Zihan is about to complete her PhD with the Centre for Governance, Regulation & Industrial Strategy. She shares her insights on coworking spaces, why regions need to diversify their skills, and how supervisors can make or break a doctorate.
What drove you to choose Bath for your PhD?
Bath was actually the very first application that I sent out. I came across a post from one of my supervisory team, Dr Mariachiara Barzotto, advertising the PhD on LinkedIn. I had read her work during my postgraduate studies and I personally feel really interested in her research on coworking spaces.
When I reached out to my supervisory team – Mariachiara, Professor Phil Tomlinson and Dr Felicia Fai – everything just clicked. Previously, I wasn’t even thinking about the UK as a destination for my PhD.
What is your research topic and how did you decide on it?
My research topic took a lot of twists and turns, and finally I ended up looking at skills. I study regional skills development, and how to integrate skills policy with place-based industrial strategy. I look specifically at what kind of skills drive regional diversification in left-behind regions in the UK, and how coworking spaces can be utilised to develop these skills.
To define left-behind regions, I assess various socio-economic indicators. For example, economic indicators like GDP; demographic indicators such as population density; and employment dynamics such as employment rates. We call regions that experience economic stagnation or decline, innovation deficits, adverse employment patterns and demographic challenges ‘left-behind regions’.
What initially sparked your interest in the topic?
Coworking spaces, which are shared spaces where people come and work together. Looking at coworking spaces’ impact at the regional level is how everything started. As I looked further into it, I became particularly interested in their role in regional skills development.
What types of skills do coworking spaces help develop, and why are these skills important? To answer these questions, the first two papers of my PhD focus on the ‘why’ – examining the types of skills that drive regional diversification, and the final paper explores the ‘how’ – investigating how coworking spaces can facilitate the development of these skills. So, in a way, the final paper inspired the first two!
What were your findings?
In my first two papers, I found that regions are more likely to diversify into industries that require skills similar to those used in the industries where they already excel. For example, a region with a strong beer-making industry might branch out into producing cider, wine or other beverages that rely on similar skills.
However, this approach can also limit a region’s potential and keep it stuck on the same path. What happens when regions venture into industries requiring unrelated and dissimilar skills? My findings suggest that unrelated skills amplify the impact of related skills, enabling greater regional diversification and opening up entirely new opportunities.
My final paper shifts focus to coworking spaces and their role in skill development. I conducted an online survey of coworking space managers and users across the UK to examine whether and how these spaces contribute to skill development. The results were fascinating – coworking spaces were found to enhance both social-cognitive skills and technical-digital skills. The latter is particularly significant in left-behind regions, where coworking spaces provide access to technologies and tools that might otherwise be unavailable.
What are the real-world implications of your research?
The results provide evidence for policymakers to support the integration of local skills development into place-based industrial strategies, which are often treated as separate issues. It also provides a new vehicle (CWSs) for developing local skills from the ground up through informal learning processes at these spaces. These implications are particularly important for left-behind regions in the UK.
What advice would you offer to others studying or considering a PhD?
Based on my experience. I would say first choose the topic wisely – or more importantly, the field. Because the field can be quite broad and your specific topic may evolve as you dig deeper into your PhD. Make sure that you'll actually find it interesting!
I also think the right team matters a lot. There’s a saying that a good supervisory team either makes or breaks a PhD, and in my case they definitely made it. Take the opportunity to see whether you vibe well together through interviews and e-mail exchanges to make sure that the team suits your style.
I’ve very much enjoyed my PhD experience. It’s been something that I enjoy doing and, hopefully, something I'm good at, too!
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