As the Partnership Officer in the URBACT Secretariat, Ed currently supports the work of the National URBACT Points in their efforts at national level to raise awareness of URBACT, disseminate URBACT results, promote networking, dialogue and exchange, and build capacity of URBACT stakeholders. He is also a member of the taskforce preparing the 2018 URBACT City Festival. Ed has over 15 years' experience working in and for various European networks. He has worked on policy, networking, facilitation, communications, enlargement, EU project applications and project evaluation, with a passion for narrowing the gap between stakeholders and European programmes and policies. A policy generalist, his main thematic interests have been local economic development, social inclusion and environmental sustainability.