PROJECT TEAM
The team includes researchers and practitioners working in the fields of urban governance, public administration, participatory democracy and social innovation in the four partner countries (Netherlands, Denmark, England and Scotland).

Merlijn van Hulst
PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR - EUROPETILBURG UNIVERSITY
Merlijn van Hulst is an Associate Professor in the Tilburg Institute of Governance, Tilburg University, the Netherlands. He is interested in sense-making, storytelling and work practices in and around public organizations. Merlijn specializes in interpretive research methods. He has published in a broad range of journals across the social sciences, including The British Journal of Criminology; Planning Theory; Media, Culture & Society; Public Administration Review and The American Review of Public Administration.

SmartUrbI is an excellent occasion to meet and work with energetic and engaged people, both inside and outside academia, for a greater cause.

Alison Gilchrist
RESEARCH FELLOWUNIVERSITY OF BIRMINGHAM
Research Fellow, University of Birmingham. Independent consultant. Formerly Director of Practice development at the UK’s Community Development Foundation.

The SmartUrbI project interests me because I have worked in urban neighbourhoods for many years as a community development practitioner. I have a long-standing interest in equalities, collective empowerment and working across boundaries.

Mark van Ostaijen
RESEARCH FELLOWTILBURG UNIVERSITY
Postdoctoral researcher at the Tilburg Institute of Governance. In his research he studies the role and position of 'smart urban intermediaries' in Amsterdam. Before he started at Tilburg University, Mark worked at the Netherlands School of Public Administration (NSOB) and as lecturer and PhD candidate at Erasmus University Rotterdam (EUR). In June 2017 he successfully defended his PhD thesis 'Worlds between Words. The politics of intra-European movement discourses'. During his PhD research he was a visiting doctoral researcher at De Montfort University in Leicester (UK).

SmartUrbI is driven by a fascination for qualitative ethnographic research, for an urge to understand participative citizens better and to build up comparative knowledge about current urban issues.

Catherine Durose
CO-INVESTIGATORUNIVERSITY OF BIRMINGHAM
Reader at the Institute of Local Government Studies (INLOGOV). Previously Director of Research and Knowledge Transfer for the School of Government and Society.

SmartUrbI is about understanding the different ways that different people make a difference in neighbourhoods.

Oliver Escobar
PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR - UK & CO-INVESTIGATORUNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH
Lecturer in Public Policy at the University of Edinburgh and Co-Director of What Works Scotland. Oliver also co-leads Smart Urban Intermediaries and Distant Voices: Coming Home. His main areas of research, teaching and practice are public participation and collaborative governance. He coordinates the Citizen Participation Network and is involved in developing democratic innovations across policy arenas in Scotland and beyond.

SmarUrbI offers a unique opportunity to work with people who are making a difference in communities, and learn about how social innovation can tackle the urban challenges of our time.

Annika Agger
CO-INVESTIGATORROSKILDE SCHOOL OF GOVERNANCE
Associate professor in public administration at the Department of Social Sciences and Business.

James Henderson
RESEARCH FELLOWUNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH
James was formerly a research fellow on the What Works Scotland programme (2015 – 2018) and prior to completing a PhD at Heriot Watt University (2011-4), he worked as a community-based researcher in the third sector (2001-10) with an increasing interest in the role of community-led anchor organisations.

The SmartUrbI project catches my imagination because it values the diversity, skills and knowledge of urban practitioners working in challenging contexts and remaining committed to local people and their communities … and seeks to share their learning with others.

Ellen Højgaard Jensen

Ny W. Øhlenschlæger
DANISH TOWN PLANNING INSTITUTE
