Lightning Bites - Transforming Post‑Industrial Cities Together: Examples of Engaged Research Driving Change

Register / RSVP : https://98qdda55.forms.app/lightning-bites-may-2026

This CityLabs Lightning Bites series features short, impactful talks from diverse perspectives, addressing engaged research. Engaged research is a collaborative approach where researchers partner with community members, stakeholders, or end-users throughout the entire research lifecycle. It aims to address real-world, complex societal issues by integrating diverse perspectives and generating knowledge that is relevant, useful, and meaningful to the communities involved.  

SESSIONS: 

Monday May 4th: 

1) 13:00 - 13:30 :  "UNIC Centre for City Futures: Impactful city-challenge-driven research and education. Case Oulu" by Sari Hirvonen Kantola and Anna-Miia Suihkonen, University of Oulu

2) 13:30 - 14:00 :  "Learning to Redesign the Post-Industrial City: A Student Perspective from RePIC" by Gabriel Olegario, RePIC Master's programme 

This Lightning Bites presentation reflects on studying the Erasmus Mundus Joint Master's Degree Redesigning the Post-Industrial City and its role in fostering engaged research on urban transformation from a student perspective. RePIC provides an interdisciplinary environment where urban development studies intersect with real-world policy challenges. Drawing on experiences during the first cohort of the master's degree, the importance of collaborating with local stakeholders and the role of engaged research that combines both bottom-up and top-down approaches is highlighted. Particular attention is given to how the program introduces and develops principles of engaged research as well as how evidence-based research in urban challenges can contribute to meaningful societal impact.

Gabriel Olegario runs SciCommLab Research Dissemination and is a science communicator currently working in the intersection of migration, urban studies and policy-impact. He holds an International Relations degree from Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina and a Political Science degree from the Univerzita Hradec Králové. Gabriel later worked as a research assistant in Finland (Mobile Futures) in the Migration Institute of Finland, as well as in the University of Helsinki and just completed the Erasmus Mundus Joint Master's Degree Redesigning the Post-Industrial City. After graduating, Gabriel received a grant from the municipality of Turku to establish SciCommLab, a service dedicated to science communication and externally funded research projects in Finland.

Tuesday May 5th

1) 13:00 - 13:30 : "Equal Health - A Community-based participatory research program to reduce heath disparities" by Rathi Ramji, Malmö University 

Equal Health is a working model, developed through research at Malmö University, that can be used in developing activities to improve people’s health and empowerment in a neighbourhood or a municipality. The work structure is based around a scientific approach known as Community Based Participatory Research (CBPR), as well as a health promoter function that is an application of the international Cultural Broker concept. To create the necessary conditions for more equal public health through health promotion. The activities are entirely needs-driven, and in all respects based on the experienced and stated needs that citizens in the neighbourhood are involved in formulating.

Improved health, empowerment and participation are the cornerstones of the initiative achieved through health-promoting activities – where the formulated needs determine what those health-promoting activities will consist of. The partnership and activities are created based on the local context. The model aims to become an integral part of the neighbourhood. 

Rathi Ramji is an Associate Senior Lecturer at Malmö University, where her research focuses on public health, health equity, and community‑based participatory research (CBPR). Her work centers on improving well‑being in socially and economically disadvantaged communities, with particular emphasis on children’s health, migrant populations, and collaborative, community‑driven approaches to research. [mau.se], [se.linkedin.com]

With a background in care science and public health, Ramji has contributed to numerous studies exploring health disparities, participatory interventions, and community engagement. She is also deeply committed to developing inclusive research environments and advancing participatory action research methods within Swedish health sciences. [se.linkedin.com]

Her academic journey includes a Master of Science in Public Health from Umeå University and a Bachelor’s degree in Dental Surgery from Tamil Nadu Dr. MGR Medical University. In addition to her role at Malmö University, she has previously held research positions at Uppsala University and Umeå University.

2) 13:30 - 14:00 : "A ‘Thing’ for change? On the messy making of engaged research" by Seline Westerhof, Erasmus University Rotterdam

A ‘Thing’ for change? On the messy making of engaged research

In this project, we aimed to explore how we could engage with local experiences of climate change using community-based and artistic methodologies. In doing so, the process also urged us to reflect on our roles as researchers, what do we take, and what do we give back?

We visited events and places in the neighborhood, spoke with local organizations about what they would like the research to focus on, and asked residents what they want to change in their neighborhood. 1.5 years later, we made a documentary, organized a community event, created a shade-sail, and are currently still working on a newspaper version of the outcomes.

