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The funding from the Japan Foundation will cover the costs of the development and hosting of a comparative workshop on public service reform at Kwansei Gakuin University in November 2018. Bringing together academics and practitioners, this project is set to be very influential on policy making and public service reform.

The Deputy Director of the Japan Foundation, Mr Tomoki Akazawa, visited Edinburgh to personally award the prize to Professor Stephen Osborne.

On awarding the prize, Mr Tomoki Akazawa, said: “The world is facing many common issues on how to manage the public sphere. There is an increasing number of needs and demands, but governments have fewer and fewer resources to meet these demands. No single country can deal with it on their own. We need to have collaborative dialogue with academics and practitioners on the ground. Stephen Osborne’s research recognises this and is perfectly timed.”

The project has four main objectives including:

• Promotion of comparative learning between Japan and the UK
• Generating an understanding and ongoing network between academic researchers and industry to underpin the future design of effective public service
• Exploring new insights to drive forward effective public service reform
• Influencing the wider academic and practice community through dissemination and impact strategies

Prof Osborne is confident in the benefits of the research funding and feels that: “This is a great opportunity. It will allow us to consolidate relationships already formed, help create new ones and build a strong relationship with the Japan Foundation.”

Congratulations to Prof Osborne and thanks to Mr Akazawa for personally awarding the prize.