I am delighted to be a leading a new three-year, ESRC-funded research project on the Urban Politics and Governance of Social Innovation in Austerity, nicknamed PUrSI (which stands for Politics of Urban Social Innovation). Research will focus on social innovation in European cities in relation to generating resources through alternative finance, harnessing social energy through grassroots mobilisation and meeting needs through community provision. We will investigate these in Athens (Greece), Berlin (Germany) and Newcastle upon Tyne (UK). The project is based in the Geography Department at Durham University and the research team comprises Paul Langley, Sue Lewis, Colin McFarlane, Antonis Vradis and myself. Further details are available on the PUrSI website.