Yet, what is most interesting is not what we made (happen), but how these ‘things’ reveal the messy, relational labor of trying to do research differently in practice. Rather than measuring impact in conventional terms, this research lingers on a more uncomfortable question: how do these ‘things’ come into being amid unmet promises, expectations, and time constraints?

Seline Westerhof is a PhD researcher at Erasmus University Rotterdam, with a background in culture studies, anthropology, and sociology. Her PhD research focuses on how university-city relations are (re-)imagined, enacted and contested in urban contexts. Highlighting specifically, engagement and impact discourses and the various tools, methodologies, roles and arrangements that are involved and how they in turn make certain practices possible, or impossible. 

Wednesday May 6th

1) 13:00 - 13:30 : "Greening historic urban cores: the contribution of collaborative engaged research to urban landscape transformation" by Assoc.prof.dr. Iva Rechner Dika, Assoc.prof.dr. Ines Hrdalo, University of Zagreb

The authors will present engaged research activities within the collaborative project ActGREEN (Activating Green Courtyards for Carbon Neutrality), led by the City of Zagreb in partnership with University of Zagreb Faculty of Agriculture, ODRAZ – Sustainable Community Developmend and CALA – Croatian Association of Landscape Architects. The project is funded by EIT-Climate - KIC through NetZero Citise programme. 

The project focuses on transforming underutilised private and semi-public courtyards within the historic urban fabric into green, climate-responsive spaces, contributing to improved environmental quality, liveability, and urban carbon sinks.

It exemplifies an engaged research approach through data-informed, design-oriented processes, participatory co-creation with local communities, and alignment with local governance. Residents and stakeholders are involved throughout, from analysis to co-design of site-specific interventions.

Students are integrated as active participants in real-world transformation processes, while pilot interventions and a scalable framework position ActGREEN as a testing ground for nature-based and socially innovative solutions for climate-neutral urban development. The project directly addresses climate change as one of the major city challenges and contributes to NetZeroCities mission. 

Iva Rechner Dika is an Associate Professor at the University of Zagreb Faculty of Agriculture, Division of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture. Her research interests include landscape design theory, landscape design, the history of landscape design and the revitalization  of historical parks. She is actively involved in numerous scientific and professional projects, as well as initiatives aimed at enhancing students’ professional competencies and field-based learning. She has received both national and international awards for her work. 

Ines Hrdalo is an Associate Professor at the University of Zagreb Faculty of Agriculture, Division of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture. Her main research interest is sustainable landscape design and green infrastructure. She has worked on numerous professional projects involving the design of open spaces, landscape characterizations, and green infrastructures, earning several awards for them. She applies this experience to enhance students' competencies through her teaching.

Iva Rechner Dika and Ines Hrdalo are both members of the project team Activating Green Courtyards for Carbon Neutrality, led by the the City of Zagreb.

2) 13:30 - 14:00 : "Engaged Research for Climate Action- Rural Lessons for Urban Contexts" by Dr. Evan Boyle, PI Urban Climate Collab at the Sustainability Institute, University College Cork, University College Cork

Classical sociological discourse has traditionally framed rural and urban contexts as a binary relationship. In contemporary settings, however, this dichotomy is increasingly understood as relational, shaped by information flows, digital connectivity, and extended social networks that reconfigure how rural and urban spaces co-evolve. This presentation draws on findings from the Dingle Peninsula 2030 rural sustainability project and situates them in relation to urban contexts. Cities offer significant potential to amplify climate action and accelerate the diffusion of sustainability. Insights emerging from rural initiatives may therefore provide valuable guidance for shaping and enhancing these processes in urban settings. 

Evan Boyle is a Senior Postdoctoral researcher with the Sustainability Institute, University College Cork. His research focuses on community engagement in energy transitions, collaborative approaches to sustainability, and city-university partnerships for climate action. As of 2025, he acts as principal investigator on UrbanClimateCollab, exploring city- university collaborations for climate action (2025–2029). He is a member of the Sociological Association of Ireland and a working group leader on the COST Action SHiFT. Evan is on the Editorial Board for the journal Societal Impacts. He is an active commissioner on Ireland’s Just Transition Commission with secretariate functions provided through the Department of Climate, Energy and the Environment, Government of Ireland. 

Register / RSVP : https://98qdda55.forms.app/lightning-bites-may-2026