The ESA Conference in Porto is approaching, and so are the elections of the new RN37 Board! Electoral process will take place during the RN37 Business Meeting at the Porto conference (August 29, 1pm-2pm, LC.2.00 – Venue L).
ESA confirmed us that there will be no provisions available for remote voting, which means that the elections will occur in person.
Electoral Process for RN37 Board (2024-2026 Term)
Election Procedures:
1. The Coordinator, PhD Representative, and five Board Members will be elected by secret ballot during the Business Meeting in Porto.
2. Only RN37 members in good standing and present in person at the Business Meeting can vote.
3. Voting allocation:
- One vote each for Coordinator and PhD Representative.
- Up to five votes for Board Members.
4. Immediately after Board election, Candidates for Vice-Coordinator will be sought from among elected Board Members. RN37 members will then elect the Vice-Coordinator by secret ballot (one vote per member).
Board Composition: The Board will consist of seven people: the Coordinator, Vice-Coordinator, PhD Representative, and elected Board Members.
Diversity Consideration: Members are strongly encouraged to consider diversity of backgrounds when voting, as per RN Guidelines (Art. 1, Paragraph i).
No presentations of Candidates will be made during the assembly due to time constraints.
Meeting Format: The Business Meeting will be held in a hybrid format if possible, but this is subject to room assignment constraints. However, as we said before, only RN37 members present in-person will be able to participate in the elections. Other ones can join the meeting and have the right to speak, but they cannot vote.
Below you can find information about the Candidates to the Board for the 2024-2026 term, listed in alphabetical order.
Anitra Baliga, Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Netherlands; baliga@ihs.nl
“I am an architect turned sociologist. I received my PhD in sociology in 2020 and am currently employed at the Erasmus University Rotterdam. My research focuses on urban development and planning in India. With nearly 10 years of experience in European academia, I have collaborated with researchers across the UK, Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands.
My dedication to professional service is evident through my active participation in various research networks. Notably, I have been a part of the Real Estate Finance Complex (REFCOM), and the Network for European Researchers Studying Urbanization in the Global South (N-AERUS). As a steering committee member of N-AERUS from 2021 to 2024, I helped organize successful conferences in Kassel and Belfast.
If chosen as a board member for the Research Network 37, I will contribute my expertise in conference planning, my extensive contacts within European academia, and my knowledge of urban studies, towards the network’s growth and success. RN37 – Nomination and personal info Anitra Baliga for the Board Election 2024-2026. More info

Anitra Baliga
Margarita Barañano, Complutense University of Madrid, Spain (UCM); mbaranan@ccee.ucm.es
“I have been interested in the theoretical and empirical analysis of the spatial and socioeconomic dimension of social processes, from a national and international perspective. More recently, I am studing how ongoing urban processes are impacting on roots and mobilities in vulnerable neighbourhoods, and on the local organisation of well-being and care in these spaces (02 panel at the RN37 Mid Term Conference, Berlin).
Thanks to this activity and also to my participation in 4 Cities Master and in other networks (UIU, UNAEUROPA) I have developed numerous international academic collaborations, from which I have learned a lot.
I have held different positions in academic management (Vice-Chancellor), and in dissemination and transfer activities (Executive President Congress of Women’s World).
For all these reasons, I would be delighted to be part of the RN37 Board and I believe that my contribution to the team could be positive.” More info

Margarita Barañano
Madalena Corte-Real, Nova University of Lisbon, Portugal; mscortereal@gmail.com
Madalena Corte-Real has a background in Sociology and a PhD in Urban Studies. She is a lecturer at ISEC-Lisboa and at Nova University Lisbon, teaching Urban Sociology, Sociology of the Territory, Urban Planning and Qualitative Methods. She has been participating in different research projects, particularly in the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, from different approaches and within an interdisciplinary context. The main areas of interest are urban development and local transformations by analysing how a territory is produced and perceived.
She has been an RN37 board member for three years (which was also a period of adaptation and learning) and would like to continue contributing to the promotion of Urban Sociology through (midterm) conferences, summer schools, and the dissemination of different calls through the research network’s social media.More info

