Department of Geography and CASA benefit from establishment of research fund
28 May 2003
A major donation from the Retail Outlets Research Unit to UCL's Department of Geography and Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis (CASA) has led to the creation of a new research post.
The trust was founded by Dr David Thorpe, formerly Head of Research at John Lewis and Director of the Retail Outlets Research Unit at Manchester Business School, with colleagues and counterparts. Recently, it was decided to dissolve the trust and donate the remaining assets to UCL.
The result is a small endowment for the Department of Geography to support research and education in the field of historical geography. The fund has also enabled CASA to create a new research appointment in the field of retail planning.
Mr Mark Thurstain-Goodwin has been appointed as David Thorpe Senior Research Fellow, and will continue research that CASA has been conducting in retail and property geography, specifically with respect to the definition of town centres and retail statistics using new technologies, such as geographical information systems.
Professor Mike Batty, Director of CASA, said: "I am very pleased that Mark's joining us. Since 1996, he has led our town centres project - the first and perhaps most successful CASA project so far. He will rework some of the retailing problems that David Thorpe himself worked on in the 1970s, converting this work to digital form and making it consistent with our contemporary work on town centre and retail planning for the office of the Deputy Prime Minister's department."
To find out more about UCL's Department of Geography or CASA use the links below.
Links:
Department of Geography
Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis