Honorary Professors and Research Fellows
Bo Bengtsson (Honorary Professor)
Bo Bengtsson is Professor of political science including housing politics at Uppsala University, Sweden. He shares his time between the Department of Government and the Institute for Housing and Urban Research. He has consistently applied general theoretical perspectives to empirical research on housing issues at different societal levels and published a large number of books, articles and review articles on housing and politics. He has analysed the specific policy theory of housing provision as state correctives to the market, and applied it to issues about social citizenship, the right to housing, and universal vs. selective housing systems. He has been the leader of several research projects, including a comprehensive comparative project on the housing regimes of the five Nordic countries in a historical perspective of path dependence.
Volker Busch- Geertsema (Honorary Professor)
Volker Busch-Geertsema works at the Association for Innovative Social Research and Social Planning (GISS, Bremen, Germany). He is a member of the European Observatory on Homelessness since 1995 and since 2009 he is the Coordinator of the Observatory and member of the editorial team of the European Journal of Homelessness. He has conducted a number of extensive research projects on different aspects of homelessness in Germany and Europe. He is coauthor of “Measurement of Homelessness at European Union Level” (2007), has published a series of books and a large number of articles and research reports focusing on homelessness, housing exclusion and poverty.
Claire Frew (Honorary Research Fellow)
Claire Frew is Policy and Impact Manager at Homeless Network Scotland with experience in the housing and homelessness sector that spans more than 15 years. Claire has a Post Graduate Diploma in Housing Studies from the University of Stirling and a Masters in Public Policy from the University of Glasgow. Claire has played an important role in supporting the transition to Rapid Rehousing and Housing First across Scotland, working alongside people with frontline and personal experience of homelessness to contribute to research and influence policy decisions. She has provided generous, high skilled and unstinting support to I-SPHERE colleagues on a whole range of research projects over recent years including Multiple Exclusion Homelessness in the UK, Destitution in the UK, Hard Edges Scotland and our work with the Hunter Foundation. Claire adds enormous value to the work that we do and amplifying its impact across Scotland and beyond.
Chris Leishman (Honorary Professor)
Chris Leishman previously worked for Heriot-Watt University and the University of Glasgow on the economics of land markets, new-build housing supply, housing affordability, tenure choice and housing consumption decisions. Chris now works for the University of Adelaide, South Australia, where he has a particular interest in housing affordability and new housing supply, and he continues to collaborate closely with the I-SPHERE team on a range of UK and international projects. Chris is the lead on Markets theme for CaCHE, THE UK Housing Evidence Centre. He is currently working on several housing supply focused projects for UK and devolved government. Chris is an editor of the Urban Studies Journal and a previous editor of the Housing Studies Journal. He is director of the University of Adelaide AHURI Research Centre, the Centre for Housing, Urban and Regional Planning and the Hugo Centre for Migration and Population Research.
Mandy Littlewood (Honorary Research Fellow)
Mandy is an independent housing researcher and research methods expert with 20 years research experience including work as Research Fellow in the Centre for Housing Research and Urban Studies at Glasgow University and Associate Director in TNS Social Research. Mandy has assisted numerous organisations, including The World Bank and the UK Department for International Development, to develop results frameworks to assess project/programme efficiency and effectiveness. She has also delivered training on survey methods for the Social Research Association and the Scottish Housing Best Value Network. Mandy’s research interests include homelessness, tenancy sustainment, housing need and affordability and she has worked with I-SPHERE on a series of projects including Destitution in the UK and Hard Edges research series.
Peter Mackie (Honorary Professor)
Dr Peter Mackie is a Senior Lecturer at Cardiff University in the School of Geography and Planning and a leading UK and international expert on homelessness and extreme forms of poverty and disadvantage. Dr Mackie has undertaken research funded by the ESRC, DFID, British Academy, International Institute for Economic Development, Welsh Government, local authorities, charities, Big Lottery and the Joseph Rowntree Foundation. Peter is currently the FEANTSA (European Federation of National Organisations Working With the Homeless) Research advisor for the UK, an advisor to the newly established Centre for Homelessness Impact, convenor of the Wales Housing Research Network, and Director of the Welsh Hub of the UK Collaborative Centre for Housing Evidence. Dr Mackie is a very frequent collaborator with I-SPHERE on a range of these research projects and other activities.
Cameron Parsell (Honorary Professor)
Dr Cameron Parsell is a leading light in Australian and international homelessness research. He is extraordinarily productive with regard to publishing very well-received papers in high-quality peer-reviewed journals. He has an extremely high profile at international level which owes much to the impact that these papers have had, and also his exceptionally engaging presentational style. Dr Parsell is a very frequent collaborator with I-SPHERE on a range of scholarly outputs and initiatives. He has written several journal articles with both Professor Suzanne Fitzpatrick and Dr Beth Watts and other collaborative activities include joint presentations to both academic and policy audiences.
Hal Pawson (Honorary Professor)
Hal Pawson is Professor of Housing Research and Policy at the University of New South Wales (UNSW), Sydney. He is also an Associate Director of UNSW’s City Futures Research Centre, one of Australia’s leading urban policy research centres, having achieved the only 5-star rating in Urban & Regional Planning under the 2012 National Excellence in Research for Australia assessment exercise. From 2002-2011 Hal worked as a Senior Research Fellow and then as a Professorial Fellow in Heriot Watt’s School of the Built Environment, where he gained a strong national and international reputation as a policy-focused researcher specializing in housing and urban issues. Since moving to Sydney Hal has retained academic and professional links to the UK and, in particular, to the I-SPHERE team at Heriot Watt. He continues to collaborate with HW colleagues on research projects, academic outputs and journal editorial management. This includes a significant ongoing role in a high profile commissioned research project led by Professor Suzanne Fitzpatrick, ‘The UK Homelessness Monitor’
Professor Mark Stephens (Honorary Professor)
Mark Stephens is the Ian Mctaggart Chair in Land, Property and Urban Studies (Urban Studies) at Glasgow University. He specialises in comparative housing research and has a particular interest in the way in which housing systems inter-act with wider economic and social institutions. He has conducted research and consultancy for a wide range of organisation including the European Commission, United Nations and the Council of Europe Development Bank. He is lead editor of the UK Housing Review and a member of the Co-ordination Committee of the European Network of Housing Research. He previously headed up the Urban Institute at Heriot Watt University.
Gillian Young (Honorary Professor)
Gillian Young has been engaged in housing research for many years as a private housing consultant and as Director of Research for Communities Scotland (Scottish Government) previous to that Gillian plays an active role in the Institute for Social Policy, Housing, and Equalities Research (I-SPHERE’s) research activities with expertise in intensive data management and supporting central / local government clients.