MEASURING & ENHANCING

CIVIC IMPACTS

Thursday 20 May

Ed is the Director of the Centre for Regional Economic and Social Research (CRESR) at Sheffield Hallam University. Ed’s expertise is in urban and regional policy, including housing and transport policy. He has worked closely with and for local and city regional governments and is a strong proponent of partnerships between universities and city regional policy makers.

Martin joined Staffordshire University as Deputy Vice-Chancellor in May 2017 and has responsibility for Research, Digital Services, Estates and Commercial Services, Technical Services and Staffordshire University Academy Trust.
Martin joined the University from the Department of Geography at the University of Sheffield, where he was Director of the White Rose Social Science Doctoral Training Centre (WRDTC)—a £20 million ESRC-funded research consortium between the universities of Sheffield, Leeds and York—and also Professor of Urban and Regional Political Economy. Martin led the application to become a Doctoral Training Partnership, also involving the White Rose partners and the universities of Hull, Sheffield Hallam, Bradford, and Manchester Metropolitan, which was ranked top by the ESRC’s peer review process.

Julian is a researcher and writer with a broad interest in place and society, and a particular focus on the complex systemic changes required to achieve environmentally and socially just approaches to urban life. His research expertise is in social and economic regeneration, urban greenspace, town and city centres and the role of the voluntary and community sector. He is especially interested in how and why change happens and the role of evidence in shaping policy and practice.

Julian joined CRESR as senior research fellow in 2020. With a previous career in journalism and consultancy before moving into academia, he has given evidence to parliamentary inquiries, written for a wide range of academic and general audiences, and spoken at national and international conferences. He is author of How to Save Our Town Centres (Policy Press, 2015) and was the founding editor of the regeneration magazine New Start. His PhD at CRESR focused on institutional change and sustainability transitions.

Jenny is a Principal Planner within Arup’s Planning, Policy and Economics team in Nottingham. Her work focuses on the strategic aspects of planning including large-scale regeneration and masterplanning projects, and she is driven by a passion for placemaking. Her projects have taken her all over the UK and world in the past, including a stint in South Africa, but in recent years she has been highly involved in not only the Universities for Nottingham initiative, but other major schemes in the region such as Toton, Ratcliffe Power Station and the Defence and National Rehabilitation Centre.

Tom is a chartered town planner with over 22 years’ experience in economic development, town planning, urban and regional policy, transport, regeneration and city operations.

Alongside his role as Leeds Office Leader, Tom is responsible for developing Arup’s UK Cities Advisory services. This includes advising on city and city region strategies for economic development, inclusive growth, skills and innovation, supporting clients on funding and finance, socio economic advice, housing growth, neighbourhood renewal, regeneration programmes and other city-wide potential strategies.