Keynote Speakers at NISPAcee Conferences
28th Conference in Split, Croatia, 2020
Topic:
Governance and citizens' rights in the era of Europeanization, globalization and digitalization
Prof. Norbert Kersting is holding the chair for "Comparative Politics-Local and Regional Policies” at the Department of Political Science at the University of Muenster (Germany). From 2006 to 2011 he was holding the "Willy Brandt Chair on transformation and regional integration” at the Department of Political Science, University of Stellenbosch. He was a fellow at the Institute of Political Science at the University of Marburg and Electoral Integrity Project (Sydney). He was visiting Professor at the University of Koblenz-Landau and the University of Kassel. He is vice chair of International Political Science Association’s (IPSA) Research Committee 10 on „Electronic democracy” and chair of the Board Research Committee 5 on „Comparative Studies on Local Government and Politics”.He published various articles and books on polical participation with a strong emphasis on Africa. His Phd focueed on political participation and sel help in high density area in Zimbabwe”. In the last years he worked on blended participation combining offline and online participation and he edited book "Electronic democracy” (2012) in the IPSA series: World of Political science. Here he analyses democratic innovations from the global South and Africa in particular. He co-authored book on "Local Governance reform in global perspective” (VS-Springer 2009) and he co-edited books on "Local Government Reform in Europe” (VS-Springer 2004, with Angelika Vetter), "Poverty and democracy ”( Zed-books 2005, with Dirk Berg Schlosser), "Electronic voting and democracy”(Palgrave 2004, with Harald Baldersheim), etc.. (Norbert.Kersting@unimuenster.de).
Dr. Gregor Virant, Head of Programme SIGMA at OECD. ( Dr. Gregor Virant will take up duty of Head of Programme SIGMA at OECD on 1st September 2019.)
He is a former State Secretary for Public Administration, Minister of Public Administration, Minister of Interior and speaker of the Parliament of Slovenia. As State Secretary (2000-2004) he was responsible for reforming the legislative framework of public administration in the process of EU accesion. As Minister he pursued thorough reforms of public administration, particularly in the areas of improvement of services, removal of administrative burden, e-government and salary system in the public sector, with internationally recognized results (for example, the one-stop service for starting a business »e-VEM« won a UN award in 2008, Slovenia was ranked European number 2 in terms of online sophistication of services for citizens in 2007 according to the European Commission / CapGemini survey). He also worked as professor of administrative law and public administration. In 2009-2011 and 2014 on he has engaged in international consultancy in the area of public governance, public administration and public law, mostly specializing in the EU candidate countries of the Western Balkans and Ukraine.
27th Conference in Prague, Czech Republic, 2019
Topic:
From Policy Design to Policy Practice
Martin Potůček, www.martinpotucek.cz. Professor at Charles University in Prague, guarantor of Master and doctoral programs of Public and Social Policy there.
His research focuses on processes of policy formation and implementation in the Czech Republic, on the regulatory functions of the market, government, civic sector and media, on the European context and global dimension of policy making, and on the problems of Czech public administration, social policy, and pension reforms.
He acted as an adviser to the Czech Ministers of Labour and Social Affairs (1998–2006) and to Czech Prime Ministers (2002–2004, 2014 – 2017). In one of his recent public engagements, he served as the Chairman of the Expert Committee on Pension Reform to the Czech government (2013 – 2017). Several of its reform proposals were recently accepted and embodied in laws.
President of the Network of Institutes and Schools of Public Administration in Central and Eastern Europe (NISPAcee), Bratislava, Slovakia (2000-2002). Holder of the Sri Chinmoy International Honour "Lifting Up the World with a Oneness-Heart" (2003) and the NISPAcee Alena Brunovska Award (2004) for teaching excellence in public administration.
His last publication Public Policy. A Comprehensive Introduction. 2017. Prague: Karolinum Press is available (both in printed and electronic form) at www.press.uchicago.edu.
Geert Bouckaert is currently in his second mandate as President of the International Institute of Administrative Sciences (IIAS) (2013-2016 - 2019). He was the President of the European Group for Public Administration (EGPA) (2004-2010) and the Chair of the IIAS Programme and Research Advisory Committee (PRAC) (2010-2013).
He is Professor at the KU Leuven Public Governance Institute (Faculty of Social Sciences) of the KU Leuven, Belgium. From 1997 to 2012, he was the Director of its Public Management Institute (Instituut voor de Overheid- KU Leuven).
His fields of research and teaching are Public Management, Public Sector reforms, Performance Management and Finance Management.
He is also visiting Professor at the University of Potsdam (Germany). He launched also the EPPA (European Perspectives for Public Administration) strategic project, as the European version of the US Minnowbrook events (together with Prof. Werner Jann from Potsdam).
