In January 2015, Richard returned to the University of Birmingham (Housing and Communities Research Group, School of Social Policy) for a two-year Marie Curie Fellowship, undertaking research on the governance of cooperative and community-led housing models.
It contributes to a larger international comparative study between the housing sectors in England and Austria, focusing on the potential of different organisational forms to empower residents in both their neighbourhoods and in the wider institutional environment. On a broader scale, the research intends to deepen the inter-European dialogue and inform international debates on the new role of cooperative models in housing systems. The basis for the current Marie Curie project was established in a pilot study on community-led housing in England during Richard’s William Plowden Fellowship in cooperation with Prof David Mullins and hosted by the Third Sector Research Centre at Birmingham in 2013.