The Team
Who Are We?
Our Team
We are a small team of six - 3 Professors, 2 Researchers and an Office Manager. We have been together a very long time, in some cases from the first day the Institute was formed. So we work well and deliver quality together.
Our Management Committee
We are governed by a Management Committee consisting of senior academics from LJMU and leaders from public and private sectors. This ensures we bridge the world of research and policy and have a clear steer on market needs and opportunities. The Committee provides challenge but also external support. The current members are: Max Steinberg (Chair) Chief Executive, Liverpool Vision; Professor Nigel Weatherill, Vice-Chancellor; Professor Diane Meehan, Dean, Faculty of Technology and Environment; Sir David Henshaw, Chairman, NHS North West; Robert Hough, Deputy Chair, Peel Holdings and Chair NWDA; Jim Gill, former Chief Executive, Liverpool Vision; Peter Styche, former Director of Spatial Planning and Housing, Government Office North West; Lesley Chalmers, former Chief Executive, English Cities Fund; Geoffrey Piper, Chief Executive, North West Business Leadership Team; John Flamson, Director of Partnerships and Innovation, University of Liverpool.
Our Partners
During the past decade we have collaborated with the following consultancy and academic partners: Cambridge Economic Associates; Investment Property Databank; Metropolitan Research Institute; MORI; OECD; Regeneris; SDRC; University of Oxford; SQW Consulting; PWC; ECORYS; National Opinion Research Centre; European Urban Knowledge Network; EUROCITIES; Oxford Economics; University of Paris Est.; University of Tampere; National Institute of Social Research, Greece; University of Groningen, Netherlands; City University New York; Cass Business School, City University; University College London; University of Bristol; Sheffield Hallam University; Oxford Brooks University; University of Reading; University of West of England; University of Warwick; University of Glasgow; University of Sheffield; University of Newcastle; London School of Economics.
Our Clients
We work extensively with clients in the public, private and voluntary sectors at local, regional, national and international levels. We are widely trusted and respected for our objectivity, independence, honesty and judgement. Our clients have included the European Commission, OECD, EUROCITIES, the ESRC, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, the Leverhulme Trust, UK Government departments, the UK Parliament, the Audit Commission, the National Audit Office, Regional Development Agencies, the Scottish Executive, the Northern Way, individual cities in the UK and Europe, local authorities, regeneration partnerships, the Local Government Association, the Core Cities, voluntary organisations and the private sector. Those clients trust us and are loyal to us. We get much repeat business from them.
More About Us
Professor Michael Parkinson CBE
Professor Michael Parkinson CBE is Director of the European Institute for Urban Affairs at Liverpool John Moores University. He has acted as adviser on urban affairs to the European Commission, OECD, EUROCITIES, the Department of Communities and Local Government, the National Audit Office, the House of Commons Select Committees, the Core Cities and a range of cities in the UK. He has generated over £8m in research funds to assess the development of cities, urban policy and regeneration in the UK and Europe. He lectures extensively nationally and internationally. He is a regular contributor to the media. He was made Commander of the British Empire for services to urban regeneration in 2007.
Michael is currently acting as Specialist Adviser to the HoC CLG Select Committee Inquiry into Regeneration. He is also leading for DG Regio of the European Commission the Espon project on ‘Secondary Cities in Europe: Performance, Policies and Prospects.’ He completed in 2010 a major study of the impact of the recession’ The Credit Crunch, Recession, Regeneration, and the North: What’s Happening, What’s Working, What’s Next?’ This updated his original report to government in 2009 ‘The Credit Crunch and Regeneration: Impact and Implications.’ He produced the ‘State of the English Cities’ Report in 2006 for the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister - the authoritative analysis of cities in Britain. He led CLG’s expert panel on Regeneration and Economic Development Analysis until 2010. He was Director of the ESRC’s Programme on CITIES: Cohesion and Competitiveness, a major five-year research programme involving 25 Universities.
He has published over 100 books, articles and reports and is author or editor - singly or jointly – of:
• The Credit Crunch, Recession, Regeneration and The North (2010)
• The Credit Crunch and Regeneration: Impact and Implications (2009)
• Review of Walsall Regeneration Company (2009)
• Evaluation of Camborne, Pool, Redruth Urban Regeneration Company (2009)
• Interim Reviews of Derby and Nottingham URCs (2008)
• Make No Little Plans : the Regeneration of Liverpool City Centre (2008)
• Evaluation of Sunderland Urban Regeneration Company (2008)
• Compete – Messages for Competitive European Cities (2007)
• City Development Companies: the National and International Evidence( 2007)
• Belfast: Where is It Going? (2007)
• The Visioning Study for Birmingham City Centre Masterplan (2007)
• Final Evaluation of Sheffield One Urban Regeneration Company (2007)
• State of the English Cities (2006)
• Evaluation of New East Manchester Urban Regeneration Company (2006)
• Cardiff: A Competitive European City? (2006)
• State of the Cities: A Progress Report to the Delivering Sustainable Communities Summit (2005)
• Competitive Scottish Cities? Scotland’s Cities in the European Context (2005)
• Competitive European Cities: Where do the Core Cities Stand? (2004)
• City Matters: Competitiveness, Cohesion and Urban Governance (2004)
• Belfast: A Competitive City? (2004)
• Urban Neighbourhoods – Urban Studies (2001)
• The Urban Audit, Volume I and II (2000)
• The State of English Cities (2000)
• Urban Regeneration Companies (2000)
• Combating Social Exclusion: Lessons from area-based programmes in Europe (1998)
• Building Partnerships in the English Regions (1998)
• Strategic Responses to Area Regeneration: A Review and Research Agenda (1996).
