Round up of MUI papers, awards and external engagement, Feb-Mar 2019

A selection of Manchester Urban Institute papers, talks and external engagement from February and March 2019.

Awards

Tanja Bastia has taken up a Leverhulme Fellowship as of 1 February 2019 for 16 months to research ageing and migration in Bolivia.

Dr Henrik Ernstson has been made Honorary Associate Professor at the University of Cape Town's African Centre for Cities, appointed by UCT's Council and Vice-Chancellor, Professor Mamokgethi Phakeng.

The appointment is in recognition of his long contribution to the institution and towards strengthening further international collaborations. It lasts for five years to 2023.

Joe Ravetz has received a grant award under the 'Towards A Sustainable Earth' scheme (£700,000).

The PERI-CENE (Peri-Urbanization & Climate-Environment Change) project is a comprehensive assessment of global peri-urbanisation and its climate impacts, risks and vulnerabilities.

With an interactive Peri-urban Analysis Tool, the project explores synergistic pathways in a Policy Lab with 24 city-regions from around the world, with in-depth case studies in India and UK, and knowledge transfer via ICLEI, UN Habitat and UN Global Compact for Cities.

Stefan Bouzarovski and Saska Petrova have been successful in obtaining funding for the ‘Renewable energies for vulnerable groups’ (POWER-TY) project, led by the Andalusian Energy Agency, and funded by the Interreg Europe programme, via the European Regional Development Fund. The total FEC value for the project at Manchester is £197,000.

Stefan Bouzarovski, Kevin Ward, Cecilia Wong and Seth Schindler have successfully obtained funding for an UMRI pump-priming bid on ‘The age of infrastructure: China as a global urban agent’. Other participants in the project include Nuno Gil (MBS), Penny Harvey (SOSS), Peter Gries (Manchester China Institute) and Mathaios Panteli (Electrical Engineering).

Publications and articles

Philip Black and Ian Mell have both contributed articles to the latest issue of Town Planning Review.

Diana Mitlin argued that slum dwells may have lived in their communities for 40 years, so they shouldn't be treated as transient places, in this BBC Future article.

Mark Usher has published an article entitled Desali-nation: techno-diplomacy and hydraulic state restructuring through reverse osmosis membranes in Singapore in Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers 44 (1): 110-124.

Saskia Warren and Paul Long published An Area Lacking Cultural Activity? Researching Cultural Lives in Urban Space in Cultural Intermediaries Connecting Communities: Revisiting Approaches to Cultural Engagement edited by Phil Jones, Beth Perry and Paul Long and published by Policy Press, Bristol.

Stefan Bouzarovski joined the editorial board of the journal ‘Energies’ and took up an editorial assignment for SAGE Open.

All recent papers from MUI researchers can be found via the University's research portal.

Talks, visits and engagement

Stefan Bouzarovski:

• Gave invited talks at the Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities (University of Cambridge, February 2019) and a conference on 'Designing Future Energy Policies' organised by the SHAPE Energy consortium led by Anglia Ruskin University (Brussels, January 2019).
• Represented the Manchester Urban Institute's new 'People and Energy' signature programme at an Energy Systems Workshop organised by The University of Manchester and Greater Manchester Combined Authority in January 2019.
• Opened, via video link, the 'Energy poverty, clean energy, and the European energy divide' conference, organised by Babes-Bolyai University in partnership with Enel Romania and the Romanian Energy Regulatory Authority (Bucharest, January 2019).
• Chaired a session on ‘Disruptive solutions’ at the ‘Disruptive energy for communities’ conference, University of Plymouth (14 March 2019).
• Led a discussion on fuel poverty within the public sector space on energy and buildings at the Manchester Green Summit (25 March). 

Martin Dodge:

• Appeared on BBC Radio 4 talking about what the Hulme estate adjacent to the University was like to live in before it was regenerated in the 1990s.
• With Victoria Jolley, Alison Ronan, and Lois Smith, curated 'Celebrating Burnage Garden Village: Building Manchester's Pioneering Edwardian model for better housing' at the Manchester Central Reference Library throughout March.

Elisa Pieri:

• Delivered an invited talk, 'Pandemic preparedness: a sociological approach to radical uncertainty and crisis governance', on March 7 at the Manchester Global Health Society event 'Epidemic to Pandemic: preparing for the worst and lessons learnt', University of Manchester. Other speakers were Dr S Mardel OBE and D Wightwick.

Joe Ravetz:

• Keynote at the EU Joint Research Centre Workshop 'Regional Innovation Strategy 3 in Greece: Consolidating Governance and Raising Ambition', Thessaloniki.
• Led the 'Integrated Envisions' workshop at the 'Beyond Technical' meeting, Helsinki, for Finland Academy of Science.
• Invited as Associate Member of the Manchester Institute of Innovation Research.

Saskia Warren:

• Presented at the UKRI-AHRC Leadership Fellows Conference, Millennium Point, Birmingham.

Albena Yaneva:

• Gave a keynote lecture at the Bauhaus Dessau Foundation, Festival School FUNDAMENTAL, 21 March 2019, entitled 'The Secret Life of Architectural Archives', Dessau, Germany.