In 2024, I planned to take a sabbatical year. However, I quickly shifted gears to offer training and research support to organizations such as the Korean Institute for Public Administration, the UK Institute of Regulators, the Australian Consortium for Social & Political Research Inc., and the China University of Political Science and Law. While providing research support and training in urban climate governance, regulatory governance, and research methods is something I have been doing for over a decade, it seemed time to transition from ad-hoc external support to formalizing my services by establishing my own research and training company. The sabbatical can wait for now.

At the ANU, I won two significant grants for multi-year research projects on urban climate governance. I have completed both projects at the ANU.Voluntary Programs for Low-Carbon Building and City Transformations (2012-2016), funded by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research: Comparative research into the development and structure of Voluntary Regulatory Regimes in sustainable construction and water management. I question under what circumstances such regimes develop and cause their effects; and how these regimes are organised as to be successful in improving their participants' environmental performance. The research is theoretically innovative in that it questions how structural and contextual conditions interact and by so affect the performance of Voluntary Regulatory Regimes. The research is methodologically innovative in that it applies a compound research design - comparatively studying Voluntary Regulatory Regimes in Australian and German sustainable construction and water management.Collaborative Governance for Low-Carbon and Resilient Cities (2015-2018), funded by the Australian Research Council: There is a pressing need to improve the resource sustainability of cities and their resilience to hazards. Increasingly, governments seek to achieve such improvement by engaging directly with businesses and citizens. Whilst this collaborative city governance holds a promise for transforming resource use and resilience of cities, little is known about its performance benefits and effectiveness. The project addresses this knowledge gap through a systematic empirical analysis of a series of collaborations in four global cities. Results will help to refine theories of collaborative governance and will provide policymakers and practitioners with lessons on how to improve the sustainability and resilience of cities in Australia and elsewhere.

My main role was to undertake research on regulatory practice and regulatory stewardship to help improve regulation in New Zealand and elsewhere, and research its impacts on economic and social performance. I actively engaged with the community of regulatory practitioners in New Zealand and related communities elsewhere and contributed to training those involved in regulatory issues.

At Wageningen University I worked on a research project funded by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research: Joined-up governance for low-carbon cities (2017-2021)Brief description: Cities have the potential to contribute to climate change mitigation substantially. Seeking to realise this potential city governments are increasingly collaborating directly with firms and citizens in urban governance. This approach to governance has become known as joined-up governance. It is progressively recognised as a promising means of addressing complex urban challenges, including the necessary transition to low-carbon cities. Joined-up governance has, however, been more theorised than empirically studied. Little is known about whether, to what extent, or in what ways joined-up governance ‘works’. This holds particularly in the area of low-carbon city development and transformation. This research project will address this significant gap in our current understanding by evaluating and refining theorising on joined-up urban governance. The project is theoretically innovative because it complements joined-up governance theorising with state-of-the-art insights from environmental governance and urban transformation studies. This adapts the lens provided by joined-up governance scholars to studying real-world city transformations. It is empirically innovative because of its systematic, critical analysis of joined-up urban governance practice in eight global cities in developed and rapidly developing economies. This will improve understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of this approach to governance for low-carbon city development and transformation around the globe.At Wageningen University & Research, I was able to collect data on joined-up urban climate governance in 51 cities across the globe. I will continue analyzing this data and publish on it whilst at the Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand.

At the University of Amsterdam, I worked on the multi-year research project Voluntary Programs for Low-Carbon Building and City Transformations (2011-2015). This was a joined-position with the position I held at the Australian National University in this period.

At Delft University of Technology I held a position as assistant professor at the department of Policy, Organization, Law and Gaming. My research focused on government reforms, with a special interest in private sector involvement in public service delivery; and private sector involvement in regulatory enforcement. I continue this research agenda at the Australian National University and the University of Amsterdam.At the faculty of Technology, Policy and Management I taught Organization Theory and Decision Making Theory for bachelors, masters and elective students and for professionals.

At Oxford I worked on a number of research papers.

After finishing my doctorate research on 9 March 2009, I continued my work on governance reform, privatisation and public accountability at OTB Research Institute.

At OTB I worked on my doctorate research on private sector involvement in the enforcement of public building regulations. A relevant issue since privatization of public services and regulatory enforcement is a global trend.I graduated with highest honor on 9 March 2009. I continue my work on governance reform, privatisation and public accountability at OTB Research Institute.

At Oculus I advised municipalities on the implementation of building regulatory enforcement policy based on problem inventories; and I carried out assessment of complex construction work (high-rise buildings).

I worked as a research assistant at diverse departments at the Faculty of Architecture, Delft University of Technology, the Netherlands.

At the world EXPO 2000, Hannover, Germany, I worked as on-site management assistant and press officer. My tasks included building inspection, quality and quantity control, and various adminsitrative tasks.