Jurga Bučaitė-Vilkė is Associated Professor at the Department of Sociology, Faculty of Social Sciences and Director of the Vytautas Kavolis Transdisciplinary Research Institute in Social Sciences and Humanities, Vytautas Magnus University (Lithuania). Her research focuses on participatory democracy, local governance, political leadership and regional policy. She has led several national and international research projects on local governance, democracy, community participation and territorial welfare policies.