People

Jo Beall

Emeritus Professor and Distinguished Policy Fellow
j.beall@lse.ac.uk
@JoBeall1

Sudeep Bhargava

Researcher
S.S.Bhargava@lse.ac.uk

Ricky Burdett

Director
Professor of Urban Studies, LSE
r.burdett@lse.ac.uk
@BURDETTR

Nuno F da Cruz

Assistant Professorial Research Fellow
n.m.ferreira-da-cruz@lse.ac.uk
@NFdaCruz

Catalina Duarte

Policy Officer 
C.Duarte-Sanchez@lse.ac.uk

Louise Ellaway

Policy Officer
L.R.Ellaway@lse.ac.uk

Alexandra Gomes

Research Fellow
a.peca-amaral-gomes@lse.ac.uk
@xpgomes3

Imogen Hamilton-Jones

Programme Manager
I.Hamilton-Jones@lse.ac.uk 
@ImogenHJ

Catarina Heeckt

Policy Fellow
c.l.heeckt@lse.ac.uk
+44 (0)20 7107 5524
@CHeeckt 

Tayo Isa-Daniel

Researcher
O.C.Isa-Daniel@lse.ac.uk

Julia King

Policy Fellow
j.king7@lse.ac.uk 
@atjuliaking 

Ben Plowden

Senior Associate
B.Plowden@lse.ac.uk

Francesco Ripa

Associate
F.Ripa@lse.ac.uk 
@ripafran 

Philipp Rode

Executive Director
Associate Professor (Education), LSE
Co-Director, Executive MSc in Cities, LSE
p.rode@lse.ac.uk
@PhilippRode

Ben Rogers

Bloomberg Distinguished Fellow in Government Innovation
B.Rogers1@lse.ac.uk
@ben_rog

Savvas Verdis

Senior Lecturer in Practice
Co-Director of the Executive MSc in Cities
s.verdis@lse.ac.uk
+44 (0)20 7955 6313
@SavvasVerdis 

Nermin Abdulla

Executive MSc Programme Manager
N.Abdulla@lse.ac.uk
+44 (0)20 7955 6429

Katie Beck

Urban95 Academy Manager
k.a.beck@lse.ac.uk

Emily Cruz

Communications and Engagement Manager
e.m.cruz@lse.ac.uk
 

Sarah Davis

Finance and Resourcing Coordinator
s.j.davis@lse.ac.uk
+44 (0)20 7107 5155

Jennifer Ho

Executive MSc Programme Administrator
and Centre Administrator
j.ho8@lse.ac.uk
+44 (0)20 7107 5232

Marie Kaune

Urban95 Academy Administrator
M.S.Kaune@lse.ac.uk

Kate Ascher 

Visiting Senior Fellow, LSE Cities
Kate Ascher currently serves as the Milstein Professor of Urban Development at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, where she teaches real estate, infrastructure and urban planning courses. She continues to practice as a sub-consultant to Buro Happold, a global engineering firm based in the UK, where she served as partner through 2019 and founded the “Cities” team – which today works on a variety of resilience, public space and economic development projects on behalf of government and private clients across the US and internationally.

Prior to joining Buro Happold, she served as Director of Development at Vornado Realty Trust, Executive Vice-President at the NYC Economic Development Corporation (under Mike Bloomberg), and Assistant Director of the Port at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. In these capacities, she oversaw and delivered a variety of complex projects ranging from waterfront and park activation to transportation, real estate development and urban regeneration.  

Kate holds a BA from Brown University, and an M.Sc. and Ph.D. from the London School of Economics, and is the author of several books on urban infrastructure (The Works, The Heights and The Way to Go), as well as co-author of New York Rising, an illustrated anthology of New York City’s physical evolution. She serves on the Boards of the Greenpoint Manufacturing and Design Center in NYC and the Holcim Foundation, based in Zurich

Jean-Louis Missika

Visiting Senior Fellow, LSE Cities
From 2014 to 2020, Dr. Jean-Louis Missika was a Paris councilor and Deputy Mayor of Paris, in charge of urban planning, architecture, Greater Paris projects, economic development and attractiveness. From 2008 to 2014 he served as Deputy Mayor of Paris in charge of innovation, research and higher education.

Jean-Louis Missika is a media sociologist. He holds a PhD in management, a degree in philosophy and is graduated of Sciences Po Paris, where he has also taught media sociology. He was head of the Information and Dissemination Service of the Prime Minister Michel Rocard and director of BVA, before setting up a consulting firm. He also served as Vice President of Iliad.

Jean-Louis Missika has written several books, notably on media and politics: "La Folle du logis. television in Democratic Societies", with Dominique Wolton (Gallimard, 1983), "La Fin de la television" (Le Seuil/La République des idées, 2006), “Parler pour gagner, sémiotique des discours de la campagne présidentielle de 2007”, with Denis Bertrand and Alexandre Dézé (Presses de Sciences Po, 2007) and “Des robots dans la Ville”, with Pierre Musseau (Taillandier Essais 2018).

Suzanne Hall

Professor in Sociology and Deputy Head of Department, Department of Sociology, LSE

s.m.hall@lse.ac.uk

Kate Laffen

Assistant Professor in Behavioural Science, Department of Psychological and Behavioural Science

k.m.laffan@lse.ac.uk 

David Madden

Assistant Professor in Sociology, Department of Sociology, LSE

d.j.madden@lse.ac.uk

Kathleen Scanlon

Distinguished Policy Fellow and Deputy Director, LSE London, LSE

k.j.scanlon@lse.ac.uk

Fran Tonkiss

Head of Department, Department of Sociology, LSE

f.tonkiss@lse.ac.uk

Christine Whitehead

Emeritus Professor of Housing Economics, Department of Economics, LSE

c.m.e.whitehead@lse.ac.uk 

Austin Zeiderman

Associate Professor of Geography, Department of Geography and Environment, LSE

a.zeiderman@lse.ac.uk