Our People
Grant Holders

Lauren Andres Senior Lecturer in Spatial Planning
Lauren Andres is Principal Investigator of the ESRC funded project The Appropriateness, Usefulness and Impact of the Current Urban Planning Curriculum in South African Higher Education. Lauren is Senior Lecturer in Spatial Planning at the University…

Rob Atkinson Director of Urban Research
Rob Atkinson is Principal Investigator of the projects Collective Urban governance, Innovation and Creativity in the Face of Climate Change (SELFCITY) and Public Accountability to Residents in Contractual Urban Redevelopment (PARCOUR). Rob is Director of Urban…

Karen Bell Senior Research Associate
Kristen Bell is Principal Investigator of the project Fair and Inclusive Environmental/Social Transition Alternatives: Learning from the ‘Living Well’ and ‘Green Economy’ Pathways to Sustainability. Karen is Senior Research Associate at the School for Policy Studies,…

Barbara Bompani Director of the Centre of African Studies
Barbara Bompani is Principal Investigator of the project Security at the Margins (SeaM): Spaces and Strategies for Negotiating Security in Urban South Africa. Barbara is Director of the Centre of African Studies, University of Edinburgh. Her…

Alistair Boxall Professor in Environmental Science
Alistair Boxall is Principal Investigator of the project York City Environment Observatory: Diagnostic Phase. Alistair is Professor of Environmental Science at the Environment Department, University of York. His work specialises on the transport, disposal and impacts…

Alison Brown Professor of Urban Planning and International Development
Alison Brown is Principal Investigator of the project Economic Recovery in Post-Conflict Cities: the Role of the Urban Informal Economy. Alison is Professor of Urban Planning and International Development at the School of Geography and Planning,…

Tine Buffel Research Fellow (ESRC Funded Future Leaders Scheme)
Tine Buffel is Principal Investigator of the project Urban Ageing and Social Exclusion. Tine is Research Fellow (ESRC Funded Future Leaders Scheme) at the School of Social Sciences, University of Manchester. His research explores ageing, urbanisation,…

Federico Caprotti Associate Professor in Human Geography
Federico Caprotti is Principal Investigator of the project Urban Transformation in South Africa Through Co-Designing Energy Services Provision. Federico is Associate Professor in Human Geography at the University of Exeter. His research interests include urban environments,…

Laurence Carmichael Senior Lecturer
Laurence Carmichael is Principal Investigator of the project Reuniting Planning and Health: Tackling the Implementation Gaps in Evidence, Governance and Knowledge. Laurence is Senior Lecturer at the Department of Architecture and the Built Environment, University of…

Michael Chai Senior Lecturer / Associate Professor in Telecommunications
Michael Chai is Principal Investigator of the project IRENE: Improving the Robustness of Urban Electricity Networks. Michael is Senior Lecturer and Associate Professor in Telecommunications at the School of Electric Engineering and Computer Science, Queen Mary…

James Cheshire Associate Professor of Quantitative Geography
James Cheshire is Principal Investigator of the project Development Frontiers in Crime, Livelihoods and Urban Poverty in Nigeria (FCLP). James is Associate Professor in Quantitative Geography at the University College London (UCL)’s Department of Geography. His…

Michèle Clarke Professor of Environmental Change
Michèle Clarke is Principal Investigator of the project SMArt CitIES Network for Sustainable Urban Futures (SMARTIES Net). Michèle is Professor of Environmental Change and Associate Pro Vice Chancellor (Global Engagement) Asia Pacific at the Faculty of…

Sean Fox Senior Lecturer in Global Development
Sean Fox is Principal Investigator of the project Quantifying Cities for Sustainable Development: Transforming Urban Data Collection to Support Research and Policy Making in Developing Countries. Sean is Senior Lecturer in Global Development at the School of…

Maria Christina Georgiadou Senior Lecturer
Maria Christina Georgiadou is Principal Investigator of the project Community-led Upgrading for Self-Reliance in South Africa: Integrated Construction and Environmental Management Systems in Informal Settlements. Maria Christina is a Senior Lecturer at the Faculty of Architecture…

Alex Hagen-Zanker Lecturer
Alex Hagen-Zanker is Principal Investigator of the project ASTRID – Accessibility, Social justice and TRansport emission Impacts of transit-oriented Development. Alex is Lecturer at the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Surrey. He specialises…

Paul Hutchings Lecturer in Water, Sanitation and Hygiene
Dr Paul Hutchings is Principal Investigator of the project Rurality as a Vehicle for Urban Sanitation Transformation (RUST). Paul is Lecturer in WASH Impact Evaluation at Cranfield Water Science Institute, Cranfield University. His focus areas include…

Simona Iammarino Professor of Economic Geography
Simona Iammarino is Principal Invesigator of the project Resilient Cities: Industrial Network and Institutional Perspectives on Economic Growth and Well-being. Simona is Professor of Economic Geography and Head of Department at the Department of Geography and…

Tim Jones Senior Research Fellow in Sustainable Urban Mobility
Tim Jones is Principal Investigator of the Brazil-UK Healthy Urban Mobility (HUM) project. Tim is a Senior Research Fellow in Sustainable Urban Mobility at the School of the Built Environment, Oxford Brookes University. His work focuses…

