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Harris Beider took up his post as Professor in Community Cohesion at iCoCo in January 2008 moving from the Centre for Urban and Regional Studies (CURS) at the University of Birmingham. His main research interests include 'race', housing and community renewal.

Key publications include:

Beider, H (ed.) (forthcoming) special issue of Housing Studies on Rethinking Race and Residence;
Beider, H (ed.) (2007) Neighbourhood Renewal and Housing Markets: community engagement in the US and UK. Oxford, Blackwell Publishing
Beider, H with Mullins, D. (2004) Empowering communities, improving housing: involving black and minority ethnic communities. London, ODPM.

He has managed and undertaken research projects for CLG, Joseph Rowntree Foundation, the Housing Corporation, Housing Association Charitable Trust and many individual social landlords and government offices. Harris has also been an independent management consultant since 2001 specialising in diversity, housing and organisational change. He has been commissioned by national and regional organisations, housing associations and regeneration partnerships to provide advice and recommend solutions as well as senior management and boards.

Prior to working at CURS Harris was Executive Director of the Federation of Black Housing Organisations and Founding Director of People for Action. At the former, Harris was involved in helping to shape national policy on black and minority ethnic issues. Harris has been an advisor to the Prime Minister's Social Exclusion Unit and Visiting International Scholar at Columbia University, New York City.

He has recently been appointed as a Neighbourhood Renewal Advisor to the Department of Local Government and Communities, to the Board of South Birmingham PCT and External Examiner at Sheffield Hallam University. Harris is a regular contributor to conferences that focus on 'race', housing and community.

Gareth Harris

Gareth is a final year doctoral student at Birkbeck College, University of London. He is currently on a three month placement with the Department of Communities and Local Government.

Dr Rachael Chapman, Northumbria University

Dr Rachael Chapman is a Senior Lecturer in Social Sciences at Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne. She was previously employed as a Senior Research Fellow at the Local Government Centre, Warwick Business School and at the Local Governance Research Unit at De Montfort University, Leicester. She undertook her PhD on third sector legitimacy and empowerment in the South Yorkshire Objective 1 Programme at The University of Sheffield. Prior to this she held a researcher post at the Policy Research Institute, Leeds Metropolitan University. Rachael has conducted research and published on faith and third sector engagement in governance, community empowerment, partnership working, multi-level governance, democracy and regeneration. Her work on faith includes: research on the role and contribution of faith groups in civil renewal for the Home Office (with Vivien Lowndes); research on faith based social action for the Faith Based Regeneration Network; and a project comparing the roles and experiences of faith and the wider voluntary and community sectors. She is currently researching issues of faith representation in local governance and has been leading a research project on national Hindu-Christian relations in the UK.

Selected publications include:

Chapman, R. and Lowndes, V. (2009), Accountable, Authorised or Authentic? What do 'Faith Representatives' Offer Urban Governance?, Public Money and Management, Vol. 29, No. 6.
Chapman, R. (2009), Citizens of Faith in Governance: Opportunities, Rationales and Challenges, in C. Durose, S. Greasley and L. Richardson eds. Changing Local Governance, Changing Citizens, Bristol: The Policy Press.
Chapman, R. (2009), 'Faith and the Voluntary Sector in Urban Governance: Distinctive yet Similar?', in A. Dinham, R. Furbey and V. Lowndes eds. Faith in the Public Realm: Controversies, Policies and Practices, Bristol: The Policy Press.
Chapman, R. and Lowndes, V. (2008) 'Faith in governance? The potential and the pitfalls of involving faith groups in urban governance', Planning Practice and Research, Vol. 23, No.1.

Dr Eva Dick, Technische Universitat, Dortmund

Eva Dick is an urban sociologist with a postgraduate diploma in development politics and a PhD in spatial planning. She is a senior research fellow and lecturer at the Department of Spatial Planning in Developing Countries at the Faculty of Spatial Planning of Technische Universit?t Dortmund, where she has been employed since October 2005. Her academic and consultancy work has been dedicated to the topics of migration, social integration and urban and community development in countries of the Global North and South. In the context of the European Capital of Culture "Ruhr 2010", since October 2009 she is a member of the Global Young Faculty, an interdisciplinary network of 100 postdoctoral researchers in cooperation with international scientists focusing on issues of social and urban integration.