• City Challenge: Interim National Evaluation (1996)
• Regional Government in Britain: An Economic Solution? (1996)
• Public/Private/Community Partnerships in Local Government (1995)
• Assessing the Impact of Urban Policy (1994)
• European Cities Towards 2000: Profiles, Policies and Prospects (1994)
• Cultural Policy and Urban Regeneration: The West European Experience (1993)
• Urbanisation and the Functions of Cities in the European Community (1992)
• Leadership and Urban Regeneration: Cities in North America and Western Europe (1990)
• Regenerating the Cities: The U.K. Crisis and the U.S. Experience (1988)
• Reshaping Local Government (1987)
• Liverpool on the Brink (1985)
• U.S. and U.K. Education Policy: A Decade of Reform (1979)
• The Labour Party and the Organisation of Secondary Education (1970)
Email: M.H.Parkinson@ljmu.ac.uk
Professor Hilary Russell has wide experience of leading major evaluation studies, such as the national interim evaluation of the City Challenge initiative. She was the long term independent evaluator for Liverpool City Challenge and Speke Garston Regeneration Partnership and conducted other SRB evaluations including North Huyton, Wythenshawe and Cityfocus in Liverpool city centre. She was the co-ordinator for the North West in the National Evaluation of New Deal for Communities and, following that, carried out numerous project evaluations and the end of scheme evaluation for Kensington Regeneration, the NDC programme in Liverpool. She took part in the national evaluation of Neighbourhood Management Pathfinders. She undertook a study for the LGA and the (then) Health Education Authority on the Links between public health and regeneration.
She has conducted various studies relating to community development and participation, such as the evaluation of the community development strategy of Tyne and Wear Development Corporation and Bootle City Challenge Community Involvement Strategy. She participated in the national evaluation of the Community Empowerment Fund, Community Chest and Community Learning Chest programmes and reviewed the lessons about community engagement coming out of the New Deal for Communities programme.
Hilary has had a longstanding interest in Local Strategic Partnerships. She first carried out the National Evaluation of New Commitment to Regeneration Partnerships – the forerunners to LSPs - for the Local Government Association and Joseph Rowntree Foundation. She was a member of the research team that conducted the Local Strategic Partnerships, Feasibility Study, Formative Evaluation and Action Research and she led the National Evaluation of Local Area Agreements and Local Strategic Partnerships for CLG, the final report of which was published in 2011. She also led a study for the Equality and Human Rights Commission on the role of LSPs and LAAs in promoting equality published in 2010.
Hilary has considerable experience of the voluntary, community and faith sectors. She served as a member of the Commission on the Future of the Voluntary Sector and has been a trustee of Liverpool Charity and Voluntary Services for many years. She co-edited Rooted in the City: recollections and assessments of 100 years of voluntary action in Liverpool (2010). She is a member of the Churches Together on Merseyside Management Council, is a Lay Canon of Liverpool Cathedral and a member of the North West Forum of Faiths. Most recently (2011/12), she carried out research for the Church of England on Resourcing Christian Community Action which has been turned into an interactive website – how2help.net .
Email: H.E.Russell@ljmu.ac.uk
Professor Richard Evans is Professor of Urban and Regional Policy and Deputy Director of the European Institute for Urban Affairs. He has over 20 years academic experience in evaluating a wide range of urban policies and programmes and highlighting good practice in policymaking in Britain and Europe. He has conducted research for many prestigious national and international clients including Directorate General XV1 of the European Commission, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the Leverhulme Trust, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, the Economic and Social Research Council and various UK Government departments. His research specialisms include urban policy evaluation, housing, economic development, urban regeneration, community initiatives and town centres.
He played a major role in drafting the State of the English Cities report for the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister by undertaking the most comprehensive review of the impact of Government policy on urban Britain ever undertaken. He has evaluated many kinds of housing regeneration programmes. He has played a major role in research consortiums evaluating Local Strategic Partnerships, Neighbourhood Management Pathfinder, New Deal for Communities and Community Participation Programmes. He has also been involved in most of the Institute’s evaluations of Urban Regeneration Companies and has also evaluated other forms of special delivery vehicle. He has also conducted research in a number of European cities. He was a key member of the research team for the DG Regio ‘Urbanisation and the Functions of cities’ research project and prepared case study reports on Brussels, Birmingham, Smaller Cities and Transportation and Communications networks and undertook pan-European urban data collection and analysis. He designed the case study methodology for the ESPON Secondary growth poles in territorial development project and completed a case study on Munich. He has recently completed evaluations of the Liverpool City Region Multi Area Agreement and Lancashire Local Enterprise Partnership.