Peter Jones Professor of Transport and Sustainable Development
Peter Jones is Principal Investigator of the project T-SUM (Transitions to Sustainable Urban Mobility). Peter is Professor of Transport and Sustainable Development at University College London. His work explores different aspects of urban mobility and its…

Caren Levy Professor of Transformative Urban Planning
Caren Levy is Principal Investigator of the project Knowledge in Action for Urban Equality (KNOW). Caren is Professor of Transformative Urban Planning at the Development Planning Unit, University College London. Her research has spanned a variety…

Chris Lloyd Professor of Quantitative Geography
Chris Lloyd is Principal Investigator of the project Changing Socio-spatial Inequalities: Population Change and the Lived Experience of Inequality in Urban South Africa. Chris is Professor of Quantitative Geography at the Department of Geography and Planning,…

David Ludlow Associate Professor: European Smart Cities
David Ludlow is Principal Investigator of the SUNEX (Sustainable Urban Food-Energy-Water Nexus) project. David is Associate Professor: European Smart Cities at the University of the West of England (UWE) Bristol. His work examines the intersection between…

Fiona Marshall Professor of Environment and Development
Fiona Marshall is Principal Investigator of the project Resilience and Vulnerability at the Urban Nexus of Food, Water, Energy and the Environment. Fiona is Professor of Environment and Development at the Science Policy Research Unit, University…

Lyla Mehta Professorial Fellow
Lyla Mehta is Principal Investigator of the project TAPESTRY: Transformation as Praxis: Exploring Socially Just and Transdisciplinary Pathways to Sustainability in Marginal Environments. Lyla is Professorial Fellow at the Institute of Development Studies (IDS). Her research…

Vlad Mykhnenko Associate Professor of Sustainable Urban Development
Vlad Mykhnenko is Principal Investigator of the project Smart Shrinkage Solutions – Fostering Resilient Cities in Inner Peripheries of Europe (3S RECIPE). Vlad is Associate Professor of Sustainable Urban Development at the Department of Continuing Education,…

Christian Onof Reader in Stochastic Environmental Systems
Christian Onof is Principal Investigator of the project Early Warning Service for Urban Pluvial Floods for and by Citizens and City Authorities (FloodCitySense). Christian is Reader in Stochastic Environmental Systems at Imperial College London. Among other…

Jenny Robinson Professor of Geography
Jenny Robinson is Principal Investigator of the project Governing the Future City: A Comparative Analysis of Governance Innovations in Large Scale Urban Developments in Shanghai, London, Johannesburg. Jenny is Professor of Geography at University College London.…

Seth Schindler Senior Lecturer in Urban Development and Transformation
Seth is Principal Investigator of the project A World of Rust Belts?: Deindustrialisation and its Impacts in Cities in the Global South. Seth is Senior Lecturer in Urban Development and Transformation in the Global Development Institute,…

Tatjana Schneider Professor for History and Theory of Architecture and the City
Tatjana Schneider was Principal Investigator of the project Urban Education Live (UEL) until the end of 2018. She is Professor for History and Theory of Architecture and the City at the Technical University Braunschweig, Germany. In the…

Tim Schwanen Associate Professor in Transport Studies and Human Geography
Tim Schwanen is Principal Investigator of the project DEPICT: DEsigning and Policy Implementation for encouraging Cycling and walking Trips. Tim is Associate Professor in Transport Studies and Human Geography and Director of the Transport Studies Unit,…

Ian Scoones Professorial Fellow
Ian Scoones is Principal Investigator of the STEPS (Social, Technological and Environmental Pathways to Sustainability) Centre. Ian is Professorial Fellow at the Institute of Development Studies (IDS). Among other ares, his work encompasses agriculture, pastoralism and…

Jeevan Sharma Senior Lecturer in South Asia and International Development
Jeevan Sharma is Principal Investigator of the project From the Margins: Exploring Low-income Migrant Workers’ Access to Basic Services and Protection in the Context of India’s Urban Transformation. Jeevan is Senior Lecturer in South Asia and…

Cecilia Tacoli Principal Researcher - Human Settlements
Cecilia Tacoli is Principal Investigator of the project How the Urban Poor Define and Measure Food Insecurity and Nutrition. Cecilia is Principal Researcher – Human Settlements at the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED). Cecilia’s…

Colin Taylor Professor of Earthquake Engineering
Colin Taylor is Principal Investigator of the project Urban Living Pilot – The Bristol Urban Area Diagnostics Pilot. Colin is Professor of Earthquake Engineering at the Faculty of Engineering, University of Bristol. His research specialisation includes…

Glyn Williams Reader and Director of Doctoral Programmes
Glyn Williams is Principal Investigator of the project Developing Research Capacity for Inclusive Urban Governance: a Sheffield-Witwatersrand PhD Training Partnership. Glyn is Reader at the Department of Urban Studies and Planning and Director of Doctoral Programmes…

Cecilia Wong Professor of Spatial Planning
Cecilia Wong is Principal Investigator of the project Eco-Urbanisation: Promoting Sustainable Development in Metropolitan Regions of China. Cecilia is Professor of Spatial Planning at Manchester University. Her research has spanned housing, urban regeneration and regional development,…