Biography
Koen Bartels is a Visiting Fellow of the Heseltine Institute at the University of Liverpool. His interdisciplinary research on relationships between citizens and government spans across public policy, urban studies and public administration. As an action researcher, he co-produces knowledge and action with stakeholders to generate learning and change. He is passionate about supporting new ways of relating, thinking and acting that empower communities and transform urban governance systems.
Koen is Associate Professor in Public Management at the Institute of Local Government Studies and Core Academic Lead ‘Community Recovery and Renewal’ at the Centre for Urban Wellbeing, both at the University of Birmingham. He is also Associate Editor of the Action Research Journal and co-convenes the ECPR Standing Group ‘Theoretical Perspectives on Policy Analysis’. Koen leads the Social Prescribing, Assets and Relationships in Communities (SPARC) Network, a cross-institutional collaborative learning space of academic and practice partners concerned with asset-based approaches to social prescribing, addressing health inequalities, and coproducing a social model of wellbeing.
Koen has published 'Communicative Capacity: Public Encounters in Participatory Theory and Practice' (2015) and ‘Action Research in Policy Analysis: Critical and Relational Approaches to Sustainability Transitions’ (2018) as well as a range of articles and book chapters on social innovation, community participation, collaborative governance, public encounters, urban governance, action research, and interpretive policy analysis. He is currently working on two books: ‘Doing Interpretive Research’ (forthcoming 2023) and ‘Call to Action Research’ (forthcoming 2024).
At the Heseltine Institute, Koen contributes to work on public service innovation and sustainable and resilient cities. He is engaged in activities and a policy brief around co-production and social prescribing. These explore how the pandemic and new legislation offer possibilities for systems change, and in which ways community co-production can lead to more equitable and sustainable health and wellbeing outcomes. In addition, he is strengthening capacities for doing interpretive research and action research at the Institute and the University more widely.
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