- Public Policy

John Peterson is leading a multinational team investigating the Commission and the European Civil Service as part of EU-Consent, a Network of Excellence funded through the EU's Framework 6 programme.  This project will assess the long-term effects of the Kinnock reforms as well as the impact of the 2004 enlargement on the Commission, examining its changing relationships with the Council's General Secretariat, the European Parliament and other new European agencies.  The team meets annually at workshops, which also feature guest practitioners from the Commission and other European administrations, as well as civil society representatives and other researchers (including postgraduate students).

KNOWandPOL (2006-2011) is an EC-funded study of the way different kinds of knowledge are mobilised in policy making in health and education in eight countries.  Eric Mangez, a visiting member of the Public Policy Research Group, co-directs the project at the University of Louvain.  Other members involved are Richard Freeman, Jen Smith and Steve Sturdy, who are looking at mental health in Scotland, while Edinburgh colleagues Jenny Ozga, Martin Lawn and Sotiria Grek are doing a parallel study of education at the Centre for Educational Sociology.  

Christina Boswell's projects include an FP6 Excellence Grant Expanding the Knowledge Base of European Labour Migration Policies.  She is also co-convening an ESRC Seminar Series on Migration Policy and Narratives of Societal Steering.

Eve Hepburn is currently involved in a Nuffield-funded project with Michael Keating (European University Institute) and Paul Cairney (Aberdeen) entitled 'Models of Public Service Delivery in Britain'. The overall aim of the project is to examine and explain the differences in public policy which have developed in the UK since devolution. In particular, the project examines how public services provision has diverged between England, Scotland, Wales and NI, and how devolution has strengthened the territorial dimenion of interest representation.

Sandra Nutley and Sarah Morton (University of Edinburgh) are organising a NORFACE-funded seminar series on 'Evidence and Policy' with the University of Iceland, National University of Ireland, University of Oslo and Erasmus University (Rotterdam). The seminars aim to advance international and comparative understanding of the use of different forms of knowledge and evidence in the policy process through a process of sharing of ideas and discussion across these jurisdictions.