Therefore, at the NISPAcee annual conference in 2021 were presented papers that will invigorate discussion about possible ways of citizens' empowerment in the CEE region, in connection to its developments/tradition, governance practices, regulatory framework, financial capacity, public policy, digitalisation processes, human resource management and public administration itself. This topic was upon by experts, researchers and scholars from different disciplines, not only at the main session but also in working groups and panel sessions.
Gyorgy Hajnal, NISPAcee President, Corvinus University of Budapest, Budapest, Hungary,
Mirko Pecaric, Dean, Faculty of Public Administration, University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana,
Borut Pahor, President of the Republic of Slovenia,Allan Rosenbaum, ASPA President, ICAPA Chair, Florida International University, Miami, Florida, United States, followed by keynote speeches.
Jacob Torfingis an award-winning and decorated full professor in politics and institutions at Department of Social Sciences and Business, Roskilde University. He is the founder and director of the Roskilde School of Governance (previously known as the Centre for Democratic Network Governance). Recently, he was awarded the Danish degree of Doctor Scientiarum Administrationis. He is a scientific expert in the fields of network governance, co-creation, climate change, public innovation, policy reform, institutional theory and discourse analysis. He has chaired the Danish Political Science Association (DPSA), been a long-term member of the Danish Social Science Research Council, and served at the Executive Committee of the European Consortium of Political Research (ECPR). He has published more than 30 books and 260 journal articles, book chapters and research communications that together have generated more than 14,000 Google Scholar citations (h-index 50).
Juraj Nemec is an expert and the university professor in the area of public management and public finance. He has comprehensive theoretical and practical experience with public administration reforms in the European Union and in the Central and Eastern Europe region particularly (via teaching, research and working on various advisory and consultancy projects with national and local governments in many countries of the region). In his recent research he also focuses on collaborative innovations in governance (projects LIPSE or SOLIDUS, for example). He is the current Immediate Past-President of NISPAcee, member of CEPA UN and Vice-President of IASIA. He is also the Project Director of the working group "Public Leaderships, Governance and Management” of the IASIA and serves as a co-chair of NISPAcee’s working group "Public Financial Management”. He has been editor-in-chief of the NISPAcee Journal of Public Administration and Policy since 2007, indexed in more than 30 databases including Elsevier – SCOPUS and Web of Science (Clarivate). He has published over 400 books and scientific articles in his field and has filled several academic posts.
NISPAcee would like to thank the local organisers, the Faculty of Public Administration, University of Ljubljana, mainly to Maja Klun the Chair of the Local Organizing Committee, memebrs of the Committee and the whole Slovenian team for the excellent organisation of the conference, financial support and preparation of 
the social events, which created a special, friendly and pleasant atmosphere for conference participants.
The Steering Committee elected Calin Hintea the new NISPAcee President for two years term after the Business Meeting.
Alena Brunovská Award for Teaching Excellence in Public Administration 2020 presented to Maja Klun, University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia.
Mzia Mikeladze PhD Thesis Award 2021 presented to Zoltán Török, Corvinus University of Budapest, Budapest, Hungary, for his PhD thesis: Understanding Large Scale Policy Change / National Policy Reform Under External Constraints.
NISPAcee Best Graduate Student Paper Award presented to Steven Nõmmik, Tallinn University of Technology, Estonia for his paper: Cross-organisational collaboration management of digital innovation in the public sector – the case of the Estonian Employment Register.
Award for the Best Comparative Paper Presented at the 29th NISPAcee Annual Conference presented to Katarína Staroňová, Comenius University, Slovakia and Marek Rybár, Masaryk University, Czech Republic for their paper: Still Hiding in the Shadows? Political Advisers in Central and Eastern Europe.