The Institute of Public Administration Australia is pleased to announce that funding has been awarded to three new public administration research projects.

The grants from the Public Administration Research Trust Fund — which IPAA manages in partnership with the University of Canberra’s Centre for Change Governance —  will support research into the ethical application of artificial intelligence, the career pathways of Federal ministerial staff once they leave a minister’s office, and the capabilities associated with the implementation of social procurement.

Caroline Walsh, IPAA’s National Executive Director, said that the three research projects will deliver real-world insights for public servants and those involved in the wider public purpose sector.

“We are really pleased to be able to support these research projects into areas of public administration that are topical and important to the profession, not only now but into the future.”

Grants were awarded to:

• Associate Professor Joshua Newman (Better Governance and Policy, Faculty of Arts, Monash University) for the project ‘Supporting the Ethical Application of Artificial Intelligence in Australian Public Administration’ ($6,000)
• Dr Maria Maley (School of Politics and International Relations, ANU College of Arts and Social Sciences for the project ‘Leaving the Ministerial Office: career steps following work as a ministerial adviser’ ($3,000)
• Dr Warren Staples and Dr John Howe (University of Melbourne) and Dr Diep Nguyen and Professor Stephen Teo (Edith Cowan University) for the project ‘ Understanding Capabilities in Social Procurement Implementation’ ($6,000).

Professor Darren Sinclair, Director of the Centre for Change Governance at the University, said that the partnership demonstrated the benefits of university collaboration with a member-based organisation like IPAA that promotes excellence and pride in public service across Australia.

“Public administration is undergoing a period of rapid transformation, with the advent of digitisation and big data, together with new and demanding challenges such as COVID-19, and the need to addresses integrity, diversity and inclusion.

 

It is more important than ever, therefore, for academics to provide research insights to practitioners — this can only happen with funding, which the IPAA has generously provided to three excellent projects”.

The research findings from these projects will be made available by IPAA and the University of Canberra in due course.

More information on the research fund is available from the Public Administration Research Trust Fund page on IPAA’s national website.

To see original article, visit the IPAA National website here.

In April 2021 IPAA SA were thrilled to be supporting the Environment Protection Authority (EPA) in the delivery of the 2021 EPA Board Summit on the topic of ‘Climate Change: Risks, Liabilities and Remedies’.

This online event was co-hosted with the EPA in collaboration with AiGroup, and was held over 2 sessions.

Growing our understanding of Climate Change and its impacts on our state is valuable and relevant to every South Australian state government department and organisation. This event presented some fascinating and insightful reports and presentations that are now accessible to the public.

Some of the key topics of discussion and presentation at this event included:

• Climate change as a financial and liability risk and opportunities for small to medium businesses - with keynote speaker Sarah Barker, Head of Climate Risk Governance, Minter Ellison
• Climate risk and what it means for businesses - with Tennant Reed, Principal National Adviser – Public Policy, Australian Industry Group
• Climate change in SA – what does the data tell us?  – with Dr Graham Green,
  Principal Advisor Climate Change Science, Department for Environment and Water

This event also included the opportunity for Q&A with the above speakers and exploration of two case studies from AGL and City of Adelaide on how they are adapting to climate change.

You can access the full event resources and recordings here.