Open Session
Chairs
- Külli Sarapuu, Ragnar
Nurkse Department of Innovation and Governance, Tallinn University of
Technology, Estonia, email:[email protected]
Külli Sarapuu is Associate
Professor at the Ragnar Nurkse Department of Innovation and Governance,
Tallinn University of Technology, Estonia. Before joining the Nurkse
Department in 2007 she worked for the Estonian Government Office. Külli
Sarapuu has been engaged as an expert and lecturer in various projects
focusing on the functioning of the Estonian public sector. She teaches
courses on Estonian public administration, public sector coordination
and public management reform. In the years 2008-2016 she was acting as
the Program Director for the Executive Master of Public Management
program at the Nurkse Department. Her research focuses on public sector
organization, civil service systems, public sector coordination and the
governance of small states. She has taken a special interest in the
post-communist transformation of administrative structure in Central and
Eastern Europe and has published broadly on the respective changes in
Estonia. Külli Sarapuu’s current research projects include Coordination
Instruments at the Center of Government: Opportunities and Limitations
of Temporary Task Forces (personal grant by the Estonian Research
Council) and Navigating the Storm: Small States in the EU (EU Jean
Monnet Network). She is a co-chair of the European Group for Public
Administration permanent study group "Governance of Public Sector
Organizations”. Külli Sarapuu was engaged in the organization of the 1st
NISPAcee and EGPA Trans-European Dialogue (TED) in Tallinn, Estonia
(2008) and the 5th TED in Budapest, Hungary (2012). In 2014, she was
endowed with the NISPAcee Mzia Mikeladze PhD Thesis Award.
- Eka Akobia, Caucasus School of Governance, Caucasus University, Georgia, [email protected]
Eka Akobia is Dean of the
Caucasus School of Governance and a Director of the Institute of Peace
Studies (IPS) at Caucasus University. She is also an Associate Professor
at Tbilisi State University (TSU). She teaches theories of
international relations (MA and PHD), international organizations, EU
external relations and UN Peacekeeping Operations courses. She has
published a number of academic articles as well as contributed to three
edited volumes in the European Union series. She also regularly
contributes news analysis to such media platforms as civil.ge and the
Clarion.
Eka Akobia obtained her PHD in
International Relations from Tbilisi State University. She acquired her
MA degree in International Relations from Baylor University, USA and her
BA degree in Political Science from Hartwick College, USA. She has
participated in several senior level non-degree programmes, such as the
Qualitative Research Methods Course (ICQRM) from Syracuse University,
USA (2011); the Summer University on "Federalism, Constitutionalism and
Conflict Transformation in Multiethnic Societies” University of
Fribourg, Switzerland (2005) and the NATO Senior Executive Master
Course, Bucharest, Romania (2004).
Besides academia, Eka Akobia has
extensive public service experience. She worked for the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs of Georgia from 2005 until 2016 and has a broad
experience in Georgia’s foreign policy. She holds a diplomatic rank of
Counselor. Amongst other positions, she has worked as the Deputy
Director of the Department of the Americas (2009-2010), the Deputy
Director of the Political Department (2010-2012) and as the Director of
the Asia, Africa, Australia and the Pacific Department (2012-2016).
Call for papers
The NISPAcee Annual Conference Open Session calls for papers that cover topics beyond the conference main theme or the working groups. The Open Session aims to include a wide array of potential contributors in order to accommodate varied interests of Public Administration and Policy scholars, experts, and practitioners.
The criteria for the acceptance of the abstracts are:
• scholarly quality;
• a relevant public administration, public policy or political science topic;
• from the NISPAcee region, about the region or touching a theoretical topic significant for the region, i.e. Central and Eastern Europe, Central Asia, and the Caucasus.
When submitting an abstract, the authors are expected to outline the objectives and research questions of the paper, its theoretical framework, and the data and methodology to be used.