Hosted seminars

​27 January 2017

'Never waste a crisis': Reforming Irish public administration in a time of austerityDr. Muiris MacCarthaigh(Queens University Belfast)For more information on the seminar, please click on the following pdf link: PDF Seminar MacCarthaigh.

5 February 2018

Agency Proliferation and the Globalization of the Regulatory State. Introducing a data set on the institutional features of regulatory agenciesProf. Jacint Jordana (Universitat Pompeu Fabra- Institut Barcelona d'Estudis Internacionals)For more information on the seminar, please click on the following pdf link: PDF Seminar Jordana.

20 March 2018 

Organizing for Societal Security and Crisis management: Building Governance capacity and legitimacyProf. Per Lægreid(University of Bergen)For more information on the seminar, please click on the following pdf link: PDF Seminar Lægreid.

5 June 2018

Technological capacities in the public sector: why some public sector organizations are able to (rapidly) develop their technological capacities and others are not?​Dr. Veiko Lember​(Tallinn University of Technology)For more information on the seminar, please click on the following pdf link: PDF Seminar Lember.

13 June 2018

Shaping Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs): A Synthesis of Governance Interdependencies across Socio-political, Operational, and Financial Factors​José Guevara​(Assistant professor University of Los Andes, Colombia)For more information on the seminar, please click on the following pdf link: PDF Seminar Guevara

5 February 2019

Human Rights Risks, Challenges and the Corporate Responsibility to Respect in the Construction SectorThe research group Law and Development (Faculty of Law), the research group for Urban Development (Faculty of Design Sciences) and the research group Politics & Public Governance (Faculty of Social Sciences) have been tasked with a pilot study for the BAM (a Flemish governmental company entrusted with completely and drastically redesigning the ring ring road around the city and port of Antwerp). The study sets out to chart the potential human rights and sustainable development risks of this major infrastructural project and aims to set out the capacity the BAM needs to build up to identify, prevent, mitigate and account for its (adverse) human rights impacts. In the framework of this study the research team has organised a international seminar at the University of Antwerp with the company responsibles, public authorities, academics and practitioners. The main aim of the seminar was to discuss a human rights/ CSR approach to major infrastructure works and especially the lessons learned from comparable projects at home and abroad.

12 February 2019

Brexit, countdown to March 29Dr. Simon Usherwood (University of Surrey, UK & Deputy Director ‘UK in a Changing Europe’, ESRC) Dr. Simon Usherwood is Reader in Politics at the University of Surrey. His main research agenda is focused on the UK in the EU, and Euroscepticism. He is currently deputy director of the ‘UK in a Changing Europe’ program of the ESRC. He is one of the leading experts on Brexit in the UK. He publishes regularly in academic journals on the topic and is an active participant in the Brexit debate in the (social) media.All information can be found in the following pdf: PDF info guest lecture brexit

5 March 2019

Master class on the relationship between political institutions and the lobbying industry The Keynote speakers:Prof. Tim M. LaPiraJames Madison UniversityRaphaël KerguenoPolicy officer at Transparency InternationalAll information can be found in the following pdf: PDF info master class

6 March 2019

Guest lecture “The Interest Group as a Lobbying Enterprise”Prof. Timothy LaPira James Madison University How big is an interest group’s political footprint? In Revolving Door Lobbying, Timothy M. LaPira and Herschel F. Thomas introduce the concept of the “lobbying enterprise” to explain interest groups’ incentives to hire conventional or revolving door lobbyists. Although this research project has taught us a lot about individual lobbyists with experience in government (the revolving door lobbyists) and what they can mean for interest groups, we still do not know much about how the organized interest's enterprise employ human resources and organizational affiliations to produce influence. In this lecture, LaPira will expand on the theory of the lobbying enterprise itself to lay the groundwork for a new research agenda in interest group politics. The lobbying enterprise is more than simply the “interest organization,” but the full set of political resource “footprint” that organizations use to influence policy. That is, an organized interest’s enterprise includes its full roster of internal and external human resources (e.g., in-house lobbyists, contract lobbyists, political consultants, public relations advisers, regulatory lawyers) and its full set of formal and informal organizational affiliations (e.g., lobbying and law firm contracts, formal and informal lobbying coalition affiliations, relationships with policymakers inside government, trade and business association memberships, party-affiliated groups).

