The Urban Studies Foundation is pleased to announce the appointment of three new Trustees whose combined expertise spans urban governance, political ecology, and critical approaches to infrastructure, knowledge, and the state. Bas van Heur is professor of urban studies, director of the Brussels Centre for Urban Studies, and programme director of the MSc in Urban Studies (jointly organised by the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) and Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB)). He leads the Cosmopolis Centre for Urban Research and directs the Brussels Centre for Urban Studies. His research engages critically with the politics of urban development, examining how state institutions at different scales mobilise expertise and knowledge to regulate social relations. Across his work runs a concern with democratic urban governance and the capacity of civic actors to produce public knowledge about the city.
Neha Sami joins the Board with extensive experience in urban and regional development, infrastructure governance, and environmental policy, particularly in post-liberalisation India. She is Associate Dean at the School of Environment and Sustainability at the Indian Institute for Human Settlements (IIHS), where she also provides senior academic leadership and anchors the IIHS Research Programme. Dr Sami’s research focuses on the governance of large-scale infrastructure, state capacity, and environmental institutions, as well as the political economy of higher education in urban studies. Her scholarship has been widely published in leading journals and policy-oriented outlets, and she is actively involved in international scholarly networks, including RC21 of the International Sociological Association and the editorial team of IJURR.
Mary Lawhon is Professor of Political Ecology in the School of GeoSciences at the University of Edinburgh, following academic appointments in South Africa and the United States. Dr Lawhon is also a former USF International Fellow, whose research examines the governance of waste, sanitation, and other urban infrastructures, with a particular focus on relational power and everyday practices in cities of the Global South. She has led and contributed to major internationally funded research projects and is the author of influential books on urban theory and political ecology, including Making Urban Theory and Enough! A Modest Political Ecology for an Uncertain Future. Mary will join the USF Board of Trustees in mid-2026.
The USF looks forward to working with the new Trustees over the coming years, as they play a vital role in shaping the Foundation’s strategic direction, funding priorities, and governance, ensuring that its activities continue to support innovative, inclusive, and globally engaged urban research. The Foundation is grateful to the wider urban studies community for its ongoing interest in and support of the work of the USF.