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Review of NISPAcee Main Activities in 2018 The 26th NISPAcee Annual Conference was organised in co-operation with the "Alexandru Ioan Cuza" University of Iasi on the main conference theme: Public Administration for Well-being and Growth. The conference held in Iasi, Romania on May 24-26, 2018 was attended by almost 180 participants from 31 countries from all over the world. These included 23 CEE countries covered by NISPAcee institutional membership. The keynote presentation was delivered by Salvador Parrado, Spanish Distance Learning University, Madrid, Spain.
 Conference sessions and meetings were divided into sessions on the main conference theme, ten research working groups’ meetings on the following topics: Local Government, e-Government, Public Administration Reform, Regional Development and Inter-regional Cooperation, Public Finance and Public Finance Management, Public Policy Analysis Development Issues, Public Administration Education in Transition, Change and Uncertainty, Non-Governmental Organisations in Central and Eastern Europe; six thematically focused panels and a general session which included a presentation of highly relevant research findings which did not fit into the topics of other sessions. Within a pre-conference programme, NISPAcee hosted the 20th Anniversary Workshop of the Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis (JCPA: https://comparativepolicy.org) affiliated with a partner scholarly society, the JCPA-Forum. For the seventh time, NISPAcee included a special pre-conference programme for young researchers: PhD Seminar "How to improve your Research and Paper”. Awards in 5 categories were presented to distinguished winners: Alena Brunovská Award for Teaching Excellence in Public Administration, Mzia Mikeladze PhD Thesis, Best Comparative Paper Award, NISPAcee Best Graduate Student Paper, and NISPAcee Merit Award.
A special Trans-European Dialogue - TED 10, a high-level workshop, was organised jointly with EGPA and the University of Portsmouth on the theme: The Study and Practice of Public Administration in Europe. The event was held in Portsmouth, UK, on February 1-2, 2018. Participants of TED10 discussed how to approach PA key issues and how to develop PA as an object of research and teaching, especially interdisciplinarity of the field. They also addressed an important theme of PA research funding between opportunities and challenges. Participants in TED 10 addressed the different aspects of PA Education such as its internationalisation and digitalisation, the role of accreditation and the links between research agenda and education in PA. They also investigated the role of learning societies in the developments of PA study and practices and the future orientations for Public Administration.
 NISPAcee ran several projects financed by external donor organisations: • Effective Project Management in the Water Sector in Bosnia and Herzegovina: Implementation of the EU tendering procedures – supported by SlovakAid (2016 – 2018). • PRACTIC - From Policy Design to Policy Practice in the European Integration Context co-financed by EC ERASMUS+ Jean Monnet Action – Jean Monnet Project (2018 – 2021). • PAQUALITY- Public Administration Education Quality Enhancement co-financed by the European Commission ERASMUS+ (2018 – 2021). NISPAcee Press published in 2018:
 • The NISPAcee Journal of Public Administration and Policy,Volume XI, Number 2, Winter 2018/2019. • The NISPAcee Journal of Public Administration and Policy Special issue: Public Administration Reforms in Central and Eastern Europe, Volume XI, Number 1, Summer 2018. • Public Administration: Reflection, Relevance and Readiness, Edited by Michiel S. de Vries, Gerda van Dijk, Margaret Chitiga-Mabugu. • Quarterly NISPAcee e-News – 4 issues. |