Dr Anouk de Koning, dr Nanke Verloo and dr Markha Valenta have been awarded the Urban Citizen Fellowship, a new initiative set up by the Municipality of Amsterdam and the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study to stimulate the use of advanced research for political deliberation and public policy making.
The three social scientists receive a fellowship to carry out research relevant to the city of Amsterdam. In 2020 the central topic is the democratization of local democracy, which focuses on how citizens can increase their say in the city’s development.
Welfare policy
Until Summer, Dr Anouk de Koning (Associate Professor in Cultural Anthropology at Leiden University) will focus on the ways in which local welfare policymakers and street-level professionals shape the relation between citizens and state. This research shows that welfare institutions and professionals need to be considered in processes of democratization.
Anouk de Koning, currently at NIAS.
Dissent
From September, Dr Nanke Verloo (Assistant Professor in Urban Planning and Conflict at the University of Amsterdam) will take over as Urban Citizen Fellow, carrying out research on dissent, disagreement and protest. Verloo wants to stimulate democratization practices in Amsterdam that are more inclusive to contentious politics and diverse voices of citizens. She will also develop a manifesto for effective protest.
Nanke Verloo. Photograph by Petja Buitendijk.
Undocumented Migrants
In February Dr Markha Valenta (Assistant Professor in Political Science at Utrecht University) will start her Urban Citizen Fellowship. She will examine how citizenship of undocumented migrants takes shape in the city of Amsterdam, and how they are approached as inhabitants of the city. Valente will do comparative research on Amsterdam, New York and Berlin.
Markha Valenta
The Urban Citizen Fellows will become member of the international and interdisciplinary community of NIAS, the oldest independent Institute for Advanced Study in Europe. In the coming years, three more top scholars will be selected to carry out independent research; in 2021 on the topic of identity and in 2022 on the theme of citizenship. At the end of their fellowship, the scholars will formulate an advise that contributes to the development of citizenship in Amsterdam.