Our Team
Johannes Lenhard, PhD
Johannes Lenhard is the founder of CHIRN and an ethnographer of venture capital and homelessness. He is also currently the Centre Coordinator of the Max Planck Centre Cambridge for the Study of Ethics, the Economy and Social Change. Having worked towards a better understanding of survival practices of homeless people in London and Paris for his PhD, he has in 2017 started a new research project on the ethics of venture capital investors He is currently preparing the publication of his dissertation monograph as well as finalising a book on diversity and inclusion in VC and tech. His writing has appeared in academic peer-reviewed journals (e.g. City and Society, Housing Studies) as well as journalistic outlets, such as Techcrunch, Prospect, Sifted, Aeon, the Conversation and Crunchbase. Find his Twitter @JFLenhard.
Gemma Burgess, PhD
Dr Gemma Burgess is Director of the Cambridge Centre for Housing and Planning Research in the Department of Land Economy at the University of Cambridge. She leads a multidisciplinary team working on policy-oriented research projects for a broad range of funders. Widely published, Gemma’s research interests include land supply and the delivery of housing through the planning system, housing and digital innovation, digital exclusion, and housing options for an ageing population. As a co-investigator for the Construction Innovation Hub grant, Gemma led work on the non- technical barriers that can inhibit the take up of innovation in construction, research on boosting the uptake of offsite and modular house building, and research exploring the governance of smart city projects. She is currently leading the research team as part of the Technology for our Ageing Population: Panel for Innovation (TAPPI) project which aims to improve the way technology is used in housing and care for older people. She is also leading research on the role modular housing can play in tackling homelessness and mapping UK provision of hostel accommodation.
Anna Gkiouleka
Anna Gkiouleka is a Research Associate in the Department of Public Health & Primary Care at the University of Cambridge and Co-Lead of the Health Inequalities Pillar in Cambridge Public Health. Her research focuses on the social determinants of health and addressing inequalities in health and healthcare from an intersectionality perspective integrating socio- economic position, gender, and migration. She is experienced in quantitative and qualitative methodologies and mixed-methods research, and she has published in public health and medical sociology journals (e.g., Social Science & Medicine; European Public Health; BMJ Open). She has been involved in teaching undergraduate and postgraduate medicine and public health students. Find her twitter @AnnaGiouleka
Eana Meng, MPhil
Eana Meng is a historian of medicine and a physician in training. She is a second year MD-PhD candidate at Harvard Medical School and the Department of History of Science. She previously was a researcher at the Department of Social Anthropology at Cambridge University on addiction and homelessness. Her research has traced the lesser-known histories of the use of acupuncture by activists of color since the 1970s and the legacies that emerge from them, which include a five-point ear acupuncture protocol currently used around the world for substance use and behavior health conditions. She runs a blog at ofpartandparcel.com. Find her Twitter @Eanam38.
Meg Margetts
Meg Margetts, final year medical student at the University of Cambridge. Meg has a keen research interest in homelessness and improving access to healthcare. For the last two years, she has been involved in various research projects under the supervision of Dr Johannes Lenhard, which include the creation and evaluation of a new telemedicine service and mental health service. Her current work focuses on mapping the healthcare pathways that are accessed by people experiencing homelessness.
Steering Committee
Damita Abayaratne
GP and Service Dev Lead, Cambridge Access Surgery
Vicky Knighton
Housing First, Cambridgeshire County Council