Dr Jaana Nevalainen is a Senior Ministerial Adviser at the Ministry of the Environment of Finland. Jaana is an urban and human geographer with a background in political and environmental geography. During her university career, she was involved in teaching, education planning, Master’s thesis supervision and evaluation. She also was working as a researcher and research coordinator and involved in establishing a new research centre. At the Ministry Jaana has been e.g. leading nationwide neighbourhood development and renewal programmes, building strategic partnerships and cooperation and facilitating policy dialogues. Additionally, she has worked on several housing and housing-related issues and projects nationally and internationally. She also coordinates the working group ‘Policy and Research’ and is a member of the Coordinating Committee of the European Network of Housing Research (ENHR).