Prof. Geert Bouckaert received seven Honorary Doctorates and other international awards in recognition of his scientific contributions in the field of Public Administration. One of his main publications, with Christopher Pollitt, is Public Management Reform, an International Comparison (Oxford, 2017, 4th Ed.).
Topic:
Public Administration for Well-being and Growth
25th Conference in Kazan, Republic of Tatarstan, Russian Federation, 2017
Topic:
Innovation Governance in the Public Sector
Piret Tõnurist holds a PhD in in Public Administration with a specialization in technology governance, MA in technology governance and MSc in policy analysis. She is a research fellow at the Ragnar Nurkse School of Innovation and Governance in Tallinn University of Technology (TUT) and between 2016-2017 she works in the Observatory of Public Sector Innovation at the OECD on systems thinking and public sector innovation measurement. During the last three years she has coordinated research for TUT in the FP7 project "Learning from Innovation in Public Sector Environments” (LIPSE). Piret has worked on public sector innovation labs, co-production, digitization, machine-to-machine coordination, innovation policy management (incl. state owned companies), behavioral public administration and energy technologies. She is a co-chair of the European Group for Public Administration permanent study group "Behavioral Public Administration”. In addition, she has previously worked as a freelance consultant, consultant for the Parliament of Estonia and as a performance auditor (innovation and entrepreneurial policy) for the National Audit Office of Estonia.
24th Conference in Zagreb, Croatia, 2016
Topic:
Spreading Standards, Building Capacities: European Administrative Space in Progress
Herwig C. H. Hofmann is Professor of European and Transnational Public Law at the University of Luxembourg.He researches, teaches, publishes, and litigates in European and transnational constitutional, administrative, and regulatory law. A graduate of the Universities of Hamburg and Oxford, he formerly was lecturer in law at Trinity College in Dublin, and has been visiting professor and visiting scholar at various universities including Sciences Po in Paris, Columbia Law School in New York, the University of San Francisco Law School, and Chuo University in Tokyo.
He is co-founder and coordinator of the Research Network on European Administrative Law (ReNEUAL) and of various University institutes. Hofmann advises European Institutions as well as national governments, most recently the Legal Affairs Committee of the European Parliament on a draft EU administrative procedure regulation and, on the drafting of the new French code on administrative procedure as member of the ‘cercle d’experts’ of the French prime minister’s legislative service. Amongst his most influential publications is the 2011 book ‘Administrative Law and Policy of the European Union’ published by OUP and co-authored with A. Türk and G. Rowe.
23rd Conference in Tbilisi, Georgia, 2015
Topic:
Insourcing and/or outsourcing: How do they contribute to public administration reform?
Tony Bovaird is
Emeritus Professor of Public Management and Policy at the Institute of
Local Government Studies and Third Sector Research Centre, University of
Birmingham, UK. His research covers strategic management of public
services, outcome and performance measurement in public agencies,
evaluation of public management and governance reforms, and user and
community co-production of public services. He has carried out research
for UK Research Councils, the European Commission, many UK government
departments, the Scottish Government, Welsh Government, LGA, Audit
Commission, National Audit Office, and many other public bodies in the
UK and internationally. He is a member of the Scientific Board, German
Research Institute for Public Administration and the Local Government
Reference Panel of the UK National Audit Office. He is co-author (with
Elke Loeffler) of Public Management and Governance (Routledge, 3rd
edition, 2015).
22nd Conference in Budapest, Hungary, 2014
Topic:
Government vs. Governance in Central and Eastern Europe
From Pre-Weberianism to Neo-Weberianism?
Prof. Dr. András PATYI,
Rector, National University of Public Service is a university professor
of Public Law. He is the editor and main author of four university
textbooks (Administrative Law), and has almost 100 scientific
publications. After completing his legal studies (doctor iuris title) in
1993, he began working at the Hungarian Constitutional Court. After a
decade of administrative experience as a senior ranking civil servant
("notary" of the 12th District Local Government in Budapest), he
returned to the Constitutional Court as Chief Counsellor. He was
appointed to the Supreme Court (now Curia) in 2009. He submitted his
Ph.D. thesis in 2002 (The Judicial Review of Administration in Hungary),
succeeded in the habilitation process (The title of his thesis was:
Administration – Constitution – Courts), and became a university
professor in 2011. From 1st January 2012 - ending his service as Justice
at the Hungarian Supreme Court (now Curia) - he became the Rector of
the National University of Public Service (NUPS). Since 30th September
2013 he has been the President of the Hungarian National Electoral
Commission.
