JRC Future of Cities - Homelessness in the EU - Speakers

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Aristotelis Alvanos, Homeless Team in DG Employment, Social Affairs, and Inclusion of the European Commission

Aristotelis Alvanos is a seconded National Expert, member of the Homelessness Team in DG Employment, Social Affairs, and Inclusion of the European Commission. The team arranges the daily operations and facilitates the activities of the European Platform on Combatting Homelessness, launched in 2021 via the Lisbon Declaration. Prior to his current role, he worked at the Hellenic Development Bank and the Greek Recovery and Resilience Fund Agency. As a social researcher, he has also contributed to studies and policy papers on household indebtedness, energy poverty, homelessness and child-friendly justice. He holds a BA in Political Science by the University of Athens and an MA in European Studies by the University of Birmingham, UK.

 

 

 

Lewis Dijkstra, Joint Research Centre, European Commission

Lewis Dijkstra leads the Urban and Territorial Analysis Team in the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission. This team produces and analysis territorial data, builds spatial scenarios, supports impact assessment and makes policy recommendations for cities, towns and rural areas in Europe as well as Africa. Prior to that, he led the Economic Analysis sector in the Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy. He is a visiting professor in practice at the London School of Economics and Political Science, a Penn Institute for Urban Research Scholar and a Fellow of the Regional Studies Association. He holds a PhD in Urban and Regional Planning from Rutgers University, New Jersey, an MSc in Urban and Regional Planning from the London School of Economics and Political Science and a BA in Political Science from the University of Ghent, Belgium.

 

 Arianna Gatta, University of Queensland, Australia

Arianna Gatta is a Research Fellow at the University of Queensland. Her work revolves around the impact of social policies on venerable groups such as the youth and people experiencing homelessness. In Italy she has conducted research on access to welfare among the homeless in collaboration with the Italian Federation of the Organization for the Homeless (fio.PSD). She is currently advising the Italian Bureau of Statistics and Rome City Council to conduct a count of the homeless population in Rome.

 

Alexandre Lloyd, OECD

Alexandre Lloyd is a Junior Social Policy Analyst at the OECD in the Social Policy Division within the Directorate for Employment, Labour and Social Affairs. In his role, he specialises in homelessness, affordable housing and family policy, and supports updates to the OECD Affordable Housing Database (AHD) and the OECD Family Database (FDB). He holds a Master’s in International Economic Policy from the Paris School of International Affairs at Sciences Po and a Bachelor of Science in Economics and International Development from Dalhousie University. Previously, he worked as a Parliamentary Assistant to a Canadian Member of Parliament.

 

Paola Proietti, Joint Research Centre, European Commission

Paola Proietti is a scientific project officer in the Unit of Territorial Development, Fair and Sustainable Economy Directorate of the Joint Research Centre. Her recent work relates to inequality and extreme poverty in Europe, local monitoring of the SDGs and development finance. She is an expert for the JRC Task Force on Equality. Prior to her current role, she contributed to the OECD’s work on migration. Before, she worked in academia. She completed her Bachelor and Master in Economic and Social Science at the University of Bocconi, then she spent one year in the Geography Department of Sorbonne University and obtained her PhD in Urban Studies and Regional Science in Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies and Gran Sasso Science Institute.

 

Solene Molard, Eurocities

Solène is a policy advisor on homelessness at Eurocities, where she focuses on advocating for European and local policies that will create an environment that is enabling effective homelessness policies. She also leads the work of the dedicated working group, bringing together big cities across Europe to learn and exchange local strategies and practices to end homelessness. Together with the members of the working group, she published last year a report on Ending youth homelessness in cities. Before this, she worked on social policies, migration and Roma inclusion for a French regional authority and NGOs representations in Brussels.

 

Freek Spinnewijn, FEANTSA

Freek Spinnewijn is the Director of FEANTSA, a major European NGO working on the issues of homelessness and housing exclusion. FEANTSA brings together non-profit services that support homeless people in Europe, with over 130 member organisations from 29 countries. Freek also held the position of Vice President for the European Public Health Alliance and was previously a board member for the European Anti-Poverty Network. With over 20 years’ experience, Freek has comprehensive knowledge of housing issues and homelessness across Europe.

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