Simona Iammarino is Professor of Applied Economics at the Department of Economics and Business of the University of Cagliari, Italy; Visiting Professor at the Department of Geography & Environment of the London School of Economics (LSE); member of the Board of the LSE-Cañada Blanch Centre; affiliate faculty member at the Gran Sasso Science Institute (GSSI) L’Aquila, Italy. She was Professor of Economic Geography at the LSE (2009-2022), where she acted as Head of Department (2014-2017) and academic member of the LSE Council (2016-2020). Since 2023 she is in the Scientific Committe of the Luiss Institute for European Analysis and Policy (LEAP), Rome.

Simona’s main research interests lie in the following areas: Multinational corporations, globalisation and local economic development; Economic geography of innovation and technological change; Regional systems of innovation; Regional and local economic development and policy. She has published more than 70 articles in major peer-reviewed journals, two co-authored books, around 30 book chapters, and numerous working papers, policy reports and other publications.

She is co-editor of the Journal of Economic Geography, and a member of the RSA Board and Chair of the RSA Journal Committee. Simona has a long-term experience in externally funded international research projects, and in consultancy projects for various international organisations (e.g. EU Commission, OECD, United Nations, ADB) and numerous government agencies.

Simona has been recently awarded the “ERSA European Prize in Regional Science 2024”, European Regional Science Association, and the “Giacomo Becattini” Prize, Italian Society of Economics and Industrial Policy (SIEPI).

Member of ESSPIN: https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/101061104

Recent publications:

Ioramashvili, C., Feldman, M., Guy, F., Iammarino, S. (2024), “Gathering round Big Tech: how the market for acquisitions hurts left-behind places” Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, https://doi.org/10.1093/cjres/rsae003

Li, Y., Ascani, A. and Iammarino, S. (2024), “The Material Basis of Modern Technologies - A Case Study on Rare Metals”, Research Policy, 53:1, 104914, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.respol.2023.104914

Casadei, P. and Iammarino, S. (2023), “Backshoring, offshoring and staying at home: evidence from the UK textile and apparel industry”, Operations Management Research, https://doi.org/10.1007/s12063-023-00394-9

Ascani, A., Balachandran Nair, L. and Iammarino, S. (2022), “Racing to the bottom or seeking legitimacy? National environmental performance and the location strategies of Chinese MNEs”, Journal of International Management, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.intman.2022.100993

Diemer, A., Iammarino S., Rodriguez-Pose, A. and Storper, M. (2022), “The Regional Development Trap in Europe”, Economic Geography, 98:5, 487-509 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00130095.2022.2080655

Diemer, A., Iammarino, S., Perkins, R. and Gros, A. (2022), “Technology, resources and geography in a paradigm shift: the case of critical & conflict materials in ICT”, Regional Studies, https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00343404.2022.2077326

Denti, D. and Iammarino, S. (2022), “Coming Out of the Woods. Do local support services influence the propensity to report sexual violence?, Journal of Economic Behaviour & Organization, 193, 334-352, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jebo.2021.11.024