28 May 2019

Two visiting scholars presented their most recent work to our research group.

1. Comparing the use of Performance Information by Public and Private Managers: any different? Reynaers Anne-MarieAutonomous University Madrid (UAM)Assistant ProfessorAbstract article: Scholars have provided insights on factors that explain the varying (non)-use of performance information by public managers in different countries, organizations, and policy sector. The question of whether and why performance information is used differently by public and private sector managers has, however, received little attention so far. When public and private sector managers operate within the same policy field, having similar performance information at their disposal and compete for clients, the question of whether, how, and why they use performance information becomes highly relevant. An analytical framework that integrates dimensions on the expected variance with respect to the use of performance information by public and private sector managers guides the analysis of 69 interviews conducted with CEO´s, Medical Directors, and Chiefs of Services of public and private hospitals.2. Selective horizontal accountability in a hybrid organizationsRajala TomiUniversity of TamperePhD Candidate

18 June 2019

Universities as agencies: reputation and professionalizationTom Christensen’s (University of Oslo) how modern universities increasingly use reputation management in relation to internal and external challenges. Universities are increasingly characterized by social embeddedness, relating to many external stakeholders and international markets of students, researchers and research projects. This implies global pressure to standardize, formalize and rationalize their internal organization. The book uses data from China, Norway and US to show how reputation symbols are used and balanced, based on their web pages. Further, it uses extensive data from US universities to show how their internal organization structure is developing over time, related to three types of units/positions - development, diversity and legal offices and roles.

14 October 2019

The Politics of Regulatory Expansion: concept definition and empirical dynamics​Bruno Queiroz Cunha​Regulatory expansion can be about the diffusion of regulation to new domains, but it is also about the fact that, once in place, regulation seems to ever expand its remit. The same applies to (autonomous) regulatory agencies, which have in some jurisdictions shifted from protective organizations to more purposeful and active parties, venturing into new areas of policy (and politics). Regulatory agencies as diplomatic negotiators and international network members, policy advisors or actual policy planners have all been somewhat idiosyncratic roles more frequently performed by regulators. Even beyond the usual suspects of regulation that are agencies, regulatory expansion can be observed in regular areas of public administration, where ‘regulatory’ entrepreneurs may push for the use of rules and oversight instead of other policy tools. Thus, the paper seeks to conceptually inquiry into this expanding dynamics which raises questions about the repoliticization of regulation at a post-NPM stage.

13 January 2020

Trust in Governance​Frédérique Six ​(Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam)

3 February 2020

​How open is public administration research and what should we change to be more open?Dominik Vogel​(University of Hamburg)In 2015 the Open Science Collaboration published the results of their large-scale replication of 100 published findings in psychology. The surprisingly low replicability of results published in top journals sparked the so-called credibility crisis in psychology. Researchers in psychology but also in many other social sciences, started to question their traditional ways of doing and publishing research. Many concluded that a more open type of science was necessary to regain credibility for social science. This development leaves us with the question, what conclusions public administration as a discipline draws from what is happening in other disciplines. What did we learn? What did we change? And what do we still need to change?

20 August 2020

National parliaments and EU economic governance: which factors trigger parliamentary activities in the European Semester? ​Ivana Skazlic​(University of Vienna) The European Semester is a standard EU level procedure, designed to facilitate coordination between national and EU actors in planning and implementing economic and fiscal policies and thereby to contribute to the sustained economic convergence and employment in the EU. Scholars have identified this procedure as a crucial area of EU politics for national parliaments since its introduction in 2011. Yet what do national parliaments actually do in the European Semester? Which factors (institutional, political, economic) explain the variation in parliamentary European Semester-related activities? To address these questions, this article develops the parliamentary European Semester scrutiny and publicity scores that distinguish between minimal and passive and a more active and substantial parliamentary participation in the European Semester. The central argument of the article is that the intensity and different levels of publicity of parliamentary scrutiny of the government’s European Semester plans and activities as well as EU recommendations are decisive for the procedure´s parliamentary accountability and legitimacy. Based on the comparative empirical analysis of parliamentary activities concerning the procedure across 36 national chambers in the EU over the 2014-2017 period, this paper offers new insights on the implications of different parliamentary scrutiny strategies with regard to the legitimacy of the European Semester.