Professional career:

1990-1997: Study of Urban Sociology, Hispanistics and Latin American Studies at the University of Hamburg and Universidad Nacional de Colombia in Bogot?, Columbia
Master thesis on social impacts and planning implications of urban upgrading (gentrification) processes in the historical centre of Bogot?, Columbia
1998: Research fellow at consulting company SUM Consult (Settlements and Urban Management), for co-authoring study 'Living and working informally in urban areas', for World Conference Urban 21 on "Sustainable Urban Development"
1998-1999: Postgraduate studies at German Development Institute (DIE), Berlin
Since 2000: Freelance consultant in different development cooperation projects Sub Sahara Africa, Latin America and South-Eastern Europe
2003-2007: PhD at University of Dortmund and University of Minnesota, USA on residential segregation, migrant networks and social integration in St. Paul, Minnesota
Since 2005: Researcher and lecturer at the Department of Spatial Planning in Developing Countries of Technische Universit?t Dortmund

Main research interests:

International and internal migration processes
Residential segregation, urban integration
Social networks and capital

Dr Adam Dinham, Goldsmiths

Dr Adam Dinham is Director of the Faiths and Civil Society Unit, Goldsmiths, University of London. He read Theology at Selwyn College, Cambridge before joining the Church Urban Fund where he worked on issues of social exclusion and community development in areas of urban disadvantage. He has completed a Masters in Applied Social Studies and a PhD in Politics and Community Development. He has practiced as a Social Worker and Community Development Worker and has worked with, researched and written about the engagement of faiths with aspects of public and social policy in a wide variety of contexts. He is currently convening a network of policy makers, practitioners and researchers working in the area of faiths and civil society and is co-director of FaithNetEast, a regional organisation for information, policy and community development with faith communities in the East of England. He is currently Visiting Professor at the University of Calgary, Canada, where he is developing comparative faith based projects.

Professor Roger Eatwell, University of Bath

Professor Roger Eatwell is Professor of Comparative European Politics Dean of Faculty of Humanities & Social Sciences at the University of Bath. He was educated at Oxford University and previously taught at the University of Wales (Swansea) Bath. His research interests include right-wing extremism, European political culture and political leadership and he has written extensively on these subjects. Professor Eatwell's recent publications include:

The New Extremism in 21^st Century Britain (Eatwell and Goodwin eds, 2010)
Ideology, Propaganda, Violence and the Rise of Fascism (2010)
Western Democracies and the New Extreme Right Challenge (Eatwell and Mudde eds, 2009 pb edition)
Towards a New Model of Right-Wing Charismatic Leadership (contemporary Europe) (2008)
New Styles of Dictatorship and Leadership in inter-war Europe (2007 book/2006 journal)
The Concept and Theory of Charismatic Leadership (inter-war Europe) (2007 book/2006 journal)
Explaining Fascism and Ethnic Cleansing (2006)
Community Cohesion and Cumulative Extremism in Contemporary Britain (2006)

Academic Editor Book Series/Current Major Grant:

Dr Katrin Gliemann, Tecnicsche Universitat, Dortmund

Katrin Gliemann, urban planner with a postgraduate diploma and a PhD in spatial planning, has worked at the Department of Spatial Planning in Developing Countries of Technische Universitdt Dortmund since February 2003. Her academic work focuses on the linkage between migration, social integration and urban development as well as on space-oriented methods of empirical social research. Apart from her academic experience she has worked as a journalist for a daily newspaper and a professional journal.

Professional career:

1988 - 1990: Editorial Traineeship (Volontariat) at "Westfdlischer Anzeiger", daily newspaper, in Hamm/W.
1991 - 1998: Study of Spatial Planning at Technische Universitdt Dortmund
Master Thesis on the relevance of housing for the process of migrants' integration (Grade: excellent)
1997 - 1998: Organisation of an interdisciplinary planning competition for students, topic: Sustainable urban development in Brandenburg/ Havel
1998-2002: Research projects at the faculty of spatial planning, Technische Universitdt Dortmund, on migration and urban development in Germany
2000 - 2002: Chief editor of the professional journal "RaumPlanung", Dortmund
2001: PhD at Technische Universitdt Dortmund on immigration neighbourhoods in German cities and the relevance of the biographic approach for spatial sciences (grade: excellent)
Since 2002: Freelance consultant in different urban development projects (e.g. social spatial analysis, urban development programmes)
Since 2003: Researcher and lecturer at the Department of Spatial Planning in Developing Countries of Technische Universitdt Dortmund
Since 2006: Editorial secretary, since 2008 editorial board member of SPRING Research Series (SRS), Dortmund

Main research interests:

Integration of immigrants and immigration neighbourhoods into urban society
Impact of transnationalism on spatial development
Empirical methods of social research in the field of urban planning

Dr Matthew Goodwin, IPEG, University of Manchester

Matthew Goodwin is an ESRC Postdoctoral Research Fellow and joined IPEG in February 2007. Previously, Matthew was Temporary Lecturer at the University of Bath. He holds degrees from the University of Salford (B.A. Hons), the University of Western Ontario (M.A. Political Science) and the University of Bath where he completed his PhD in Political Science in June 2007.

Research Interests

Political behaviour
The politics of race and immigration
Extreme right activists, groups, movements and parties
Research methods in the social sciences

Based on extensive qualitative interviews with political activists Matthew's doctoral research investigated the motive for active participation in extreme right movements. The research is currently being reworked into a book manuscript. Matthew also has a strong interest in the policy implications of organized extremism which continues research he undertook for the UK Home Office ('Understanding the Role of 'Racist' Groups in Community Tension') and the Young Foundation think-tank ('Exploring the Drivers of Far Right Support'). Building on this work, Matthew also co-edited (with Prof Roger Eatwell, University of Bath) the recently published The New Extremism in 21st Century Britain, which examines different forms of political and religious extremism and the implications for public policy.