Professor Dr. Geert Bouckaert is teaching and researching at the Public Management Institute, of
which he is the Director, of the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, in
Leuven, Belgium. He is specialised in public sector reform in general
and financial management and performance measurement in the public
sector in particular. He received his graduate degrees in Business
Engineering, Political Sciences, and Philosophy, and earned his Ph.D. in
Social Sciences from the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven. Currently, he
is the immediate past President of the European Group of Public
Administration (EGPA) and of the Flemish Association of Public
Administration. He is a member of several international editorial
boards.
Prof. Dirk Kaesler was Professor of Sociology at the University of Hamburg (1984-1995) and
of Marburg (1995-2009). He has held visiting professorships at the
University of Chicago, the University of Köln, the University of South
Florida St. Petersburg, the Indiana University Bloomington, the Ecole
des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, the Humboldt-University Berlin,
the University of München, the University of California-Berkeley, and
the University of Graz. He served as President of the "Research
Committee on the History of Sociology” of the "International
Sociological Association” (1989-2002) and was a member of the Executive
Council of the "German Sociological Society” (2002-2005). His main
research interests cover theories of sociology, history of sociology and
Max Weber-research. In all these fields he has published many books and
numerous articles. [http://www.kaesler-soziologie.de]
21st Conference in Belgrade, Serbia, 2013
Topic:
Migration Impact Assessment: New Horizons
Peter Nijkamp is a Professor in Regional and Urban Economics and in Economic
Geography at the VU University, Amsterdam. His main research interests
cover quantitative plan evaluation, regional and urban modelling,
multi-criteria analysis, transport systems analysis, mathematical
systems modelling, technological innovation, entrepreneurship,
environmental and resource management, and sustainable development. Over
the past years he has focused his research, in particular, on new
quantitative methods for policy analysis, as well as on
spatial-behavioural analysis of economic agents. He has a broad
expertise in the area of public policy, services planning,
infrastructure management and environmental protection. In all these
fields he has published many books and numerous articles.
20th Conference in Ohrid, Republic of Macedonia, 2012
Barbara Kudrycka,
Minister of Science and Education, Poland. Prior to becoming the
Minister, she represented Poland as a Deputy of the European Parliament.
She served for many years in the Committee of Experts in Public
Administration of UNDESA. She holds a full Professor degree and served,
for many years, as Rector of Bialystok School of Public Administration,
Poland. During her academic career she served on the NISPAcee Steering
Committee from 2000 to 2006 and as the NISPAcee President from April
2002 until May 2004.
19th Conference in Varna, Bulgaria, 2011
Topic:
Performance and Accountability in Times of Economic Crises
Geert Bouckaert is Professor of Public Management at the KU Leuven, Belgium. His
research topics include public sector reform and performance in the
public sector. He is past President of the European Group for Public
Administration and currently Chair of the Scientific Committee of the
International Institute of Administrative Sciences.
18th Conference in Warsaw, Poland, 2010
Topic:
Public Administration in Time of Crisis
Wolfgang Drechsler is Professor and Chair of Governance at Tallinn University of
Technology, Estonia (TUT), and Vice Dean for International Relations of
its Faculty of Social Sciences. He has served as Advisor to the
President of Estonia, as Executive Secretary with the German
Wissenschaftsrat during German Reunification and as an APSA
Congressional Fellow, and as a Senior Legislative Analyst in the United
States Congress. Wolfgang Drechsler has been a consultant to several
international agencies, most recently to the EU, the OECD, the Council
of Europe, SIGMA, the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank
and the UNDP. He has worked, in various capacities, on the national
development plans of Estonia, Peru, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Brazil, and
Norway. He has received NISPAcee’s Alena Brunovska Award for Teaching
Excellence and its Merit Award; the Estonian National Science Award,
Social Science category; the Outstanding Alumnus Award from Bridgewater
College; the Maarjamaa Rist, Estonia’s Order of Merit, and the German
Federal Merit Cross. One of his current areas of interest is
non-Western, especially Chinese and Islamic, Public Administration. He
is also dealing with Public Administration, Technology, and Innovation
with Web 2.0 Governance and with Public Management Reform.
17th Conference in Budva, Montenegro, 2009
Topic:
Bringing the State Back in One more Time: The Changing Role of State, Society and Markets in Governance
B. Guy Peters is
Maurice Falk Professor of American Government at the University of
Pittsburgh and Professor of Comparative Governance at Zeppelin
University. He previously taught at Emory University, the University of
Delaware and at Tulane University, and has had visiting appointments at a
number of universities in Europe, Latin America and Australia. He has
also worked as a consultant for the UNDP, World Bank, OECD, UNICEF and a
number of national governments. Professor Peters has been active in
NISPAcee for some years, including as co-Chair of Working Group 1. He
has received the NISPACEE Lifetime Achievement Award.
