Officeholders – ExCo (Executive Committee)
Below we list current and past members of the Executive Committee. To get in touch with a current officeholder, simply use the following email addresses:
- President
president@plpr-association.org - Vice President
vice-pres@plpr-association.org - Secretary General
info@plpr-association.org - PhD Coordinator
phd@plpr-association.org
2026-2028 (Current Officeholders)
At the 2026 conference in Atlanta, the following ExCo was elected:
President:
Rebecca Leshinsky, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia
Vice President:
Andreas Hengstermann, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Oslo, Norway
Secretary General:
Sina Shahab, Cardiff University, Cardiff, United Kingdom
PhD Coordinators
Katharina Künzel, TU Dortmund University, Dortmund, Germany
Bernadeta Baroková, Charles University, Czechia
Current liaisons and members of the extended ExCo (2026-Present):
AESOP Planning and Law theme group leaders:
Thomas Hartmann, TU Dortmund University, Germany.
Josje Bouwmeester, Utrecht University, The Netherlands.
North America representatives:
Ed Sullivan, Portland State, United States.
Richard Norton, University of Michigan, USA.
Asia Pacific Rim representatives:
John Sheehan, UTS, Sydney, Australia.
Jinwon Jeon, Yulchon LLC, Soul, South Korea.
Latin America Liaison:
Marta Lora-Tamayo, National University Distance Education, Madrid.
Safira de la Sala, Independent researcher, Brazil.
Middle East and North Africa liaisons:
Nir Mualam, Technion, Haifa, Israel.
Numan Kılınç, Istanbul Technical University, Türkiye.
Former liaisons and members of the extended ExCo (2020-2026):
North America representatives:
Ed Sullivan, Portland State, United States
Ellen Bassett, Georgia Institute of Technology.
Asia Pacific Rim representative:
John Sheehan, UTS, Sydney, Australia,
Latin America Liaison:
Safira De La Sala, The Technion.
AESOP Planning and Law theme group leaders:
Linda McElduff, Ulster University, Belfast, United Kingdom.
Sina Shahab, Cardiff University, Cardiff, United Kingdom.
Rachelle Alterman, Israel Institute of Technology, Faculty of Architecture & Town Planning.
Former ExCos:
At the 2024 conference in Munich, the following ExCo was elected:
2024-2026:
- President: Rebecca Leshinsky, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia
- Vice-presidents: Andreas Hengstermann, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Oslo, Norway
- Secretary-general: Nir Mualam, Technion, Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel and Yifat Holzman-Gazit, The College of Management, Israel
- PhD coordinator: Josje Bouwmeester, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Utrecht University, the Netherlands and Katharina Künzel, Department of Spatial Planning, Dortmund University, Germany.
2022-2024:
- President: Thomas Hartmann, TU Dortmund University, Dortmund, Germany
- Vice-presidents: Eran Kaplinsky, University of Alberta, Canada & Rebecca Leshinsky, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia
- Secretary-general: Nir Mualam, Planning Policy Lab, Technion, Haifa.
- PhD coordinator: Sofija Nikolić Popadić, Institute of Social Sciences, Belgrade, Serbia.& Josje Bouwmeester, Geographisches Institut, University of Bern, Switzerland
At the 2020 conference in Novi Sad, the following ExCo was elected:
2020-2022
- President: Thomas Hartmann, TU Dortmund University, Dortmund, Germany
- Vice-presidents: Eran Kaplinsky, University of Alberta, Canada and Rebecca Leshinsky, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia.
- Secretary-general: Andreas Hengstermann, Ulster University, Belfast, UK.
- PhD coordinator: Sofija Nikolić Popadić, Institute of Social Sciences, Belgrade, Serbia.
2018-2020
- President: Richard Norton, University of Michigan, USA,
- Vice-president: Thomas Hartmann, Utrecht University, The Netherlands,
- Secretary-general: Andreas Hengstermann, Bern University, Switzerland
- PhD coordinator: Lu Zhou, University of Hong Kong, China
In addition, several liaisons were appointed following the 2018 conference (also members of the ExCo):
- North America representative:
- Eran Kaplinsky, University of Alberta, Canada,
- Dawn Jourdan, Texas A&M University, USA
- Pacific Rim representative:
- John Sheehan, UTS, Sydney, Australia,
- Stessa Chao, National Cheng-Kung University, Taiwan
- AESOP PLPR theme group leader:
- Leonie Janssen-Jansen (until April 2018, see information here), Wageningen University, The Netherlands,
- Linda McElduff, Ulster University, United Kingdom,
- Rachelle Alterman, Technion, Israel
Furthermore, conference hosts of upcoming and previous conferences are members of the ExCo. The next elections will take place at the 14th annual conference in 2020.
At the 2016 conference in Bern, the following ExCo was elected:
2016-2018
- President: Richard Norton, University of Michigan, USA,
- Vice-president: Thomas Hartmann, Utrecht University, The Netherlands,
- Secretary-general: Cygal Pellach, Technion, Israel,
- PhD coordinator: Andreas Hengstermann, Bern University, Switzerland
Also during the Bern conference, the following liaisons were appointed as part of Exco:
- North America representative: Eran Kaplinsky, University of Alberta, Canada
- Pacific Rim representative: John Sheehan, UTS, Sydney, Australia
- AESOP PLPR theme group leader: Leonie Janssen-Jansen, Wageningen University, The Netherlands
- Chris Webster (University of Hong Kong) (host of the 2017 conference),
- Jean-David Gerber and Andreas Hengstermann (Bern University, Switzerland) (hosts of the 2016 Bern conference)
2014-2016
The ExCo consisted of Ben Davy (president), Richard Norton (vice-president), Michael Kolocek (secretary-general), Cygal Pellach (PhD coordinator). Appointed liaisons are Eran Kaplinski for North America,John Sheehan as Pacific Rim representative and Sony Pellissery for South-West Asia. Kostas Lalenis (host of the 2015 Volos conference), and Jean-David Gerber and Andreas Hengstermann (hosts of the 2016 Bern conference) are also members of the extended ExCo.
2012-2014
Ben Davy (president), Deborah Peel (vice-president), Thomas Hartmann (secretary-general), Fennie van Straalen (PhD coordinator). Appointed liaisons wereRichard Norton for North America andJohn Sheehan as Pacific Rim representative. In addition, the host of 2013, Ed Sullivan and the host of 2014, Rachelle Alterman joined ExCo.
2010-2012
Leonie Janssen-Jansen (president), Ben Davy (vice-president), Thomas Hartmann (secretary-general), Michelle Oren (PhD coordinator), and the North America liaison Richard Norton, as well as John Sheehan as Pacific Rim representative, formed the ExCo between 2010 and 2012. Eran Kaplinsky (2011 conference in Edmonton) , Ben Davy, andGreg Lloyd joined ExCo as conference hosts.
2008-2010
During the Warsaw conference the first ExCo of the Association was elected, with Rachelle Alterman (president), Leonie Janssen-Jansen (vice-president), Miroslaw Gdesz (secretary-treasurer), Thomas Hartmann (PhD coordinator) as members. Liasons with other academic groups such as AESOP, ACSP included. Richard Norton (ACSP) and John Sheehan (Pacific Rim representative). Michael Sorensen joined ExCo in 2008 as 2009 conference host; Ben Davy joined ExCo in 2009 as 2010 conference host.
The founding president of PLPR, Rachelle Alterman, left ExCo in February 2010. She is PLPR’s first honorary fellow.
In 2012, Philip Booth was elected as honorary fellow.