Visit of prof. Tony Bovaird as part of the Mastertrack ‘Public Management’
Last Monday, the 5th of October, prof. Tony Bovaird (University of Birmingham)visited the Institute of Public Administration. As part of the course ‘Co-Production and Citizen Engagement’ (part of the Mastertrack ‘Public Management), a mini-conference was organized.
The conference was opened with a key note speech by prof. Bovaird. In this key note, that was also attended by staff members of the Institute, among others the role of the public and private sector and the informal economy were discussed, as well as the importance of volunteering for adding value for citizens. Furthermore, attention was put on how the collaboration between government and citizens within public service delivery processes can best be designed, and what challenges need to be kept in mind.
After the key note speech, students presented the results of their own independently conducted research projects. During the last couple of weeks, they investigated in small groups a specific co-production case. After each presentation, the results of the different studies were discussed with the other students and prof. Bovaird, this with the aim to identify similarities and differences among the cases.
After working at several universities and in the UK Civil Service, prof. Tony Bovaird currently works at the Institute of Local Government Studies, University of Birmingham. His research interests include user and community co-production of public services, strategic management of public services, and evaluation of public management and governance reforms. He was recently involved in a EU-project on user and community co-production of public services in five European countries, for which he led the UK contribution. Prof. Bovaird has carried out research for several national and international organizations.