Dr. Sebastian Weise (module lead): Sebastian is a lecturer for digital civics at the School for Architecture, Planning, and Landscape at Newcastle University; and founder at PlaceChangers Ltd. Seb has a detailed understanding of public engagement in urban planning, digital innovation, and the present condition of the public sector planning service. He workes with residents, urban planners, city administration professionals, property developers, and ‘techies’ of different domains of computing on a regular basis.
Sean Piecock (teaching assistant): Sean is a Doctoral Trainee in Digital Civics. I have specific research interests in urban/rural planning and public participation in democratic life. Following completion of a master’s in Planning, which included a year’s work placement at Transport for London, I worked as a Planning Officer at Northumberland County Council. This involved shaping planning policies that will guide the location of new developments within Northumberland, informed by feedback from the public on our plans. More recently, I helped to design a toolkit that would promote the participation of young people in the planning process.