People at the Centre for Urban Wellbeing

Meet the co-directors

Professor Jessica Pykett

Professor Jessica Pykett

Professor of Social and Political Geography

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

Jessica Pykett is a social and political geographer with research interests in governance, knowledge practices, policy innovation and political subjectivities.  Her research has focused on affective and emotional techniques of governance, and the influence of neuroscience and behavioural science on public policy and economic theory. Current work is on the intersections of neuroscience and ...

Email
j.pykett@bham.ac.uk

Dr Laura Kudrna

Dr Laura Kudrna

Assistant Professor

Department of Applied Health Sciences

Laura Kudrna is an Assistant Professor in Health Research Methods at the University of Birmingham.  She researches behaviour change and wellbeing and has specific interests in topics related to workplaces, income and inequalities. 

Email
l.kudrna@bham.ac.uk

Meet the theme leads

Dr Koen P.R. Bartels

Dr Koen P.R. Bartels

Departmental Director of Research

Department of Public Administration and Policy

Koen Bartels is an Associate Professor in Public Management at INLOGOV. His interdisciplinary research on relationships between citizens and government spans across public policy, urban studies and public administration. He is a leading international scholar in public encounters, social innovation, action research, and interpretive policy analysis.

Koen is INLOGOV’s Director of ...

Telephone
+44 (0)121 414 8089
Email
k.p.r.bartels@bham.ac.uk

Dr Dorothy Butchard

Dr Dorothy Butchard

Lecturer in Contemporary Literature & Digital Cultures

Department of English Literature

I teach and research contemporary and twentieth century literature, with particular interest in digital cultures and creative representations of technological change in the modern age.

Email
d.butchard@bham.ac.uk

Dr Gerald Jordan

Dr Gerald Jordan

Assistant Professor

School of Psychology

Dr. Gerald Jordan’s programme of research examines how young people  transform their lives and communities following a serious mental health challenge; and how such transformations are shaped by personal, social and community-level determinants of health and resilience that are, due to issues of intergenerational injustice, increasingly becoming difficult to access . He conducts his ...

Email
g.jordan@bham.ac.uk

Dr Joanne M Leach

Dr Joanne M Leach

Research Fellow

Department of Civil Engineering

Joanne’s research interests can be found at the intersection of liveability, sustainability and resilience, with an emphasis upon research integration, transdisciplinary working practices and the science of team science. Her research focuses upon the link between the built environment, infrastructure and wellbeing.

Joanne is Executive Manager of the UK Collaboratorium for Research on ...

Telephone
0121 414 3544/+44 (0) 77 8579 2187
Email
j.leach@bham.ac.uk

Professor Afroditi Stathi

Professor Afroditi Stathi

Professor of Physical Activity and Community Health
Community Health Lead - Centre of Urban Wellbeing

School of Sport, Exercise and Rehabilitation Sciences

Professor Afroditi Stathi is an expert in the field of the promotion of active and healthy ageing.  She leads a portfolio of international, interdisciplinary research which investigates ways of supporting older people achieving meaningful and lasting lifestyle changes and living healthier and fulfilling lives.

Telephone
+44 (0)121 415 8489
Email
a.stathi@bham.ac.uk

Meet the theme co-leads and co-organisers

Nafsika Afentou

Nafsika Afentou

Research Fellow

Department of Applied Health Sciences

Nafsika’s research interests are in the Economics of Obesity and the use of health economics methods to support a systems approach to obesity policy. She is particularly interested in the application of economic evaluation and decision-analytic modelling to direct decision making in the realm of obesity. 

Nafsika joined the Centre for Economics of Obesity led by Professor Emma Frew in ...

Email
n.afentou@bham.ac.uk

Dr Susanne Boerner

Dr Susanne Boerner

Assistant Professor in Human Geography

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

Dr Susanne Börner’s research focuses on youth everyday agency, emotions and urban well-being in the context of interconnected urban crises. Susanne is particularly interested in the experiences of those growing up and living ‘at the margins’, such as children and young people as well as multi-generational contexts of knowledge generation. Her Marie Curie Global ...

Email
s.borner@bham.ac.uk

 

Associate Members

 

The Centre for Urban Wellbeing Advisory Group

The Centre for Urban Wellbeing has an Advisory Group whose role is to:

  • advise on research strategy and prioritisation to benefit members of the wider society and community 
  • support impact generating and knowledge exchange activities to inform policy
  • identify opportunities to extend the impact of the centre beyond the West Midlands region
  • identify new networks and partnerships to enable user involvement in research 

The Advisory Group held its first meeting in March 2021 where we discussed the main urban wellbeing policy challenges facing local communities, established productive ways of working with the University, and set out a clear vision for addressing wellbeing inequalities through place-based and systems-level interventions.

Victoria Boelman, Director of Research, The Young Foundation

John Cotton, Cabinet Member for Social Inclusion, Community Safety and Equalities, Birmingham City Council

Karen Creavin, Chief Executive of The Active Wellbeing Society

Claire Douglas, Head of Occupational Health and Wellbeing at SCS railways

Paul Fisher, Deputy Director of Public Health at Sandwell Council

Andrew Fuller, City Design Manager, Birmingham City Council

Mark Gamble, East Birmingham Inclusive Growth Development manager at Birmingham City Council

James Gleave, Sevenoaks Strategic Planning Manager at Sevenoaks County Council

Mike Goodfellow-Smith, Sustainable Finance Advisor at Birmingham City Council

Zoe Green, Assistant Director, Cities & Urbanisation, PWC

Rebecca Hadley, Head of Organisational Development, Birmingham Settlement

Dina von Heimburg, Associate Professor and Co-leader of Nordic Research Center for Wellbeing and Social Sustainability (WellFare), Norwegian University of Science and Technology

Rebecca Johnson, Trustee, Kenilworth Centre

Ottar Ness, Professor and Head of Nordic Research Center for Wellbeing and Social Sustainability (WellFare), Norwegian University of Science and Technology

Kelsey J. O'Connor, STATEC Research (Luxembourg), International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies

Conrad Parke, Birmingham Anchor Network Co-ordinator for CLES – the national organisation for local economies

Debbie Pippard, Director of Programmes at Barrow Cadbury Trust

Justin Varney, Director of Public Health at Birmingham City Council

Liz Zeidler, Chief Executive of Centre for Thriving Places

Jack Williams, Head of Education & Conservation, Dudley Zoo & Castle and Vice Chair, BIAZA Terrestrial Invertebrate Working Group

Eve Carter, Education and Research Officer, Dudley Zoo

Martin Holcombe, Chief Executive, Birmingham Settlement

Dr. Shira de Bourbon Parme, Urban Wellbeing and Innovation Lead, Regenerative Cities, Ramboll UK