About the author Research Editor Maria Katsonis is The Mandarin's research editor and a Public Policy Fellow at the University of Melbourne. She previously worked in the Victorian Public Service as a senior executive. Follow Maria Katsonis
Co-design: from expert to user-driven ideas in public service design Tuesday December 10, 2019 By Maria Katsonis Research Series Co-design can address complex societal problems and drive innovation in the public sector. How can we shift public service design away from an expert-driven process… Read more
Understanding why policymakers ‘do nothing’ Tuesday November 26, 2019 By Maria Katsonis Research Series ‘Why doesn’t the government do something about this?’ is a complaint often heard in legislatures, TV debates, opinion pieces, letters to the editor and cyberspace. … Read more
Ten ways to optimise evidence-based policy Monday November 11, 2019 By Maria Katsonis Research Series It is time to move away from the ‘government are from Venus, researchers are from Mars’ narrative. Instead we should focus on the challenges both parties… Read more
So you want to be a policy entrepreneur? Tuesday October 29, 2019 By Maria Katsonis Mandy Live Policy entrepreneurs transform policy ideas into policy innovations, disrupting the status quo of existing settings. What makes for effective policy entrepreneurship and what attributes, skills… Read more
When design meets power: design thinking, public sector innovation and the politics of policymaking Monday October 14, 2019 By Maria Katsonis Research Series Responding to the need for innovation, governments have begun experimenting with ‘design thinking’ approaches to reframe policy issues and generate new policy solutions. But what… Read more
Female comics are the new policy entrepreneurs Monday September 30, 2019 By Maria Katsonis Research Series The last decade has seen ongoing issues of gender inequity as well as arguably the golden age of female comics. From Tina Fey and Amy… Read more
A field guide to spotting policy successes in the wild Monday September 16, 2019 By Maria Katsonis Research Series Like policy failures, policy successes are in the eye of the beholder. They are not mere facts but stories. To claim a public policy, program… Read more
Is there more to the VPS Jobs and Skills Exchange than meets the eye? Sunday September 8, 2019 By Maria Katsonis Features Victoria’s Special Minister of State and the Victorian Branch Secretary of the Community and Public Sector Union jointly announced the Jobs and Skills Exchange (JSE)… Read more
The challenge of policy coordination Monday September 2, 2019 By Maria Katsonis Research Series Policy coordination is an age old challenge for government. As the problems confronting governments have become more complex, effective coordination is even more critical. But… Read more
Why public servants need to be constant and deliberate learners to manage the challenge of change Friday August 30, 2019 By Maria Katsonis People & Capability Lauren Jackson is a Partner at KPMG working in leadership development with a focus on workforce transformation and reskilling at scale. Jackson talks to Maria… Read more
Does working in the public service mean a job for life or joining a club for life? Tuesday August 27, 2019 By Maria Katsonis Features The world of work is changing. Technology, flexibility and the way we think about careers are redefining the workplace. The public service is not immune… Read more
Reinventing how the public service works Tuesday August 20, 2019 By Maria Katsonis Research Series There is a pervasive sense that governments are not doing as well as they should to solve our biggest policy problems. This failure to meet… Read more
How to increase the relevance and use of social and behavioural science Monday August 5, 2019 By Maria Katsonis Research Series A post on the London School of Economics Impact Blog outlined why it is unrealistic for academic research to drive policy change. Yet social and… Read more
The twin faces of public sector design: policy design and design thinking Monday July 22, 2019 By Maria Katsonis Research Series Design thinking has become a popular approach for governments seeking to address complex governance challenges. It offers novel techniques and speaks to broader questions of… Read more
Putting value creation back into public value Monday July 8, 2019 By Maria Katsonis Research Series In conventional economics, the concept of value creation by the public sector is largely absent. Value is created in business with the state playing a… Read more
