Dr Valesca Lima is an Assistant Professor of Politics at the School of Law and Government. She researches policymaking and governance with three main areas of interest: citizen participation, housing policy, and social mobilisation. Her recent research has been funded by the Irish Research Council, Science Foundation Ireland and Erasmus+, on projects relating to housing justice in Ireland and Portugal, as well as barriers to access to affordable housing, citizen participation and social mobilisation. Her work in the field of housing and urban studies focuses on the financialisation of housing, struggles for housing rights, and policy innovations for a more democratic and inclusive housing system. Additionally, her work emphasizes citizen inclusion at the sub-national levels, especially in contexts where participatory democracy is being implemented. Dr Valesca Lima also work on the interconnections between political participation of vulnerable groups and have an ongoing interest in democratic innovations in Ireland, Latin America, the EU and beyond.

She's currently co-Editor of the International Review of Public Policy (IRPP), the open access journal of the International Public Policy Association (IPPA);  and co-convenor of the PSAI's Participatory and Deliberative Democracy Specialist Group.