Nick Gallent is Professor of Housing and Planning and Head of the Bartlett School of Planning at University College London. He is a Cha rtered Town Planner and a Chartered Surveyor. His research focuses on UK planning policy as it pertains to housing delivery and as it affects rural communities. He has conducted research for a wide range of funding bodies and is the author or editor of several previous works on planning, housing and communities, the most recent being 'Community Action and Planning' (Policy Press, 2014, edited with Daniela Ciaffi)

Meri Juntti is a senior lecturer in the Department of Law and Politics at Middlesex University. Her research focuses on agricultural and environmental policy decision-making and implementation in the European Union. She has worked on both EU and domestically funded research projects focussing on a number of EU member states and has authored publications on the discursive construction of environmental policy, the role of the socio-material context in differentiating rural policy outcomes and the nature and role of ‘evidence’ in the policy process.

Sue Kidd is Head of Planning in the Department of Geography and Planning at the University of Liverpool. Her research interests focus around integrated planning and management. She has a particular interest in exploring ways in which environmental considerations may be more effectively with economic and social concerns in policy making. Sue is a chartered town planner.

Dave Shaw a Professor of Planning in the Department of Geography and Planning at the University of Liverpool. He is particularly interested in the way rural areas and rural places are being transformed and the role of planning in that process. He also participates in rural affairs and is currently the Chair of the Mersey Rural Leader programme, represents 'the rural' in the Liverpool City Region’s European Investment Fund Sub-group and is a Trustee of the Community Forest Trust.