Ronald Holzhacker is Senior Lecturer in Comparative Political Science and International Relations at the University of Groningen, the Netherlands. He holds a PhD from the University of Michigan in political science and a JD from the University of Minnesota Law School. He serves as the Director of the Spirit Indonesia Groningen (SInGA) research program on good governance and sustainable society, which is supported by scholarships from the World Bank and other sources. He has delivered a series of lectures at universities and conferences in Southeast Asia over the past few years on governance and sustainable society and on EU-ASEAN relations. His research focuses on the implementation of human rights in multi-level governance situations involving civil society, states, and regional institutions. He is published in such journals as Law & Policy, Comparative European Politics, Party Politics, European Union Politics, Nations and Nationalism, and the Journal of Legislative Studies. He also served as editor of numerous edited volumes, including Freedom, Security, and Justice in the European Union: Internal and External Dimensions of Increased Cooperation after the Lisbon Treaty, (NY: Springer 2014), The Transnationalization of Economies, States, and Civil Societies: New Challenges for Governance in Europe (NY: Springer 2009), and Democratic Governance and European Integration: Linking Societal and State Processes of Democracy (Edward Elgar 2007). Over the past four years he servedas a senior EU expert for the Network of Socio-Economic Experts in the Field of Anti-Discrimination, established by the European Commission to monitor the implementation of the anti-discrimination directives in the member states. Recently, he has been appointed as a senior EU expert for the network ‘Knowledge-based analysis and policy advice in the antidiscrimination field and the EU 2020 Strategy’ for the period 2014-2017. Rafael Wittek is professor of theoretical sociology at the University of Groningen, The Netherlands, and co-initiator of SPIRIT Indonesia Groningen. He holds a PhD (with distinction) from the University of Groningen, and an M.A. (with distinction) from the University of Tübingen (Germany). He taught at the Cornell University and the University of Erlangen-Nürnberg, and held guest professorships at ETH Zurich and the Universita della Svizzera Italiana (USI, Lugano). He chaired the think tank of the strategic research theme “Sustainable Society” of the University of Groningen. His research is in the field of organizational governance, social networks, and social theory. He has co-edited The Handbook of Rational Choice Social Research (Stanford University Press, 2013), which received the bi-annual James Coleman book award of the Rationality and Society Section of the American Sociological Association. He is also co-editor of Humanitarian Crises, Intervention and Security (Routledge, 2014). Recent articles appeared in journals like the European Sociological Review, Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, Public Administration and Development, Work, Employment and Society, Group and Organization Management, Social Networks. Johan Woltjer is Professor of Urban Infrastructures at the University of Westminster, and Head of the Department of Planning and Transportation. He is also a Professor of Regional Planning and Development at the University of Groningen. Prof Woltjer concentrates his research work on institutional innovations for urban regions (specifically infrastructure development and planning). He has delivered policy advice for institutions including the EU, the OECD, and government agencies. His work is funded by grants, such as from the Royal Dutch Academy of Sciences (KNAW) and the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO). Prof Woltjer is actively involved in international education and educational management. His work has contributed to an international and internationally comparative view to the field, particularly focusing on Europe (Netherlands, UK, Germany) and South-Eastern Asia (e.g., Indonesia and China). The impact of his work is visible through papers and articles on urban governance, regional development, infrastructure management, policy evaluation, and capacity building, appearing in high-impact journals such as the Journal of the American Planning Association, Land Use Policy, Urban Studies, International Planning Studies, and Environment and Planning A. Recent books include ‘Consensus Planning, the relevance of communicative planning theory in Dutch infrastructure development’, ‘Evaluation for Participation and Sustainability in Planning’ (Routledge), and ‘Place-Based Evaluation for Infrastructure and Spatial Projects’ (Ashgate).