Topic:
Europeanisation and Democratisation in ECE: Towards the Multilevel and Multiactor Governance
Attila Agh is
a full Professor in the Political Science Department at the Budapest
Corvinus University and the Director of the Research Centre "Together
for Europe” at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. His major research
interest is comparative democratisation and Europeanisation - summarised
in the latest book, Eastern Enlargement and the Future of the EU27: EU
foreign policy in a global world (2006). He was the main coordinator of
the "Hungary 2015” strategic project (2005-2007). At present he is the
project leader for the strategic preparation of the Hungarian EU
presidency in 2011 in the Prime Minister’s Office and Hungarian Academy
of Sciences and he has edited "The prospect of the team presidencies:
Integrative balancing in the new member states" (2008).
16th Conference in Bratislava, Slovakia, 2008
Barbara Kudrycka,
Minister of Science and Education, Poland. Prior to becoming the
Minister she represented Poland as a Deputy of the European Parliament.
She served for many years on the Committee of Experts in Public
Administration of UNDESA. She holds a full Professor degree and served,
for many years, as Rector of Bialystok School of Public Administration,
Poland. During her academic carrier she served on the NISPAcee Steering
Committee from 2000 to 2006 and as the NISPAcee President from April
2002 until May 2004.
15th Conference in Kyiv, Ukraine, 2007
Topic:
Values, Standards and Competences
Christopher Pollitt is BOF/ZAP Research Professor of Public Management at the Public
Management Institute, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven. Previously, he was
Professor of Public Management at Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam
(1999-2006). He is also Editor-in-Chief of the International Review of
Administrative Sciences. Christopher is the author of more than 60
scientific articles and author or editor of more than a dozen scholarly
books.
14th Conference in Ljubljana, Slovenia, 2006
Derry Ormond,
Advisor in Governance, Former Director of Governance and Public
Management Programmes in OECD, Paris, France. Whilst at the OECD from
1962-98, he founded and directed the Organisation’s work on public
management and governance from 1979 onwards. This included the creation
of what is now the Committee on Public Governance, and Working Parties
respectively of heads of prime ministers’ offices, national budget
directors, administrative reform directors, and other related groupings.
This became the leading intergovernmental forum on central management
functions. In 1992, he oversaw the setting up of the joint EU/OECD SIGMA
Programme, providing support for public administration to the newly
independent central and eastern European countries.
13th Conference in Moscow, Russia, 2005
Barbara Kudrycka, Rector, Bialystok School of Public Administration, Poland, Member of the European Parliament.
12th Conference in Vilnius, Lithuania, 2004
Bob Bonwitt is the founder (1991) and Director of the Sigma Programme, which is a
joint OECD/EU initiative, principally financed by the EU. It assists
post-communist countries with their transition to a democratic, rule of
law state with a market economy. It assists these countries to prepare
for membership of the European Union. Sigma was one of the founding
institutions that supported the creation of NISPAcee. Prior to Sigma,
Bob was one of the founders, Deputy Director of the OECD’s Public
Governance Directorate.
11th Conference in Bucharest, Romania, 2003
Topic:
Gearing Governments for Weaving the Future
Tony Verheijen, The World Bank, USA
Yehezkel Dror, Hebrew University, Israel
10th Conference in Cracow, Poland, 2002
Topic:
Renewing Public Leadership: The Context for Service Delivery Reform
Jak Jabes began his academic career at the University of Ottawa where, from
between 1973-1993, he undertook research, which focused on
organisational renewal, rewards in the work place, job motivation,
public policy issues and surveys of managerial attitudes. His best-known
work is a book, in partnership with David Zussman, entitled "The
Vertical Solitude which describes management practices in the federal
public service of Canada and compares them with those in the private
sector". He has been Editor in Chief of Optimum: The Journal of Public
Sector Management and also the Associate Editor of the International
Review of Administrative Sciences, where he is currently on the
Editorial Board. He is the author, co-author or editor of a dozen books
and 60 book chapters, articles, papers and reports. His book entitled
"Traité des Organisations" received special mention by Harvard
l'Expansion for Best Books in Management published in France in 1982.
Geert Bouckaert is Professor of Public Management at the KU Leuven, Belgium. His
research topics include public sector reform and performance in the
public sector. He is past President of the European Group for Public
Administration and currently Chair of the Scientific Committee of the
International Institute of Administrative Sciences.
Topic:
Delivery of Public Services with Social Responsibility
Marek Debicki, University of Manitoba, Canada