Are you researching public management or public services, broadly defined? Do you have a paper, chapter, research design, or just an early project idea that you’d like friendly but detailed feedback on? Are you thinking about submitting your first journal article? Are you getting ready for your first job talk? Are you wondering how to get policymakers to notice your work?

The London PhD Colloquium for Public Management is geared at providing detailed, constructive feedback on your work – whatever stage it is at.

• Network with other PhDs and public management faculty.
• Learn the dos and don’ts of publishing first-hand from a top journal editor.
• It’s a free one-day-event in central London, with lunch provided.

Co-Directors

Thomas Elston, Associate Professor of Public Administration at the University of Oxford

Clare FitzGerald, Lecturer in Management and Organisation at King’s College London

Confirmed Speaker

Ole Helby Petersen, Professor of Public Administration, Roskilde University, and Editor of the Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory

Participants

PhD students exploring any public management topic at any level of government and in any geography. For example, contracting and collaboration, public service motivation, public governance, nonprofit management, and performance management.

Purpose

PhD students are under increasing pressure to publish early and publish often, but opportunities to receive detailed feedback from faculty other than your supervisor can be few and far between. The Colloquium is meant to fill this gap.

Should you be invited to attend, your work will receive an in-depth review and a set of comments by the Co-Directors and other participants, ensuring you leave with personalised and actionable ways to move your research forward.

Format

This is a day-long event conveniently located in central London at King’s Business School. The day consists of student presentations, group discussion, networking, and guest speakers.

Application

Email a provisional title and 150-word abstract to thomas.elston@bsg.ox.ac.uk and clare.fitzgerald@kcl.ac.uk by 31 March 2025 for consideration.

Cost

The Colloquium is free to attend, and lunch is provided. There is plentiful public transport to the venue from rail stations and airports, and we are happy to provide letters of recommendation to anyone accepted onto the Colloquium seeking a travel grant from their home institution.

Preparation

Two weeks prior to the Colloquium, by 1 May 2025, participants will circulate the materials on which they are seeking feedback. Previous participants have shared slides, draft manuscripts, and polished chapters alike – all are more than welcome.

About the hosting organisation

The Department of Public Services Management & Organisation within King’s Business School explores some of the most complex and pressing issues faced by both professionals and organisations providing public services. We address these concerns by examining the ways in which organisations are rooted in broader social and political systems, structures, processes and practices. And, in doing so, we examine the Business School’s interests in the major themes of digitalisation, governance, diversity & inclusion, and the future of work and the public services.