Research team
Dr Darinka Czischke, MSc, PhD
Associate Professor | Founder of Co-Lab Research
d.k.czischke[at]tudelft.nl
Darinka is an urban and housing specialist with 20 years of international experience in research, teaching and consultancy. Her background combines Architecture, Sociology and Urban Planning, having been awarded a PhD from TU Delft (2014) for her research “Social Housing Organisations in England and the Netherlands: Between State, Market and Community”, an MSc in Regional and Urban Studies from the London School of Economics and Political Science (2002, with Distinction), and a BA in Sociology from the Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile (1998, First Class Honours).
Darinka’s experience includes working as a research associate at the LSE Cities Programme (2002-2004); research director of the European Social Housing Observatory at CECODHAS Housing Europe (2005-2010); director of World Habitat (2013, formerly Building and Social Housing Foundation, BSHF) and as founder and managing director of DCConsulting in the UK (2013-2015). Darinka has advised and carried out research for a number of international bodies, including the European Commission, the European Investment Bank (EIB), the Council of Europe and Habitat for Humanity.
After being awarded the Delft Technology Fellowship in 2014, she switched to a full time academic career. Her core areas of expertise are social housing and affordable housing in comparative international perspective; collective self-organisation in housing, housing (co)production and management; social enterprise and social innovation in housing, and urban social sustainability. In 2015 she co-founded the working group on Collaborative Housing at the European Network of Housing Research (ENHR), which she currently jointly co-ordinates with Dr Claire Carriou and Dr Richard Lang.
Marije Peute, MSc
Project & Research Assistant
m.h.peute[at]tudelft.nl
Marije Peute is an urban anthropologist, with a bachelor in Cultural Anthropology (UvA) and a research master degree in Urban Studies (UvA). She has broad interests within urban social dynamics, ranging from the process of digitization to urban housing.
Marije is experienced in conducting qualitative research, as well as applying her expertise to practical processes shaping the city. At Co-Lab Research she has conducted a design-led research on collaborative housing for elderly in Delft, funded by the Stimuleringsfonds Creatieve Industrie. She coordinates the communication of Project Together!, and its ongoing aims to impact collaborative housing in the Dutch context. As well as the project BlendEd, a collaboration between IHS (EUR) and BK (TUD) to create synergies in their educational programs.
Sara Brysch, MArch, PhD candidate
Research Assistant (Jan 2018 – Jan 2019) /PhD Researcher (2019-current)
s.l.brysch[at]tudelft.nl
Sara Brysch is an architect who holds a master’s degree in Architecture from Faculdade de Arquitectura da Universidade do Porto, Portugal. Her professional background includes working in Porto, Berlin and Mexico City, where she mainly focused on architectural design, management and construction supervision. Her research interests include affordable minimum housing solutions; “Existenzminimum” design approaches; collaborative processes in housing; and participatory design.
Sara worked for a year as research assistant (part time) supporting Dr Darinka Czischke’s research on Co-Lab Research. She is currently a full time PhD researcher on ‘Existenzminimum in Collaborative Housing’, under the supervision of Prof Vincent Gruis and Dr Darinka Czischke. In addition, she is involved as a researcher in the Co-Lab Mapping project.
Valentina A. Cortés Urra, MArch, PhD candidate
PhD Researcher
v.a.cortesurra[at]tudelft.nl
Valentina Cortés is an architect and holds a Masters in Geographic Analysis from the Universidad de Concepción, Chile. Her professional background involves experience in academia and practices on urban growth studies, geographic and urban and housing analysis, where she mainly focused on urban planning regulations, transport and dwelling policies.
Since 2019 Valentina works as a full-time doctoral researcher in housing management under the supervision of Professor Dr.ir. Vincent Gruis and Dr Darinka Czischke. Her doctoral research is called “Collaborative housing in Chile: an Exploration of Opportunities and Barriers”, and focuses on the analysis of alternative and collaborative housing forms led mainly by residents and different stakeholders, the study of their implementation in different contexts (mainly in Chile), the definition of its dimensions, conditions, scenarios and archetypes through comparative analysis and cross-analysis of case studies and collaborative housing projects in Europe and Latin America.
Macarena Gaete Cruz, MSc, PhD candidate
PhD Researcher
m.gaetecruz[at]tudelft.nl
Macarena Gaete Cruz is a PhD candidate in the Urban Development Chair with promoters Ellen Van Bueren, Darinka Czischke and Aksel Ersoy for her research on the “Collaborative Design of Resilient Public Space”
She is an Architect and MSc in Architecture from Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile with experience in the design and management of public spaces.
She has experience in academia and practice on the design and management fields, in the public and private sectors while teaching in academia. She has led the Design Department of CREO Antofagasta NGO in a public-private-academic collaborative model of governance for the design of sustainable and resilient public spaces for Antofagasta city. She was an advisor of the Housing and Urbanism Ministry of Chile in Copiapo city for the development of flooding-proof public spaces. She led the Kaukari Urban Park project in the Copiapo river with Teodoro Fernández (National Arch Price). She is a researcher at the City & Mobility LAB UC. She has been an assistant teacher at Universidad Católica, Universidad Andres Bello and Universidad Católica del Norte Antofagasta, on both design studio and lecture courses on resilient public space and climate change.
Stephanie Zeulevoet, MSc
Research Associate
szeulevoet@gmail.com
Stephanie Zeulevoet works as an architect at Inbo in Amsterdam. She graduated with a MSc Architecture from TU Delft in 2016 on the topic of cooperative housing. She is primarily interested in researching the potential for cooperative housing models to create affordable housing in cities in the Netherlands.
Stephanie is currently part of Project Together!. In addition, she is involved in the Co-Lab Mapping project. In 2018 Stephanie worked as a part time research assistant on the NWO-funded project Samen Wonen, Samen Onderzoeken led by Prof Vincent Gruis and Dr Darinka Czischke.
Past researchers and visiting scholars
- Dr Carla Huisman – Post doctoral researcher, 2018-2021
- Dr Luz Maria Vergara – Research assistant 2019-2020
- Dr Jasmine Palmer, PhD University of South Australia – visiting scholar 2018
- Anne F. Beck, PhD candidate Aalborg University, Denmark – visiting PhD researcher 2017
- Dr Eva Morales, PhD University of Seville, Spain – visiting PhD researcher 2016
Visiting Scholars
We regularly host researchers from other universities who spend some months working with us in Delft. If you are interested in being a visiting scholar at Co-Lab Research send us a message. Please note that we are not able to provide funding for your stay at TU Delft. You are kindly requested to secure the funding for your visit in order to apply to become a visiting scholar with us.
Co-Lab Research 