Public Management Research Conference: Seeking Excellence in a ...

Public Management Research Conference: Seeking Excellence in a Time of Change
Hosted by Fudan University and sponsored by CAAPA ~ IRSPM ~ PMRA
May 25-27, 2012
Shanghai, China – Fudan University will host the forthcoming conference Public Management
Research Conference: Seeking Excellence in a Time of Change, May 25-27. Leading scholars will
present nearly 90 research papers on public affairs and policy written by 156 top researchers
from around the globe, hailing from countries that include: Australia, Barbados, China, Estonia,
Israel, Japan, Mexico, Philippines, Portugal, South Korea, the United Kingdom and the USA.
The issues to be addressed at the conference range from theory, to methods for research, to
empirical findings on public affairs practices. Topical issues concerning the fiscal crisis and the
management of austerity, electronic government, the survival of agency heads and the capacity of
public organizations will also be examined. Specific topics to be covered include:
Leadership from the perspective of sustainability, its impact on performance, and its role
in motivating public servants
The distinctive nature of public administration in the Asian region
Strategies and practices to promote high achieving public agencies from the perspective of
networks, performance management, human resource management, governance and the
relationship between politicians and administrators
Cutting-edge research methods that include experimental research designs and techniques
such as multi-level modeling and network analysis.
E-government as a tool of government and participation strategy that include
microblogging and social media
The interface between science and public policy
The conference will also bring together the current and prior editors of a number of the leading
journals in public administration, including: Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, Journal of
Public Administration Research and Theory, Public Management Review, International Public
Management Journal and Public Performance and Management Review.
Please visit the conference website for more information: http://www.sirpa.fudan.edu.cn/PMRC/.
This is the second collaborative venture between the Public Management Research Association
and the International Research Society for Public Management ‐ the first being the research
conference held at the University of Hong Kong in 2010. In 2012, the conference welcomes a new
co‐sponsor, the China‐America Association of Public Affairs.
Conference committee members include: Carolyn J. Heinrich, University of Texas at Austin, USA;
Alfred Ho, University of Kansas, USA; Yijia Jing, Fudan University, China; Stephen P. Osborne,
University of Edinburgh, Scotland, UK; and Richard M. Walker, City University of Hong Kong, Hong
Kong, China.

More on the School of International Relations and Public Affairs (SIRPA) at Fudan
University, CAAPA, IRSPM and PMRA:
The conference will be hosted by the School of International Relations and Public Affairs (SIRPA)
at Fudan University. Fudan University is a research‐oriented comprehensive university with more
than 30 Schools and Departments and is among China's top universities. Public management of
Fudan University has been ranked by the Ministry of Education as top 1 in China in recent years.
SIRPA has departments including public administration, political science, and international
relations. It is highly internationalized with multiple international programs and exchanges. In
2007, it hosted the international conference on “Public Administration Research and Education in
China” that attracted 28 foreign scholars including four editors of PA journals (JPAM, Governance,
PPMR, and IRPA). In June 2011, it cosponsored a symposium on “Collaborative Governance in
China” with the International Public Management Journal.
The China‐America Association for Public Affairs is a membership organization that aims at
advancing the practice of public administration and public affairs research in China and in the U.S.,
and promoting academic exchanges between American and Chinese scholars, practitioners, and
students in related fields. Initiated by a network of Chinese‐American professors, visiting scholars,
and Chinese doctoral students in the U.S. in the early 2000s, CAAPA has worked with many
Chinese and American universities to co‐host conferences, organize journal symposia, and initiate
cross‐country research for the past years.
The International Research Society for Public Management (IRSPM) grew out of a series of
international annual conferences that commenced in 1994, and was launched as a formal Society
in 2006. IRSPM’s mission is to develop and support research in public management and policy on
an international basis by developing and supporting an international network of researchers in
areas of public management and policy with a strong multi‐disciplinary and comparative focus. It
is probably the most global of all public management and public administration research
associations with a large membership drawn from across the world. The journal Public
Management Review (PMR), one of the foremost international journals in the field, is sponsored by
IRSPM. It publishes the leading research and emergent theory on public management, public
administration and public policy from across the world.
The Public Management Research Association (PMRA) is a nonprofit academic membership
association that furthers research on public organizations. PMRA grew out of a bi‐annual series of
public management research conferences and has substantially grown its membership base over
time (to learn more about PMRA, visit www.pmranet.org). In addition, PMRA now publishes the
Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory (JPART), one of the premier journals in the
field. Both PMRA and JPART emphasize the links between the study of public institutions, their
management, and the study of public policy. One of the goals of PMRA and JPART is to foster
multidisciplinary research from a variety of fields on government and governance. The
organization supports the development of empirical and normative inquiry, theory building and
systematic testing of theory consistent with the canons of social science, using the full range of
quantitative and qualitative methodologies.
Contact: (Yijia Jing, Fudan University, jingyj@fudan.edu.cn)