Advisory Committee

The Advisory Board, which consists of both academics and practitioners, will advise the Executive Board on all matters of importance relating to project planning and implementation. The aim is both to strengthen quality control and to heighten the effectiveness of the interactive elements of the research project. They were chosen to represent both practical knowledge of the field, academic excellence and access to dissemination channels.

The members of the Advisory Board will critically comment on reports delivered in the course of the project and advise on how to effectively disseminate its findings. Advise from members of the Advisory Board will be crucial for the feasibility of the project design, the most effective formats for disseminating the project findings and the project evaluation.

Fintan Farrell is the Director of EAPN (European Anti Poverty Network) since 2002 and past President of the European Social Platform. He comes from Ireland where his community work has been primarily with Irish Travellers. He has also been appointed to various roles, in Ireland, representing the wider Community and Voluntary sector as well as in EU social NGOs context. He has been active in EAPN since its foundation in 1990 and was appointed Director in 2002. The membership of EAPN is made up of 26 National Network in Member States of the European Union plus Norway and 24 European organisations active in several or all of the EU member states. Fintan has also played an active role in the Platform of European Social NGOs since its foundation, being its President in 2007-2008.

Mathias Maucher is responsible for the Sector “Health and Social Services” and on the employees’ side on behalf of EPSU (www.epsu.org) the European Sectoral Social Dialogue Committee for the Hospital Sector. EPSU affiliates about 8 million public service workers from over 260 trade unions in more than 45 countries (EU MS and EU’s Eastern Neighbourhood). EPSU organises workers in the energy, water and waste sectors, health and social services (about 3.5 million) and local and national administration.

Formerly, Maucher was a member of the Monitoring Unit of the Observatory for the Development of Social Services in Europe (Frankfurt) and researcher at the Mannheim Centre for European Social Research. He has been active in research, organisational development and consultancy for local authorities and non-profit organisations, with a specific focus on social work and different fields of personal social services.

Alice Pittini is the Research Coordinator of CECODHAS Housing Europe, the Federation of Public, Cooperative & Social Housing – a network of 45 national and regional federations which together gather about 41 400 public, voluntary and cooperative housing providers in 19 countries. Altogether they manage over 27 million homes, about 12% of existing dwellings in the EU.

Alice is in charge of CECODHAS’ research department – the Observatory – and has worked on a number of housing-related research projects and publications (see www.housingeurope.eu/about/observatory). She also coordinates regular meetings to identify and disseminate innovative examples among practitioners, and she’s the editor of CECODHAS Exchange magazine presenting best practices from the public, cooperative and social housing sector.

Steven Rathgeb Smith, President of the Association for Research on Nonprofit Organisations and Voluntary Action (ARNOVA) and Professor of Public Affairs at the Daniel J. Evans School of Public Affairs at the University of Washington. He is also associate dean of the Evans School and director of the Nancy Bell Evans Center on Nonprofits and Philanthropy. Smith is co-author of Nonprofits for Hire: The Welfare State in the Age of Contracting and co-editor of Public Policy for Democracy. He was the editor of Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly (NVSQ), journal of the Association for Research on Nonprofit Organisations and Voluntary Action (ARNOVA) from 1998 until 2004, as well as former president of ARNOVA. His work has examined welfare policy and government-nonprofit relationships.

Anne Skevik Grødem is a senior researcher at Fafo, Institute for Labour and Social Research, in Oslo, Norway. Her main areas of interest are family sociology, comparative family policy, child poverty, and migration. In the period August 2009–August 2011, she worked as a secretary to the government-appointed Welfare and Migration Committee. Relevant publications include “Household Poverty and Deprivation Among Children: How strong are the links?” Childhood 15 (1): 107-125 and “The impact of poverty and immigrant background on children’s school satisfaction: Evidence from Norway”. International Journal of Social Welfare, 18(2):193-201.