Staff

Caroline Moser, Professor of Urban Development, was appointed as GURC’s Director in September 2007. Prior to this she was a Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution Washington D.C.

Caroline is an urban social anthropologist /social policy specialist with more than thirty years’ experience in academic research on urban poverty, the informal sector, gender planning, and violence, in teaching at the New School, London School of Economics and DPU, and in policy-focused research at the Overseas Development Institute and the World Bank.

Caroline's current research focuses on asset accumulation and poverty reduction in cities of the South, including household vulnerability, transnational migration, and asset adaptation to climate change. She also does applied research on the role of women's organizations in peace processes.

Caroline's full profile

Philipp Horn joined GURC in September 2010. He works as a research consultant and supports GURC in its ongoing research projects.

Philipp recently finished his MA in ‘Development Studies’ at the University of Manchester. His research interests include dynamics of social exclusion against urban indigenous peoples. Philipp previously worked for Capacity Building International Germany (InWEnt) in Lima, the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development in Bonn, and the Institute for Latina American Studies (ILAS) at the German Institute for Global and Area Studies (GIGA) in Hamburg.

Melanie Lombard was appointed in January 2010, following the completion of PhD in the Department of Town and Regional Planning at the University of Sheffield, on place-making in urban informal settlements in Mexico.

Her research focuses on informal settlements, marginalisation, Latin America, Mexico, place-making, land tenure, and regularisation.

She is currently involved in teaching on GURC's MSc in Global Urban Development Planning.

Melanie's full profile

Laura Partridge joined GURC in September 2010, she provides general administrative support including financial manangement, event co-ordination, internal and external communications. Laura supports the design and implementation of GURC's dissemination strategy and website. She is also the Programme Administrator for the DfID/ESRC-funded programme: Understanding the Tipping Point of Urban Conflict.

Alfredo Stein was appointed in September 2007. Previously he was Research Project Leader at the Housing Development and Management Department, Lund University in Sweden.

With twenty five years of experience in the design, management and evaluation of low-income housing, local development, post-emergency reconstruction and urban poverty reduction policies and projects Alfredo has worked as senior consultant with different international development agencies. 

His research focuses on alternative financial mechanisms for low-income human settlement development. This includes micro lending for housing improvement, and co-financing methods using participatory schemes for the introduction and maintenance of basic infrastructure and services.

• Alfredo's full profile