Newcastle University

Professor Geoffrey Hewings

• Director of Regional Economics Applications Laboratory, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
• iBUILD Expert Advisory Board

Dr Geoffrey J.D. Hewings is Director of Regional Economics Applications Laboratory (REAL) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign as well as a Professor in the Departments of Economics, Geography, Agricultural and Consumer Economics, Urban and Regional Planning and the Institute of Government and Public Affairs.  His undergraduate degree is from University of Birmingham, England and masters and doctorate from the University of Washington, Seattle.  Prior to joining the University of Illinois, he served on the faculties of the University of Kent (UK) and the University of Toronto.  He has served as a visiting professor at universities in Australia, Israel, Japan, Korea, and China.  He received awards from the Fulbright Commission, the Woodrow Wilson Foundation and was designated a University Scholar by the University of Illinois.  He received a doctorate, honoris causa, from the University of Bourgogne.  He has been elected a Fellow of the Regional Science Association International, the Western Regional Science Association and the International Input-Output Association.

Professor Hewings main research areas are in the fields of urban and regional analysis, with a strong emphasis on the development and application of large-scale models.  His research activities are centered in (REAL), a unit he co-founded in 1989. Current work focuses on the role of interstate trade among the states of the Midwest, the impacts of aging, and in- and out-migration on the Chicago economy through 2050 and the impacts of port efficiency on the Brazilian economy.  REAL maintains comprehensive impact and forecasting models for each Midwest state and for the Midwest as a whole as well as a recently developed set of leading indicators for the major metropolitan areas of the US.

His publications include 14 books, over 70 book chapters and 170 articles in major professional journals; he has supervised 48 doctoral dissertations (more detail available at www.real.illinois.edu).