetary, policy and regulatory reform, and directs the IQ-Net programme of research and knowledge-exchange on the management and implementation of Structural Funds across the EU. He is  Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, a Fellow of the UK Academy of Social Sciences, and  Fellow of the Regional Studies Association.