Ivana Cosmano

Researcher

Why I wanted to join the team?

Participatory City Foundation gave me an excellent opportunity to put my knowledge at the service of a mission that embodies values that deeply resonate with me. Through the initiative Every One Every Day, the charity aims to promote a practical participatory system in the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham that allows residents to discuss and learn together how to achieve desired social change.

This forward-thinking, ambitious project aimed at building more cohesive, happy, and inclusive communities has caught my attention. Its vision of creating sustainable futures for neighbourhoods by putting local residents at the center of shaping the borough appealed to me as a social researcher who believes strongly in people’s agency to change the world and limitless possibilities for individuals and societies to become. 

My goal at PCF is to contribute to creating the first, large scale, fully inclusive Participatory Ecosystem by bringing together local communities and strengthening people’s agency to affect positive change. As a member of the team, I strive to explore and develop innovative and creative ways of bringing more just, equitable, and sustainable social systems into being, helping to remove the barriers that prevent communities from reaching their full potential.

A little bit about name background

Dr Ivana Cosmano conducts interdisciplinary research on people’s collective agency in driving societal change. Her research interests are located at the intersection of several disciplines, including Sociology, Gender Studies, Decolonial Studies, Youth and Family Studies, and Middle Eastern Studies. She holds a PhD in Sociology of the Middle East from the University of Leeds (UK). Through her research, she sheds light on Middle Eastern youth’s ability to create personal and social change by refashioning power dynamics through everyday life practices, thereby providing evidence-based research to assist policymakers in shaping youth empowerment policies.

She has international experience working in higher education, international development, and humanitarian aid. She designed large-scale research projects and conducted extensive fieldwork in the Middle East region on issues related to gender politics, civil society and youth and education. She drafted humanitarian projects to improve the living conditions of Syrian refugee families in Northern Jordan by promoting non-formal education for out-of-school children and the psychosocial wellbeing of vulnerable adults. In her role as a social researcher, she also supported efforts to promote social cohesion by fostering intergenerational dialogue, social inclusion, and gender equality.