Directorate
Director: Dr. Héctor Simón Moreno
Deputy Director: Dra. Núria Lambea Llop
See all researchers of the UNESCO Chair of Housing here.
Advisory Council
Prof. Dr. Elena Bargelli (U. Pisa), Prof. Dr. Peter Boelhower (OTB), Xavier Climent (architect), Dr. Magda Habdas (U. Katowize), Dr. Padraic Kenna (NUI), Prof. Dr. Jesús Leal (U. Complutense), Dr. Julio Rodríguez (former BHE), Carles Sala (former Housing Secretary), Prof. Dr. Christoph Schmid (ZERP, U. Bremen), Dr. Joan Uribe (CSSB), Dr. Diego Vigil (land registrar).
Prof. Dr. Elena Bargelli
Elena Bargelli is Professor of Private Law at the Law Faculty, University of Pisa (Italy). Previously, she was a Research Fellow at the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law in Hamburg (2008–2009), a Visiting Fellow at the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies in London (2011/2012) and at Yale Law School (New Haven, USA, 2007). She is currently a member of the ELI (European Law Institute) Council and Membership Committee as well as ECTIL (European Centre of Tort and Insurance Law). She has been a member of the Banking and Financial Arbitration Board in Milan since 2018. Elena was the team leader in the EU Framework 7 research project TENLAW (Tenancy Law and Housing Policy in Multi-level Europe) as well as one of the coordinators of the EHNR Working Group “Southern European Housing” from 2015 to 2018. She is co-editor of the series Elgar Land and Housing Law and Policy as well as of the series Southern European Housing (Pisa University Press).
Prof. Dr. Peter Boelhouwer
After graduating in social geography from the University of Utrecht in 1983 Peter Boelhouwer (1958) was awarded a PhD in 1988 for his research on the effects on the housing system of the sale of council houses. After his dissertation was published, Boelhouwer moved to the OTB Research Institute of Delft University of Technology, where he spent most of his time studying housing finance, international housing systems and the methodology of measuring housing preferences. On 1 December 2001 the Faculty of Architecture and the built Environment of TUD recommended Boelhouwer for appointment to the Antoni van Leeuwenhoek Chair in Housing Systems. Since then he is responsible for the housing policy component of the Master’s programme in Real Estate and Housing. Several months previously, on 1 September 2003, he succeeded Professor Priemus as Scientific Director of the OTB Research Institute. In July 2008, Boelhouwer was elected as chair of the European Network for Housing Research. Finally, he’s the editor in chief of the Journal of Housing and the Built Environment and a member of the advisory committee for the European Journal of Housing Policy and the Journal of critical housing analysis.
Xavier Climent Sánchez
Xavier Climent Sánchez (19-11-1954), architect by the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC). Member of the CoAC since January 1980. Author and director of the works of various public and private facilities such as the City Councils of Ulldecona, Alcanar and Tarragona (partial), premises from the Generalitat (Casa Gasset), Diari de Tarragona, Libraries, Theaters of Tarragona and Torredembarra, renovation of the Serrallo granary, etc. Public spaces such as the Serrallo Maritime Front and the remodeling of the Moll de Costa in Tarragona, and other works of urbanization and residential architecture, multi-family or single-family homes. Developer of major projects such as logistic centers, commercial centers, and wind or photovoltaic parks. Project Manager on several buildings. Winner of several competitions and prizes. Speaker at meetings, workshops and symposia. Contributor to different institutions and agencies. Author of articles and publications on architecture and territory. Novelist.
Prof. Dr. Magdalena Habdas
Magdalena Habdas is Associate Professor (Dr hab.) who specializes in Private Law at the Faculty of Law and Administration, Department of Civil and Private International Law, University of Silesia in Katowice. She also holds an MA in English from the University of Silesia (1996), and an MSc in Property Valuation and Management, Sheffield Hallam University (1998). She is a certified real estate valuer (since 1999) and an attorney-at-law (since 2013). In 2015, she was awarded a National Education Committee Medal by the Polish Minister of National Education. Magdalena has participated in the succession law working group of the Polish Commission for the Codification of Civil Law, was the team leader in the EU Framework 7 research project TENLAW (Tenancy Law and Housing Policy in Multi-level Europe) as well as in the Social Rental Agencies project headed by Habitat for Humanity Poland and is an active participant in the Common Core of European Private Law project (time-limited interests in land and condominiums, currently working on acquisitive prescription).
