Brendan Murtagh is a Professor of Urban Planning at Queen’s University Belfast. He is a town planner who has researched and written widely on social economics, community development and urban regeneration, including his recent book on Social Economics and the Solidarity City (Routledge, 2019). Professor Murtagh has conducted a number of projects on community asset transfer, including for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation and the Northern Ireland Housing Executive. His current research projects include commercialising the social enterprise sector (Innovate UK); the social economy after peace (Swedish Research Council, with the University of Uppsala); and Marine Coastal Heritage (EU Horizon 2020). Brendan is a board member of Community Places and sits on the Ministerial Advisory Panel on Shared Housing and on the Interfaces Programme Board for the Department of Justice. He was appointed by the Minister for Communities to the recent Ministerial Panel Report on Community Wealth Building.