John Goddard is emeritus Professor of Regional Development Studies at Newcastle University UK. He was previously Deputy Vice-Chancellor with responsibility for the University’s links with the city and region. Prior to that he founded and led the University’s Centre for Urban and Regional Development Studies (CURDS) from 1977 to 1998. Before moving to Newcastle, Goddard was a lecturer at London School of Economic. He was awarded an OBE in 1986 and the Victoria Medal of the Royal Geographical Society in 1992, elected a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in 2004 and of University College London in 2010. Goddard was the academic leader of the first round of OECD reviews of Higher Education in Regional and City Development and was a member of the peer review team for the OECD review of Berlin (2010). He has also led reviews of regional engagement by Finnish Universities sponsored by the Finnish Higher Education Evaluation Council. Goddard has been awarded a Leverhulme Foundation Emeritus Fellowship and a Visiting Fellowship at the National Endowment for Science Technology and the Arts (NESTA). He is academic leader of an EU lifelong learning programme to improve collaboration between universities, private sector companies and local governments.