Dr. Padraic Kenna
Dr Padraic Kenna is a Senior Lecturer in Law, and Director of the Centre for Housing Law, Rights and Policy http://www.nuigalway.ie/chlrp/news/ at the Law School NUI Galway, Ireland. He specialises in housing law and housing rights, property and land law, consumer law, regulation and governance, with a commitment to promoting the right to housing. He works closely with the Open Society Abusive Lending Project – seeking to advance EU consumer protection law in Ireland. Currently, Dr Kenna is leading a project on integrating EU human rights into the EU institutional economic governance framework – with a focus on housing rights. Recently, he edited with Professors Nasarre-Aznar, S., Sparkes, P. and Schmid, C.U. (2018) Loss of Homes and Evictions across Europe – A Comparative Legal and Policy Examination. (Cheltenham, Edward Elgar) https://www.e-elgar.com/shop/loss-of-homes-and-evictions-across-europe
Prof. Dr. Jesús Leal
He has a Degree in Philosophy from the University of Valencia and a Masters in Sociology from the University of Paris X (1972). In 1977 he obtained his PhD from the Complutense University of Madrid. He has been Full Professor since 1997 at the Faculty of Sociology and Political Sciences of the Complutense University of Madrid. In 2017 he was recognized as Professor ad honorem by this University. Since 2017 he is a researcher at the European University of Madrid. His research field focuses on social housing, urban development and planning, and urban structure, among others. He is author of more than 125 scientific publications.
Dr. Julio Rodríguez
Julio Rodríguez López (Motril, 1943) has a PhD in Economics by the UCM. He is a qualified statistical from the Government in leave of absence, and a Certified Economist of the Bank of Spain, in a situation of retirement. Among other positions, he has been Minister of Economy of the Andalusian Government (1982-85), President of the Mortgage Bank of Spain (1985-94), from Caja Granada (1994-2001) and from the Social Council of the University of Granada (1999-2003). He is currently a Member of the Higher Statistics Council on behalf of the UGT union. He was founder in 1977 of the UGT Union Section at the Bank of Spain.
Dr. Carles Sala
After graduating in Labour Relations at the Rovira i Virgili University of Tarragona (1993), he obtained a Degree in Law from the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (2004). Then, he obtained a Postgraduate Degree in Urban Law in 2005 and a Postgraduate Degree in Local Law in 2006 issued by the Rovira i Virgili University and the Autonomous University of Barcelona. He finished his PhD with honours in 2019 with a research on the measures to guarantee the right to housing in a context of crisis. He is adjunct lecturer at the Department of Public Law of the Rovira y Virgili University of Tarragona since 2020. He was Councilor of the Tarragona City Council (1991-2007), Provincial Deputy for the Tarragona judicial district (1991-1999) and President of the Regional Council of Tarragona (1999-2007). He was also a practicing lawyer at the Manumissio law firm in Tarragona during 2005-2011. Among other leadership positions, he is legal advisor of the Associations of Property Administrators of Catalonia (2018-), Member of the Board of Trustees of the Nou Lloc Foundation (2018-), Member of the Private Law Observatory of Catalonia (2019-), Member of the Council of Social Housing of the Barcelona City Council (2021-), and Member of the Governing Board of the Property Administrators of Barcelona-Lleida Association (2021-).
Prof. Dr. Christoph Schmid
Christoph U. Schmid was postdoctoral fellow at the EUI Florence from 1995-2005 and is Director of ZERP and Professor of European Private, Economic and Constitutional Economic Law at Bremen University since 2005. His research revolves around the Europeanisation of private law in general and consumer, tenancy and real property law in particular. He is member of several transnational Study Groups on European Private Law and has acted as an expert for several national governments, the European Parliament and the European Commission. He has coordinated the Tenlaw project on European housing law (www.tenlaw.uni-bremen.de). He has authored more than 100 publications in five languages and held about 80 conference and guest presentations in 23 countries.
Dr. Joan Uribe Vilarrodona
Joan Uribe Vilarrodona is the manager of the Barcelona Social Services Consortium, a public administration responsible for the specialized social services of the city of Barcelona. Doctor in Social Anthropology, he is also a lecturer at the University of Barcelona. He has spent much of his career working with homelessness and residential excluded people. He has been a member of the Board of Directors of FEANTSA (European Federation of National Organisations working with the Homeless) from 2014 to 2016. He was chairman of FEANTSA between 2016 and 2017. He has several publications, some of them related to residential exclusion and the right to housing, and he is researcher in several research groups.
Dr. Diego Vigil de Quiñones Otero
Bachelor (2004) and PhD (2016) in Law from the Complutense University of Madrid. He joined the body of Property and Mercantile Registrars in 2008. He has written several papers on bankruptcy of natural persons in relation to the Land Registry, consumer protection by the Registry, housing, joint ownership and neighbors, self-regulation and Foral Rights, as well as materials for students. He prepares candidates to Registrars and has collaborated with the Universities of A Coruña, Zaragoza and Complutense de Madrid. He has also transferred part of his research as a commentator for Radio Internacional and in press articles for Cinco Días, La Grieta, Forumlibertas or El Debate de hoy.
Monitoring committee
Housing Catalan Agency, Catalan Chamber of Landlords, Tarragona City Hall (SMAHUSA), Reus City Hall, Catalan Chamber of Notaries, Catalan Chamber of Land Registrars, Spanish General Council of Condominiums Managers, Spanish General Council of Real Estate Conveyancers, Real Estate Conveyancers Board of Tarragona, Mutua de Propietarios Foundation, Association of Quantity Surveyors, Technical Architects and Building Engineers of Tarragona and Universiy Rovira i Virgili, Board of Property Managers of Tarragona.