We proudly announce Lasse Gerrits as the new network Chair by special appointment at the Erasmus School of Social and Behavioural Sciences (ESSB) and the Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies (IHS). Lasse Gerrits is currently the Academic Director, overseeing the quality of the PhD programme, the Master’s in Urban Management and Development, and the IHS research programme.
A network Chair is a professorship that bridges between two organisations to strengthen the academic anchoring of the organisations. Beyond its significance as a means of recognition, the network Chair role links IHS more closely to ESSB when it comes to academic matters. It provides new opportunities, opening a path for more prominent participation in academic forums, and a stronger influence on the education policy and continuity of our programmes.
“I’m honored to have been appointed as Professor for the Governance of Complex Urban Transformations at the IHS. It signals academic recognition of the knowledge developed at our institute through our training programmes, advisory work, and scientific research. It is also an important step in anchoring IHS more strongly within the EUR academic community. As the first chairholder, I am to deepen our understanding of the factors that contribute to successful and unsuccessful urban transformations so that we can learn about the structural reasons why some cities start performing better than others”.
About Lasse Gerrits
Lasse Gerrits is the Academic Director of IHS, , where he is responsible for the academic quality of the master programmes, the PhD programme, and the scientific research. He studied Public Administration and Urban Planning at the Erasmus University Rotterdam (the Netherlands). He received his PhD degree in 2008 and was appointed as assistant-professor (2008 – 2011) and associate-professor (2011 – 2014) at the Erasmus University Rotterdam before being appointed as full professor in Political Science at the Otto-Friedrich University in Bamberg, Germany.
