You are here
Specialist Group Showcase
The SG Showcase is a series of interviews with the PSA's Specialist Groups, explaining what they do and why - and how you can get involved. In this edition, we hear from the Public Administration and Public Policy Specialist Group.
Meet the Convenors
The group co-convenors are…
Dr Stephen Greasley (University of Exeter)
Dr Dion Curry (Swansea University)
Dr Nick Dickinson (University of Oxford)
What are the aims of your Specialist Group?
One of the challenges in the study of public policy and administration is how multidisciplinary and even fragmented the field can seem at times. Policy scholarship is located in business schools as well as social science departments, its practitioners occupy positions throughout the public sector as well as those private organisations and NGOs involved in the delivery of public services.
There is also no one theory or group of theories, but a multiplicity of approaches that draw on political science and economics as well as sociology and philosophy. Our study group explores these approaches and perspectives and encourages all with an interest in public policy, administration and management to collaborate.
As such, the group aims to provide a forum for academics teaching and researching across the road fields of public administration, public policy and management. Although many of our active members are based in the UK, the group also encompasses European perspectives and wider comparative work including the Americas, Africa, Australaisia and Asia.
What activities do your undertake as a group?
At the moment we’re mainly focused on putting together panels for Political Studies Association main conference in March. We think the themes of the conference (Resilience, Expertise and Hope) really align well with important public policy questions.
In particular, recent years have demonstrated the importance of considering the resilience of administrative structures and public policy in the face of unanticipated events and shifts in political and constitutional contexts.
Equally, the role of expertise in policymaking and government decisions has come in for intense scrutiny in multiple policy areas. Finally, policy and administrative systems have faced pressure from high salience issues such as racial justice, economic inequality and climate change. We would especially welcome proposals that relate to these conference themes.
How can new members get involved or find out more?
The call for papers for our panels at PSA conference is still live! Submitting through the specialist group has several benefits including a better chance of finding the right audience for the paper in a thematically aligned panel, through a review process run by specialists in the field. In addition to individual papers, you may also submit an entire panel to be included within the section. Abstracts of up to 200 words, alongside a short biographical note, should be submitted via email to the convenors by the deadline of Monday 5th October.
We’d also like to particularly encourage early career scholars to join the group and submit papers. If you would like to get in touch prior to submitting an abstract for any advice and clarification, please do email one of the convenors and we would be happy to help.
And finally…
The Public Policy and Administration Group tweets! Just published some new research? Running an event? Got a job in public policy and administration and want to tell the world? Tag us in your post and we'll retweet you. Follow us at @policy_psa.