Email: S.R.Evans@ljmu.ac.uk
Professor Richard Meegan has worked in the field of social and economic research for 38 years. His research has ranged across urban and regional regeneration and development, labour market change, community responses to the impact of economic restructuring and community economic development. He has been funded by central and local government, overseas planning and government agencies and a variety of research councils and foundations. The findings of this research have been widely published. He was a member of the consortiums evaluating Local Strategic Partnerships and the national Neighbourhood Management Pathfinder, New Deal for Communities and Community Participation Programmes. He has been involved in all seven of the Institute’s evaluations of Urban Regeneration Companies.
He has also undertaken a substantial body of evaluation research funded by the European Commission including the Merseyside Long-Term Unemployment-Prospects Project, a number of UK Objective 2 programmes, URBAN and the Merseyside Objective One Development Plan. He co-authored the European Commission Report on Social and Economic Inclusion through Regional Development: the Community Economic Development Priority in European Structural Funds Programmes in Great Britain. He was Principal Investigator of a research project, 'Pathways to Integration: tackling social inclusion on Merseyside', that formed part of the ESRC's major 'Cities, Competitiveness and Cohesion' Research Programme. This research focused on the pioneering community economic development priority – ‘Pathways to Integration’ - in Merseyside’s Objective One Programme. He was also part of the transnational team researching European Metropolitan Governance for the Austrian Federal Ministry for Education, Science and Culture and a ‘key informant’ for the case studies in the recent DG Regio Report, Cohesion Policy Support for Local Development: Best Practice and Future Policy Options. He is Project Manager of a major transnational research project for ESPON exploring the performance, policies and prospects of major non-capital cities and significant secondary cities in Europe ‘Secondary Growth Poles in Territorial Development in Europe’. He is currently involved in a joint ESRC research project exploring the impact of the recession on households in the two city regions of Bristol and Liverpool with the Centre for Urban and Public Policy Research at the University of Bristol.
Email: R.A.Meegan@ljmu.ac.uk
Dr Gerwyn Jones has been involved in several high profile assignments and has contributed to and co-authored a number of influential studies, both at national (UK) and European level. Most recently Gerwyn has been working on an ESPON funded project exploring the role of secondary cities in territorial development across Europe. Gerwyn is taking the lead on one of the research project’s nine case study cities, namely Cork, and is leading a review of secondary literature on the territorial development and economic geography of Europe. He has also led a wide ranging literature review of ranking exercises undertaken by major World and European consultancy groups and leading professional bodies relating to the performances and competitiveness of European countries, regions, and cities.
In the UK, Gerwyn has evaluated a number of European funded programmes. He was the project manager and lead author for two national evaluations of a 2000-2006 Objective 3 ESF Programme, named Global Grants, commissioned by the Department for Work and Pension. The results of this work gained significant policy attention, and influenced the design and delivery of the programme during the 2007-2013 programming period. Gerwyn is very experienced in undertaking field research with a wide range of stakeholders, from programme managers through to beneficiaries and programme participants from the most disadvantaged and marginalised of groups. Most recently, this has involved undertaking research as part of the national evaluation of the New Deal for Communities initiative, and local evaluations of various Neighbourhood Management and New Deal programmes located in some of the most disadvantaged communities of Liverpool and Merseyside. He is currently a Co-Investigator on an ESRC funded project researching the impact of the economic downturn on households in Bristol and Liverpool.
Email: G.Jones@ljmu.ac.uk
Jay Karecha is a Research Fellow and lead team member for quantitative analysis at the European Institute for Urban Affairs. He has successfully led work for numerous UK and international projects and is currently carrying out data analysis for the ESPON Secondary Growth Poles project examining the social & economic performance of European cities. His recent work includes a study of the impact of the credit crunch on Northern England, plus evaluations of urban regeneration schemes across the UK including Kensington New Deal for Communities, Camborne Pool and Redruth Regeneration, Derby Cityscape, New East Manchester, Sunderland arc, Tees Valley Urban Regeneration Company, Nottingham Regeneration Ltd and Walsall Urban Regeneration Company. He specialises in measurement of socio-economic change. He was involved in benchmarking European cities in the Compete INTERREG 3C project, and interrogating the State of the Cities Database for the State of the Cities report funded by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minster. His key skills consist of statistical analysis, measurement of socio-economic change, management of records and databases, research design, questionnaire design, IT skills with extensive use of Microsoft Suite, and map making using GIS.
Jean Parry is the Institute's administrator. She has looked after all its business affairs since it opened and is available to deal quickly with any enquiries about us.
Email: J.Parry@ljmu.ac.uk
