LSE-University of Melbourne public lecture

0656bb80d9ba11e5977177527b345482_inset_imageOn Thursday 9 October, the University of Melbourne’s Professor Garnaut will present a lecture at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) on where the global economy is headed, considering a diverse range of nation-states including Australia, China, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea as examples. The challenges that fertility rates and climate change pose for the global economy will also be addressed.

Ross Garnaut is an economist whose career has been built around the analysis of and practice of policy connected to development, economic policy and international relations in Australia, Asia and the Pacific. He has held senior roles in universities, business, government and other Australian and international institutions. He is a professorial research fellow in economics at The University of Melbourne.

Professor Lord Nicholas Stern will Chair the event. Professor Stern is IG Patel Professor of Economics and Government, chair of the Grantham Research Institute and chair of the Centre for Climate Change Economics and Policy at the LSE.

To follow and participate in this event on Twitter: #LSEGarnaut. Read more about this event on the Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy in the Twenty First Century web page.


New home for the Australian journal of Public Administration

Journal to be housed in the Melbourne School of Government from 2015

1d4e3530d9b911e5b3aa1f9889fd5cda_inset_imageThe Institute of Public Administration Australia (IPAA) has announced the Australian Journal of Public Administration (AJPA) will be housed in the Melbourne School of Government from 2015.

Academics from the Melbourne School of Government will lead the AJPA’s new editorial team, which comprises of Professor Janine O’FlynnAssociate Professor Helen DickinsonProfessor Adrian KayMs Maria Katsonis and Associate Professor Anne Tiernan.

The AJPA is the premier public administration journal in Australasia and is committed to the study and practice of public administration, public management and policy making. First published in 1937, the AJPA has influenced the theory and practice of public administration by publishing a range of perspectives and creating a rich archive of knowledge and debate. AJPA publishes four issues a year with a total volume of 512 pages spread over the four issues. The journal is published by Wiley. The new team will begin editing the AJPA from the March 2015 issue.


Dr Mark Triffitt in the Australian book review

 The Vice Chancellor, Professor Glyn Davis, opening the forum.
The Vice Chancellor, Professor Glyn Davis,
opening the forum.

Dr Mark Triffitt, lecturer in public policy at MSoG, has written the lead article in this month’s edition of the Australian Book Review – a review of French economist’s Thomas Piketty’s ground-breaking treatise on inequality, Capital in the 21st CenturyABR subscribers can read the article on the ABR Piketty-land web page.

The book was also the subject of a public forum organised by the University of Melbourne and Australian Book Review on 19 August, with leading economist Professor Ross Garnaut, Oxfam Australia’s chief executive Dr Helen Szoke and Dr Triffitt as speakers.

 


Melbourne School of Government academics among 2013’s most cited

06550dd0d9ba11e5ad60b53274d7a8b4_inset_imageProfessor Helen Sullivan and Professor Jenny Lewis are both among the 10 most cited authors for 2013 in the highly ranked journal Policy & Politics.

Their two most cited papers are:

‘Truth’ junkies: using evaluation in UK public policy by Professor Helen Sullivan.
This article explores the relationships of policy makers and academic evaluators with each other and with evaluation over the life of the United Kingdom’s (UK) New Labour focusing on the way in which ideas about ‘truth’ shaped those relationships and ultimately perpetuated the disconnect between ‘evidence’ and ‘argument’ in the policy process. Research funding systems in Australia, New Zealand and the UK: policy settings and perceived effects by Professor Jenny Lewis and Dr Sandy Ross.
Research policy is increasingly based on linking funding to ‘excellence’ in universities. This article examines the perceived effects of this on academics at universities in Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom, and shows significant differences across universities, but surprisingly little variance between the humanities, science and social science disciplines. The 10 most cited articles are currently available free of charge.


International funding success researching governance under austerity

Professor Helen Sullivan
Professor Helen Sullivan

Professor Helen Sullivan, Melbourne School of Government Director, is part of an international team that has won funding from the UK Economic and Social Research Council to research city governance responses to austerity.

The two and a half year project is a comparative study of collaborative relationships between government, business and civil society actors navigating austerity in the cities of Athens, Baltimore, Barcelona, Dublin, Leicester, Melbourne, Montreal and Nantes.

The study will generate insights for policy makers, citizen-activists and scholars about the efficacy of collaboration in governing and contesting austerity. It will contribute to theory by exploring patterns of continuity and change in collaborative urban governance, in different austerity conditions. The project is led by urban scholar Professor Jonathan Davies from De Montfort University in the UK, and the Melbourne team includes Professor Brendan Gleeson from the Melbourne Sustainable Societies Institute.


Valuing the future

On Monday 26th May 2014 the Melbourne School of Government in conjunction with the Melbourne Sustainability Society Institute and the Centre for Policy Development hosted a discussion chaired by John Langmore, with Pascal Lamy, Ross Garnaut, Rod Eddington and Laura Eadie on ‘Valuing the Future’. This invitation-only event aimed to connect leading thinkers on how Australia’s choice of discount rates impacts our long-term planning and investment.


2014 Hamer oration: John Brumby, a federation for the future

On Monday 19th May 2014 the Hon John Brumby, former Premier of Victoria, presented the 2014 Hamer Oration on a ‘Federation for the Future’. The Hon John Brumby discussed such issues as how can State and Federal governments work effectively to deal with the increasing demographic, social and global economic challenges facing Australia and shared his insights from more than 3 decades of public life on shaping the future of Australian federalism.



Many Languages, One World global youth forum

23816d50d9b911e595abdb3d67212112_inset_imageMelbourne School of Government student Holly Taylor has recently returned from New York where she participated in the “Many Languages, One World” Global Youth Forum at the United Nations General Assembly. To be eligible to attend the conference, Holly had to complete an essay in one of the six official UN languages – that was neither her mother tongue nor her language of instruction. For her essay, Holly chose to write in Spanish, submitting an essay on the role of multilingual ability in fostering global citizenship and understanding. Holly’s esasy submission can be viewed on the ¿Qué es la ciudadanía global? document (630kb pdf) and her conference presentation is available on the UN Web TV website.

Holly joined 59 other students (10 students per UN language: Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish) for the five day conference, which was based at Adelphi University on Long Island, NY. At the conference, the students had the privilege of presenting their Action Plan for achieving one of the UN Academic Impact’s principles in their home countries. The Global Youth Forum was a joint venture between the United Nations Academic Impact and ELS Educational Services, Inc., and will surely be a very memorable and valuable experience for Holly and the other participants.


An assessment of the budget

On Wednesday 14th March 2014 Professor John Quiggin, an Australian Laureate Fellow in Economics at the University of Queensland, presented a well-attended seminar on the ‘Assessment of the Budget’. Professor Quiggin reviewed the macroeconomic parameters of the budget and addressed such questions as: what are the highest priorities for fiscal policy at present? Does the Commonwealth have a potentially damaging level of public debt? What are the likely impacts of international economic conditions on Australia during 2014-15? Are the spending decisions cost effective means for achieving desirable outcomes? What are the longer-term implications of the budget strategy on fiscal capacity for service provision to an ageing population?


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