Ronald Hall is principal advisor at DG Regional and Urban Policy at the European Commission in Belgium. His responsibilities include international cooperation in regional and urban policy, Northern Ireland Task Force and the Open Days Conference of Regions and Cities. Dr. Hall's European Commission career started in 1989, when he was appointed the head of division in the Directorate General for Agriculture with responsibility for rural development programmes in twelve Member States. In September 1999, he was appointed deputy chief adviser to Michel Barnier, European Commissioner responsible for regional policy and constitutional reform and, after May 2004, to Commissioner Jacques Barrot. Since November 2004, Dr. Hall has been director in the Directorate General for regional policy before taking his current role as principal advisor. Prior to joining the European Commission in 1989, he worked at the Department of Finance and Personnel in Northern Ireland. Dr. Hall published various articles on European regional policy and is co-author of a book Competitiveness and Cohesion in EU Policies. During the second semester of the 2010-2011 academic year, Dr. Hall was visiting EU fellow to the University of Miami, under the US-EU exchange programme.