15 January 2021

Gender policies after the rise of the far-right: the impact of VOX party in Andalusia (Spain)Julia Espinosa-Fajardo (University of Cádiz ) & Alba Alonso (University of Santiago de Compostela)Patterns of democratic backsliding for gender equality can be identified in different areas (social, legal, political, knowledge-related, cultural, etc.) and are connected to the agency of a variety of actors. Populist radical right parties (PRRP) are prominent -along with anti-gender movements- in openly questioning the necessity to undertake gender equality policies. Their active opposition to equality measures in Europe and elsewhere is having an impact on the democratic commitment to the liberal value of equality. This presentation addresses the case of Spain, a country that has witnessed only recently the rise of Vox party, a PRRP with a strong anti-gender stance. It specifically focuses on the case of Andalusia, a Spanish region governed since January 2019 by a coalition of two mainstream right parties (Popular Party and Citizens) relying on Vox’s parliamentary support.

24 February 2021 

Webinar on 'Innovation through Collaboration and Co-Creation'Koen Verhoest and Emmanuel Dockx presented their work on innovation through collaboration and co-creation in the webinar series organised by the Flemish government's Senior Civil Service (Voorzitterscollege). In this webinar, the researchers discussed the most important findings, lessons and recommendations from their research project on ‘Innovation through Collaboration and Co-creation’ in the Flemish government (Policy Research Centre Governance Innovation). What is the current state of innovation in the Flemish government? What type of innovations are being developed (new policy, new technologies, services and processes)? Are these innovations developed alone or in collaboration with other actors? To what extent are they satisfied with the innovations and are the innovations actually tested and/or implemented? What is the influence of organisational culture, red tape, innovation capacity and collaboration on innovation outcomes? Based on the results of a broad survey among senior civil servants in the Flemish government, the researchers elaborated on their findings regarding the necessary conditions for organisations to innovate, whether or not in collaboration and co-creation with other actors. They also presented recommendations and action points to strengthen the Flemish government’s innovation and co-creation capacity as well as it’s agility.

10 March 2021 

Webinar on 'how to Collaborate for Innovation'Koen Verhoest presented the work on 'How to Collaborate for Innovation' at Sciensano.

Others

-Seminar with prof. dr. Sandra van Thiel (Radboud  Universiteit)  

-Seminar with prof. dr. Lars Tummers (Utrecht  Universiteit)  

-Seminar with prof. dr. Sebastian Jilke  

-Seminar with prof. dr. Don Moyniham

Organised conferences and workshops

10-15 April 2012

ECPR 40th Joint Sessions.More information can be found here

6-7 november 2013

Global challenges in PPP: cross-sectoral and cross-disciplinary solutions? For more information on this conference, please click on the following pdf link: PDF conference global challenges

20-22 november 2016 

Public-Private Partnership Conference Series: Fifth international joint conference in Antwerp.Smart governance for innovation by/in PPPs.For more information on this conference, please click on the following pdf link: PDF conference smart governance

22 November 2016 

High-Level Dialogue on Innovations of Public Private Partnerships (long term infrastructure contracts) and future directions for practice and research between Dutch and Flemish PPP-practitioners and international academics on PPP.For more information on this dialogue, please click on the following pdf link: PDF High-level dialogue

24-25 November 2016

Annual work conference 2016 NIG. For more information (programme, evaluation, pictures, ...), click here

8-9 November 2017

Studying mismatches: agency performance, reputation and legitimacy in complex environments. For more information on this workshop, please click on the following pdf link: PDF Studying mismatches