Sam van Elk is a Lecturer in Management and Organisation. His research uses conceptual apparatus drawn from sociology to engage with issues in public policy and management. The focus of Sam’s current work is how people coordinate in and around public organisations. Sam takes a particular interest in how people achieve coordination when times get tough – for instance during austerity – and how they use conceptual resources like moral values or projections of the future to do so.

In principle, Sam’s research interests are applicable to a wide range of public, private, and third-sector organisations. However, he tends to focus his studies on the industries whose goals feel most important. Thus, Sam’s work focuses on public service bodies, and today centres on the health and social care systems. Accordingly, his work is published in journals like Public Management Review, but also in those like Human Relations.

Sam’s key areas of expertise include:

• Austerity management
• Values and moral struggles in organisations
• Coordination in organisations, including collaborative governance
• Temporality
• Organisational process studies
• Text and discourse analysis
• Healthcare policy and management

Alongside his research, Sam is committed to building connections between academia and the health and social care sector. A former NHS manager, he believes strongly in the mutual benefits that arise from pooling academic and practitioner insights. Accordingly, he spends much of his time convening the Integrated Care Systems Research-Practice Network, a collaborative forum for those interested in the health and social care system and related research.

Sam particularly values the opportunities that his job gives him to work with students. He is Module Leader for Research Methods in Public Policy and Management, and of the Dissertation module in the department’s MSc in Public Policy and Management. Alongside that, he runs an undergraduate module called Government and Business while teaching on doctoral and Executive Education programmes. He is proud to supervise four excellent doctoral students.

Are you currently accepting PhD students?

Yes, Sam particularly welcomes PhD students from minoritised populations, students with disabilities, and those otherwise underrepresented in academia.

At present, Sam is especially keen to receive applications from those interested in working on Integrated Care Systems.