Madalena Corte-Real
Maxime Felder (he/him), Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Laboratory of Urban Sociology (Switzerland); maxime.felder@epfl.ch
“My work has focused on the role of urban spaces in the formation of social ties, and more recently on how vulnerable newcomers to European cities find their bearings and a place to stay. After two years in the Netherlands, I am back in Switzerland where I am involved in new research on socio-environmental controversies related to housing (rezoning, densification). I am also co-chair of the urban sociology section of the Swiss Sociological Association. I would like to contribute to the work of the RN37 – from which I have benefited over the last ten years – as a member of the board. Collaboration with other RNs (e.g. in the form of joint sessions) is something I would like to promote in order to allow for cross-fertilisation and to better develop and emphasise the contribution of urban sociologists to general sociology. As a qualitative researcher, I would also like to work on bridging the (growing?) gap between qualitative and quantitative methods in RN37.” More info

Maxime Felder
Katarzyna Kajdanek, Department of Urban and Rural Sociology, Institute of Sociology, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Wrocław, Poland; katarzyna.kajdanek@uwr.edu.pl
“I am Associate Professor at the Faculty of Social Sciences at UWr since 2016. I also have administrative functions of Director of the Doctoral College in Sociology, Erasmus+ Coordinator, and from October 2024 I will start as a Deputy Director for International Affairs at the Institute of Sociology.
As a former vice-coordinator of the RN37 network, I have actively contributed to its growth and development during my tenure. My involvement included supporting the preparations for the ESA mid-term conference in Berlin in 2022 and co-editing the RN37 newsletter with Niccolò Morelli. I also played a key role in developing visual materials for Rn 37 online communications and managed the RN’s Facebook presence from 2021 to 2023.
One of my proudest achievements was the successful submission of a post-midterm volume, co-edited with Anna Bednarczyk and Rui Carvalho, which will showcase the network’s research output (it is expected in December 2024 from Palgrave Macmillan).
Looking ahead to the 2024-2026 term, I am keen to continue my service on the RN37 board. My goals include further developing the newsletter and exploring new initiatives, such as launching online meetings for scholars at all career stages within RN37. These meetings would focus on promoting well-being in academia, a cross-cutting issue affecting research, teaching, and work-life balance in higher education institutions.” More info

Katarzyna Kajdanek
Beatriz Lacerda (She/Her/Hers), Faculty of Arts and Humanities of the University of Porto (FLUP), Institute of Sociology of the University of Porto (IS-UP); bunny.lacerda@gmail.com
Beatriz Lacerda holds both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in Sociology from the University of Porto, where she studied the networks of African communities in the city and their resistance to Portuguese colonial heritage. She has experience in artistic and social intervention projects, where she integrates sociology and cinema, employing ethnography and participatory visual methodologies. She is a member of RN37 (since 2021) and ETNO.URB (since 2023).
Currently, she is a PhD scholarship holder for the project ‘PERICREATIVITY: Peripheral Creativities: Youth, Arts, and Public Policies in Segregated Territories,’ coordinated by Otávio Raposo (CIES-ISCTE) and Lígia Ferro (IS-UP). In this project, she is conducting ethnographic research in marginalized areas of Porto, exploring the daily lives of young people and their interactions with the city, alongside an analysis of Portuguese youth public policies.
She is applying to be the RN37 PhD representative, aiming to strengthen the network among urban studies students and to create a collaborative writing project across different cities. More info

