17 May 2017
Hungary
CenSE had a strong impact at the International Research Society for Public Management (IRSPM) conference at Corvinus University in Budapest in April 2017. CenSE Director Stephen Osborne convened a panel on risk governance and innovation in public services that drew an impressive and large audience. The consensus was twofold.
- First, the practice of risk governance in public services is still in its infancy. Too much focus continues to be upon avoiding risk rather than upon recognising it as a core element of innovation that needs to be governed; you cannot have innovation without risk. Consequently, the key issues are how much risk, for what potential benefits – and to whom does the risk fall?
- Second, the research community needs to develop its conceptualisation of risk if it is to evolve cutting edge research than can influence both thinking and policy and practice. In a separate panel, CenSE doctoral student Edwina Zhu also presented her work on social enterprises and resilience.
In his role as editor of , Stephen Osborne presented the Award for the 2016 PMR Best Paper during the Gala Dinner.
It also saw the award of the annual Osborne Prize for Best New Researcher to fellow Scottish researcher Roxana Corduneanu from Glasgow University. It was such a momentous that it even made the national newspapers in Roxana’s home country of Sweden! You can read about it here in the and the .
Finally, CenSE Director Stephen Osborne, the founder and first President of IRSPM, was also duly elected onto the Board of IRSPM to serve for the next three years.
Moving forward CenSE is delighted to have been chosen to host the 2018 Annual conference of IRSPM in April 2018. ‘This is a great honour’, said Stephen Osborne, ‘IRSPM is the largest global gather of public management researchers and a major institution of our field. We plan to make this a true celebration of what Scotland can offer to our research community. The conference, estimated to bring in around three-quarters of a million pounds to the Scottish economy will have the theme of ‘value co-creation and public service delivery’. It will feature a wide range of panels focusing on the state of the art of public management theory and practice, as well as a Keynote speeches from Professor Christian Gronroos (one of the leading theoreticians in the world on service management) and Sarah Drummond (founder and chief executive of the influential service design consultancy ‘Snook’).
Japan
In other news, CenSE has also been active in Japan and Saudi Arabia where Director Stephen Osborne met with professors and senior advisors in Spring 2017, to discuss public management and modernisation.
In Japan he received an Honorary Fellowship from CIPFA Japan (the professional body for financial managers in Japan), in recognition of his contribution to public management reform in Japan.
He also continued his work with Professor Toshihito Ishihara in organising a Japan Foundation conference on ‘comparative lessons in public management reform from the UK and Japan’. The conference is due to be held in Osaka, Japan in November 2017. The conference will feature some of the leading public management researchers from both countries and explore key issues for policy and practice with an invited audience of some of the most influential public service managers in Japan.
During his visit, Professor Osborne also met with city managers in several of Japan’s major cities to discuss their issues and how to resolve them.
Saudi Arabia
In Saudi Arabia, Professor Osborne was the guest of the General Accounting Bureau of the country where he met with Ministers and Senior Advisors to discuss the modernisation programme for Saudi Arabia, as presented in the ‘Vision 2030’ document.
The centrepiece of the visit was a national workshop for auditors and civil servants to discuss the way forward with the ‘Vision’. He emphasised the need to promote diversity in public service delivery, rather than to focus on the public or private sector as the sole provider.
He also spoke of the role of citizens and public service users as central to the process of value co-creation in public service delivery. Professor Osborne expects this to be the first of many such visits to Saudi Arabia that will contribute to the evolution of this complex and fascinating society.