Connect21 Early Career Seminar 1: Research at the Intersection of Planning & Real Estate

On June 22, 2021, UGoveRN hosted the first Connect21 Early Career Seminar. Connect21 is a collaborative project to bridge multiple knowledge gaps in global real estate research. For the project, UGoveRN partnered with international planning and real estate scholars, practitioners, the AESOP Young Academic Network (AESOP YA), the African Real Estate Society (AfRES), the European Real Estate Society PhD Network (ERES), the Future Leaders of the African Real Estate Society (FLAfRES) and the Latin American Real Estate Society (LaRES).

This seminar session was targeted at early career scholars (PhD students and postdoctoral researchers) who conduct research at the intersection of planning and real estate studies. The seminar aimed to provide tailored support and networking opportunities to early career scholars, creating an opportunity for feedback, knowledge sharing and capacity building. More details on the ideas behind the early career seminar can be found in a guest post on the AESOP YA blog.

Six selected early career scholars were given the opportunity to meet with experienced scholars to discuss concrete challenges of individual research projects. The session's mentors were Tuna Tasan-Kok, Professor of Urban Governance and Planning at the University of Amsterdam, Michael Ball, Professor of Urban and Property Economics at the University of Reading, and Martijn Dröes, who was by the time of the seminar Associate Professor of Real Estate Finance at the University of Amsterdam.

Furthermore, the academic mentors shared their insights and strategies of addressing common challenges in bridging the above described interdisciplinary divides in a panel discussion. The recording of the panel discussion can be found on UGoveRN's youtube channel:

At the end of a fruitful day, early career scholars also had the chance to network amongst themselves to establish meaningful connections.