Beatriz Lacerda
Gabriele Manella, University of Bologna (Italy), Associate Professor in Urban and Environmental Sociology; gabriele.manella@unibo.it
“My main research interests are the environmental and social challenges of urban transition, with a specific focus on land-use trends and policies as well as on neighborhood problems and dynamics. I have had to honor to serve the ESA RN37 – Urban Sociology Board as Member (2019-2021) and Coordinator (2021-2024). I was also a Scientific Board Member of the Environmental and Territorial Section of AIS – Italian Association of Sociology (2013-2019). I had the opportunity to contribute and join in person to the RN37 V Midterm Conference (Berlin, 2022) and the I RN37 Summer School for Young Urban Scholars (Genoa, 2023). I am also co-editing (with Madalena Corte-Real) a monographic issue for the journal Fuori Luogo with some selected contributions from the Midterm Conference.
In case I am elected as Coordinator, I really would like to further strengthen the relation with other ESA Research Networks as well as other national and international sociological associations. At the same time, I really would like to continue a specific attention to young scholars and PhD students, with debate and publication opportunities.” More info

Gabriele Manella
Niccolò Morelli, PhD, Junior Assistant Professor of Sociology, Department of Political and International Sciences, University of Genova, Italy; niccolo.morelli@unige.it
“I am a Junior Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Genova, Italy. I was elected to the RN37 Board in 2021, and I am now running for a second term to contribute to the growth of the RN37. In the last mandate, I organised in the University of Genova, together with the RN37 Board, the First RN37 Summer School for young urban scholars, which has seen 50 PhD students and post-docs from all over the world train on urban studies and the possibility to discuss their research projects with senior scholars. My attention will be devoted to building more opportunities for young, precarious scholars to develop formal and informal skills and strengthen our community. I would also promote a debate on how urban sociology is taught in European universities, which is crucial for creating more exchange between our universities.” More info

Niccolò Morelli
Oleksandra Nenko, Dr.Sc., senior researcher at Turku Institute for Advanced Studies and Landscape Studies Department, University of Turku, Finland; visiting researcher at University of Arts Helsinki and Georg-Simmel Centre for Metropolitan Studies Berlin; oleksandra.nenko@utu.fi
Oleksandra is Ukrainian sociologist based in Finland. Her research focuses on urban creative place-making. Oleksandra is s. Oleksandra participates in “IN SITU. Place-based innovation of cultural and creative industries in non-urban areas” Horizon Europe project; leads “Stories of the wooden houses: Circular skills and lifestyle narratives in Nordic and Baltic countries” project funded by Nordic Council of Ministers. She received grants from Finnish Academy, KONE Foundation, Finnish Society of Sciences and Letters. Before 2022 Oleksandra has served as a professor of urban sociology at the Institute for Design and Urban Studies, St.Petersburg. In 2017-2021 Oleksandra was a board member of ESA RN02. Oleksandra has taught courses at UTU, Tallinn University, Stockholm University, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, others. Oleksandra has published papers in Poetics, American Journal of Cultural Sociology, Cultural Studies ↔ Critical Methodologies, in collective monographs by Routledge, Peter Lang, Springer. As a member of RN37 board, Oleksandra is going to promote multidisciplinary urban research, collaboration with ESA’s RN02 and RN11, engagements with Ukrainian academia, Eastern European, and Nordic-Baltic scholars.

Oleksandra Nenko
Manuel Ruiz, Ciência-IUL Research excellence and science at ISCTE-IUL, manuel_ruiz@iscte-iul.pt, More info
Tadas Šarūnas, Researcher at Institute of Sociology and Social Work, Faculty of Philosophy, Vilnius university (Lithuania); tadas.sarunas@fsf.vu.lt
Tadas has been interested in urban and cultural sociology for more than a decade. He entered his academic career with dissertation “Pleasures and Pains of a Changing City” on social segregation in central Vilnius. Prior to that, he worked for fifteen years advising local, national and European agencies on a various policy issues. Tadas continues to practice public sociology – bringing his knowledge to local and professional communities. He led evaluation of “European Capital of Culture – Kaunas 2022” on interventions’ impacts on local and cultural communities. Tadas is also engaged in interdisciplinary work. He is leading a group of sociologists and historians at a Centre of Excellence for Post-authoritarian Landscapes in Vilnius university. During his service in the board Tadas will call to embrace benefits of interdisciplinary and public work in developing urban research. He will also stand for interests of colleagues in the early stages of their careers. More info

Tadas Šarūnas