Outside of his own research Matthew is co-reviews editor for the ECPR Standing Group on Extremism and Democracy. The Standing Group brings together academics who work on various aspects of extremism and currently has approximately 700 members from 50 different countries. Matthew is also a member of the Democracy, Citizens and Elections Research Network (DCERN). He has also discussed some of the issues above on BBC Radio Scotland, BBC World Service, the radio program Westminster Hour and in publications such as Progress Magazine.

Nick Johnson, iCoCo

Nick is a public policy professional, with extensive experience of policy development, research and strategic leadership. He is a leading writer and commentator on issues of integration, equality and. cohesion. Nick contributes regularly to books, journals and magazines on a wide range of subjects including integration, multiculturalism, social capital, cohesion, citizenship and race equality.

Between 2004-7, he was the Director of Policy and Public Sector for the Commission for Racial Equality where he led the development of the CRE's policy agenda. He was also responsible for managing the Commission's relationship with the public sector and monitoring the performance of all public authorities with regards to race equality.

In 2007, he joined the Institute of Community Cohesion as Director of Policy where he led on policy development and public affairs. He has subsequently started his own business working across public policy and research. He remains a Principal Associate with the Institute.

Nick was recently commissioned by the Equality and Human Rights Commission to develop a conceptual framework for 'good relations' and has also completed a new pamphlet for the Fabian Society on what integration means and how it can be measured. He is a Research Fellow at the Smith Institute where he contributes to their programme of publications and seminars.

Previously, he was a consultant with PricewaterhouseCoopers and before that, he was at the Association of London Government, where he was responsible for corporate and strategic policy. Nick is a Fellow of the Royal Society for the Arts and a member of the Ethnicity Advisory Group for the United Kingdom Household Longitudinal Study.

Dr Susan Popkin, Urban Institute, Washington DC

Susan J. Popkin is both Director of The Urban Institute's Program on Neighborhoods and Youth Development and a Senior Fellow in the Metropolitan Housing and Communities Policy Center. A nationally-recognized expert on assisted housing and mobility, Dr. Popkin's research has focused on the impact of the radical changes in housing policy over the past decade on the lives of the most vulnerable public and assisted housing families. This body of research includes the HOPE VI Panel Study, the first large-scale, systematic look at outcomes for families involuntarily relocated from public housing; the Chicago Family Case Management Demonstration, a unique partnership which is testing the impact and cost-effectiveness of intensive services for the most troubled public housing residents; the Three City Study of Moving to Opportunity; and the analysis of housing and mobility outcomes for the ongoing MTO Final Evaluation. Dr. Popkin is currently developing a new research agenda growing out of her work on public housing that will focus on the ways that neighborhood environments, particularly violence, sexual harassment and pressure for early sexual initiation affect youth transitions to adulthood. Previously, she directed the a series of studies on public housing transformation in Chicago; the only national study of public housing desegregation, and two large-scale studies of the Gautreaux Housing Desegregation program. Dr. Popkin was the lead author for the book The Hidden War: Crime and the Tragedy of Public Housing in Chicago; and is the co-author of Public Housing Transformation: The Legacy of Segregation and the forthcoming Moving To Opportunity: The Story of an American Experiment to Fight Ghetto Poverty. Dr. Popkin is also the author of numerous papers and book chapters on housing and poverty-related issues.

Martha Shaw, Goldsmiths

Martha Shaw read French with African & Asian Studies at Sussex before completing a Masters in Social Anthropology at University College, London where she researched the public reaction to the death of Diana, Princess of Wales. She then joined Church Urban Fund where she worked on faith based community development. She is a qualified teacher in Social Science and spent 4 years as Head of Sociology at a London secondary school and has also taught at undergraduate level. She is a trained facilitator and has presented on the use of participatory methods in formal education and community work. She has worked on a number of faith based research and practice projects both within the Unit and in Church Urban Fund and has published on the role of faith communities in areas of urban disadvantage.

Richard Slade, iCoCo

Richard is undertaking PhD research exploring the role of conflict resolution processes and dialogue in addressing tensions between communities in the UK. The topic is jointly supervised by Coventry University's Centre for Peace and Reconciliation Studies and the Institute for Community Cohesion, The research aims to use case studies and action research to assess the use of secular and religious models of peacemaking which both reflect the ethnicity of communities and secure the involvement of ordinary people in dialogue. The research builds on earlier study of conflict resolution and peace building and a career of forty years in social work and the NHS, with a focus on child protection, adult care, interagency working and service user involvement.

Speaker profiles

Professor Harris Beider, iCoCo