Following the January online kick-off meeting, the first actual meeting of the DASH members took place in Copenhagen, from 27th February to 1st March 2023, hosted by Aalborg University in Copenhagen and facilitated by the University of Stuttgart. It was also the first training session within the funding period, allowing the consortium members to familiarize themselves with each other and establish a collaborative approach to transdisciplinary research.
Agenda here
Presentation 1 here
Presentation 2 here
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Co-creating a common understanding: First DASH training in Copenhagen
Els Keunen
10 November 2023
From 27 February to 1 March, the first DASH meeting took place in Copenhagen. It was hosted by Aalborg University and facilitated by the University of Stuttgart. DASH members came together for training on transdisciplinary research and to further develop the project’s methodological approach. The goal was to create a productive environment, so that different competences, skills and background could be brought into dialogue with each other. The DASH project spans four different European countries, in each of which housing markets have their own particularities, and social or not-for-profit housing plays a different role. It brings together partners from different sectors of society – from academia to local government and civil society – convening organizations with not only different experiences and expertise, but also different expectations about the project.
In Copenhagen we tried to establish an initial joint understanding of the project in terms of its methodological strategy and of ways of collaborating together. On the first day of the meeting, participants were introduced to the rules for the MSCA Staff Exchanges and for the DASH secondments more specifically. There were also presentations by Josefine Fokdal on transdisciplinary research.
On the second day, participants from the same country but from different sectors came together to discuss the main issues surrounding social housing and affordability from their perspective, and presented these to the others. The participants debated some of the main research questions of the project, such as: What are the main differences and commonalities between social housing systems across countries and cities, in terms of rationales, funding, main regulations and providers? What models have been implemented? Which groups find it more difficult to access subsidized housing, and why? What are the latest development in housing / urban policies relevant to SDG 11.1 & 11.3?
This was followed by a presentation on affordable housing in The Netherlands by Gideon Bolt. In the afternoon, the team visited Copenhagen’s South Harbour. The day ended with a session on building a common language around social housing and affordability, since these are not understood in the same way in different contexts.
On the third day, the team divided according to their professions (academia, civil society, local government) to discuss expectations about co-producing knowledge and project outcomes. At the end of the meeting, next steps and secondments were planned and agreed on. The meeting marked the successful beginning of the DASH research programme.
