Co-design: from expert to user-driven ideas in public service design 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…
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. …
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
Does evidence still matter? What works now? Sunday June 23, 2019 By Maria Katsonis Research Series The idea of evidence based public policy has been fundamental to policy making since it first came to prominence over 20 years ago. Events around…
Rethinking policy capacity, competencies and capabilities Monday June 10, 2019 By Maria Katsonis Research Series The increasing complexity of contemporary policy problems coupled with rising public expectations present unprecedented challenges to the capacity of governments to make and implement effective…
Knowledge sharing between policy makers and academics Sunday May 26, 2019 By Maria Katsonis Research Series Policy makers are increasingly drawing on knowledge outside the public service to deal with the complexity of public policy. Academic research is one source of…
