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Gerben Helleman (1977) is an urban geographer and works - since 2017, for two days a week - as a coordinator for the platform Stad en Wijk [City and neighborhood]. A collaboration between research groups of universities of applied sciences which give insight in and propose answers for social issues in city and neighborhoods through practice-oriented research. Mainly in the field of participation and resilience. The research group Metropolitan Development of THUAS is one of the initiators of the platform. Since 2019 he also works – for two days a week – as stimulator/coordinator for a living lab in the neighborhood ‘Tanthof’ in the city of Delft. Commissioned by the municipality, THUAS, Inholland University of Applied Sciences, and Delft University of Technology. The goal is to create more cooperation between these parties and with the city and its residents. By involving researchers, teachers and students one can understand and solve urban issues. Before that he worked for ten years at a housing association in The Hague. First as a social project leader in the Schilderswijk and then as a team leader and senior policy officer. In addition to more strategic issues (housing vision, local performance agreements), he dealt with issues such as poverty alleviation, protected living, resident participation, and quality of life. And before that, he worked as a researcher and adviser at various knowledge institutions with regard to urban renewal and the realization of an integrated neighborhood approach. Since 2011, he has been writing - on his own behalf - in various media and on his blog Urban Springtime. Among other things about the relation between the ‘planned’ and ‘lived’ city. The tension between 'the way a city is planned, designed and made by professionals' and 'the way a city is experienced, practiced and filled in by its users'. In 2016 he wrote a book about this subject, published by the research group Metropolitan Development under the title "Looking for new relationships; about the relationship between the planned and lived city' (in Dutch: ‘Op zoek naar nieuwe verhoudingen; over de relatie tussen de geplande en geleefde stad').

Karijn Nijhoff looks in her work at different sides of integration and labor market participation of migrant groups in The Hague and in the Netherlands. The focus of her work is on the stories of migrants themselves – she looks at experiences and needs of new arrivals to generate conclusions on a successful process to participation in society. In her work, she uses both qualitative as quantitative research methods. Karijn earned her PhD in sociology at Michigan State University, United States. In her dissertation she looked at the effect of welfare state provisions on economic participation of migrant groups.

Stefanie Schuddebeurs works as a researcher on the European research project “Socially Engaged Universities” that focuses on how universities can work more effectively and more inclusively within their city communities. She also works for lectorate Civic Technology as a researcher in the project “Public Dialogues”, which through case studies, literature research and research by design interventions aims to arrive at a theoretical basis and practical toolkit on how to have better dialogues on public matters. She draws insights from her MA in Conflict Studies and Human Rights (University of Utrecht) and a honours BA in Liberal Arts and Sciences, focused on social psychology, sociology and anthropology (University College Utrecht). Stefanie previously worked for five years as a policy maker and project leader for the Ministry of Home Affairs and Justice, focusing on democratic innovation and participatory processes as well as integration. In 2015 she founded the first Listening Academy of the Netherlands, in which she consults on participatory trajectories and co-creative processes with stakeholders.