DATA26

LJMU Lead and Chair, DATA26 Scientific Council
Liverpool Business School, LJMU

Prof Rafaela Neiva Ganga is a Professor in Public Sociology at Liverpool Business School, working at the intersection of arts, health, and innovation. Using sociological theories and interdisciplinary methods, her research creates evidence-based social change across cultural policy, public health, and business innovation. She has authored over 100 research outputs in five languages, contributing to leading Q1 journals and cultural policy reports — including for the European Commission — with her work cited by the OECD and the Portuguese, EU, and UK Parliaments.

Prof Neiva Ganga has secured over £13 million in research and innovation funding (£2 million for LJMU), supporting projects with measurable public impact. In cultural policy, she co-developed monitoring and evaluation frameworks and cultural strategies for European Capitals of Culture in Slovakia, Portugal, and Poland, as well as the Liverpool Boroughs of Culture. She established the evaluation framework for the Boroughs of Culture programme in 2019 and has led its development across all subsequent years.

Prof Neiva Ganga has presented at nearly 50 global conferences and delivered keynote addresses internationally, with contributions to arts and health recognised through roles as European Commission Expert and UNESCO Newton Prize Reviewer. She has held Visiting Scholar positions in Brazil, China, Europe, and the USA. Before joining LJMU in 2016, she held faculty positions at the University of Porto, the University of Coimbra, and the Porto Social Work School, and worked as a visiting fellow and curator at Casa da Música and Serralves Museum (Portugal), Tate Liverpool, and Šiuolaikinio Meno Centras (Lithuania).

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Head of Research Team
Trenčín 2026

Katka holds a PhD from Masaryk University in Brno and has extensive project experience in educational research. Methodologically, she focuses on biographical and narrative approaches, with a thematic emphasis on adult education and learning from everyday life.

Within the Trenčín 2026 project, she is particularly interested in the stories of ordinary people and various expert groups, exploring how the European Capital of Culture impacts their lives.

Deputy Lead
Trenčín 2026

Dana holds a PhD from the University of Economics in Bratislava, specializing in survey data collection and data science. Her research interests include social cohesion, societal resilience in a rapidly changing world, and the role of culture in strengthening both.

Qualitative Researcher, Community Studies
Trenčín 2026

Zuzana earned her PhD from Comenius University in Bratislava and has extensive experience in health research, social group and community studies, as well as monitoring and evaluating philanthropic projects focused on social change.

She applies ethnographic and narrative methodological approaches to gain deeper insights into how culture impacts people's lives in the city.

National Research Consultant
Trenčín 2026

Miriam received her doctorate from the University of Economics in Bratislava and habilitation from the Faculty of Economics of the Technical University of Košice, where she researched the economic and social dimensions of culture in urban development. She participated in the research and impact assessment of the European Capital of Culture Košice 2013 project. She has been working in the economics of culture since 2011, with an emphasis on cultural and creative industries, museums, libraries and other cultural organizations.

In her work, she combines quantitative and qualitative approaches that allow her to examine the economic and social impacts of culture. She is interested in cultural participation, civic engagement, community development and sustainability in the management of cultural organizations.

Economic Impact, DATA26 Scientific Council
Liverpool Business School, LJMU

Dr Steve Nolan is a Senior Lecturer in Economics at Liverpool Business School, where he leads the Contemporary Economic Policy module (Level 6). He completed his PhD at the University of Manchester in 2021. His research focuses on the impacts of public policy, with interests spanning cultural value, crime, labour markets, and entrepreneurship.

Dr Nolan has led and contributed to several funded research projects, including evaluations for the UK Home Office, Department for Culture, Media and Sport, Welsh Government, and National Museums Liverpool. He supervises a range of interdisciplinary doctoral projects covering topics including mega-mergers in housing, employment of prison leavers, cultural mega-events, integrated care leadership, and gender equity in management accounting.

Beyond academia, Dr Nolan regularly contributes economic commentary to national media, including BBC News, BBC Breakfast, and BBC 5 Live. He represents LJMU as a champion for The Pandemic Institute and serves on its Internal Scientific Advisory Panel.

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PhD Researcher
Liverpool Business School, LJMU

Pouria Motalebi is a PhD candidate at Liverpool John Moores University specialising in economic impact analysis and evaluation, with a particular focus on cultural and event-led development. His doctoral research examines how large-scale cultural initiatives, particularly the European Capital of Culture (ECoC), generate economic and wider socio-economic impacts in small and medium-sized towns.

His research is grounded in cultural and applied economics, with a strong emphasis on impact assessment frameworks, value for money, and evidence-based evaluation for public investment and cultural policy.

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