After a long period of service, Hendrik Wagenaar (with Herbert Gottweis one of the two founding members of the Standing Group) and Anna Durnová will step down as conveners. We thank them for their intellectual leadership and their continued effort in developing the Standing Group.

We are delighted to introduce ourselves as the new conveners of the Standing Group and look forward to collaborating with you over the next three years. Below you can read about our background, research, involvement in our community, and plans for the Standing Group.

SELEN ERCAN

I have been following the work presented/ published by the members of the Standing Group on Theoretical Perspectives in Policy Analysis with great interest, as it is the only standing group that speaks to my interest in political theory and empirical research at the same time. I am keen to contribute and further the excellent work undertaken by this group by continuing to coordinate theoretically informed and politically relevant panels and symposiums, and by enhancing the mentorship activities of the group to make it both attractive and rewarding especially for PhD students and Early Career Researchers.

I am an Associate Professor at the Centre for Deliberative Democracy and Global Governance at the University of Canberra working in the area of deliberative democracy. My work sits at the intersection of normative theory and empirical research in Political Science and examines a wide range of topics through the lens of interpretive research. I have undertaken research in the areas of multiculturalism and identity politics, political participation and deliberative democracy in both Europe and Australia. My research contributes to an understanding of deliberation as a communicative activity taking place beyond structured forums and drawing a rich variety of repertoires beyond rational argumentation. My current research examines the ways deliberative democracy can respond to the crisis of democracy and inform democratic reform initiatives.  My recent publications and current projects on these topics can be seen here.

I have been living in Australia for the last 15 years. Prior to this, I lived and studied in Germany and Turkey. I have a BA in Political Science and Public Administration from Middle East Technical University, a MA in Political Science and Sociology from the University of Heidelberg and a PhD in Political Science from the Australian National University. Currently, I serve as an Associate Editor of the interdisciplinary journal, Democratic Theory, as an editorial board member of the Journal of Deliberative Democracy (formerly Journal of Public Deliberation), and a Collaborator of the global project of Participedia– a crowdsourcing platform for researchers and practitioners of democratic innovations.

JOHN BOSWELL

I’m an Associate Professor in Politics at the University of Southampton, where I’ve worked since finishing my PhD in 2013. I’m a New Zealander now making my home in the UK, by way of long stays in Korea and Australia.

My substantive research interests are in health policy and deliberative governance. I also enjoy thinking and writing about interpretive methods in the study of public policy. I especially enjoy teaching these methods to postgrad students (when I typically learn far more than I impart!) and have helped run specialist short courses for the NCRM and IQMR in recent years.  You can check out my papers and books here.

I have served as a co-convener for the APSA Critical Policy Studies related group since 2017. It has a similar mission and orientation to the ECPR standing group, and it has been a pleasure helping coordinate those activities for the annual APSA meeting.

I am honoured to serve as a convener for the ECPR standing group on Theories of the Policy Process. I hope together with the excellent conveners involved we might achieve the following:

• Coordinate the Standing Group’s activities closely with those of other flagship groups in APSA, the IPPA, other national professional associations and the Critical Policy Studies journal, in order to maximise the international impact of innovative interpretive and critical work on public policy
• Continue to grow the Standing Group both in terms of its size and its diversity
• Develop opportunities for ECRs within the Standing Group to help shape our activities and build networks

KOEN BARTELS

I’m Senior Lecturer at the Institute of Local Government Studies, at the University of Birmingham, where I’m the Director of Postgraduate Research and teach courses in public management, democracy and participation, and research design. I have a BSc and Mphil in public administration from Leiden University and a PhD in Politics from the University of Glasgow. I also serve as Editorial Board member on Administrative Theory & Praxis. I’m from the Netherlands originally but have lived in the UK for 12 years now.

My research focuses on relationships between citizens and government, particularly at the local level. I’m very passionate about co-creating innovative ways of thinking, acting and organising that improve local wellbeing, empower communities, and transform underlying relationships and values. Methodologically, I’m most closely affiliated to Deliberative Policy Analysis, relational approaches, and action research. You can find more details about my research and publications here.

I’ve been a member of our community of interpretive and critical policy analysis for over ten years now. When I engaged with it for the first time, I felt immediately at home. As an early career researcher, it was a very safe and supportive environment for developing my research and network. As I progressed in my career I came to realise what a unique space we have to interact with people understand what we do and are sincerely interested in helping us to further develop it. I’ve been a regular attendant at the IPA conferences as well as the ICPP, PAT-Net and of course the ECPR conferences.

I’ve been convener of the Standing Group since 2014, when it was largely dormant. Through our joint efforts we have really brought it back to life. We have more than doubled the membership, we have organised five successful Sections at the ECPR General Conference, as well as the recent virtual event. In addition, we have started to send out regular newsletters and provided support to our members in organising activities such as a workshop at the ECPR Joint Sessions or the IPA Summer School.

Over the next three years, I’d like to achieve three things:

1. To continue to grow the Standing Group by sustaining and further developing its membership, activities, and standing within ECPR.
2. To strengthen the cohesion of our community by creating a more robust collaborative relationship between its various, and at the moment rather dispersed, networks, groups and journals.

To enhance the visibility and impact of the Standing Group and our community more generally by organising online events and producing (or helping to produce) online materials that demonstrate what it is that we do, why that is useful, and what can change as a result.