Dr Amhed León Tellez, Head of the Center for Studies in Management and Local Development at the University of Bayamo in Granma province, Cuba, is visiting the UK to develop his research and to collaborate with Dr Rebecca Ogden, Lecturer in Latin American Studies in the Department of Modern Languages, and Professor Par Kumaraswami (University of Reading) on a project about local development, heritage and tourism in Cuba, a project that has received GCRF funding.

Dr Amhed León Tellez will be hosted by the Department of Modern Languages between Monday 10 and Saturday 15 February, and on 13 February he will deliver a talk entitled ‘Economic transformations and local development in contemporary Cuba: what role can universities play?’

Cuba is experiencing extraordinary structural transformations of its economy in the midst of the recent tightening of the economic blockade imposed by the United States. Local development is an important mechanism to boost economic dynamics and social welfare within such economic shifts. This demands capacity-strengthening and knowledge, as well as raising the role of science and technological innovation. In this paper Dr León Tellez will share insights from his research in this field, including the role played by the university in local development.