Who's who

Members of the Public Policy Group are internationally recognised as leading experts in the field of public policy, public administration and political science, and participate in a wide variety of grant-funded primary research projects. Brief CVs of the Committee members are given below. PPG works in close collaboration with a range of other units within the London School of Economics, including the Innovation research Programme (involving PPG, Economics and the Media Department), the Greater London Group, LSE Housing, and a wide range of LSE departments, including Government, Economics, Geography, and Information Systems (contact details of our Academic Associates are below). It also works with Oxford Internet Institute on a range of research. Additionally we have developed contacts with a wide network of other academic experts at top universities in London, the UK and Europe, on which we draw on for specialist advice on detailed issues.

PPG Team

Professor Patrick Dunleavy - Chair of PPG
Patrick Dunleavy is Professor of Political Science and Public Policy at the London School of Economics and Political Science, where he has worked since 1979. He was educated at Corpus Christi College and Nuffield College, Oxford, where he gained his D.Phil. He has authored and edited numerous books on political science theory, British politics and urban politics, as well as more than 50 articles in professional journals. His current research includes a seven country study of how central governments relate to the IT industry for the UK's Economic and Social Research Council.
More information: Experts entry
Contact details: Room K300, 020 7955 7178, p.dunleavy@lse.ac.uk 

Simon Bastow - Senior Research Fellow
Simon has worked at the LSE since January 2005. He was previously at the School of Public Policy, University College London. Educated at Manchester University in languages he later changed direction, taking an MSc in Comparative Politics at LSE and is completing his PhD in political science. He has published in UK public policy and electoral analysis and co-authored a number of PPG publications.
Contact details: Room Q503, 020 7107 5246, s.j.bastow@lse.ac.uk 

Dr Leandro Carrera - Research Officer
Leandro Carrera joined PPG in October 2007, he is researching public sector productivity as part of the EDS Innovation Programme. He holds a PhD in Political Science from the University of Arizona, with a major in comparative politics and a minor in research methods. His PhD dissertation focused on the politics of pension reform in Latin America and Southern Europe. He holds a Masters in Political Science from the University of Arizona and an undergraduate degree in Political Science from the University of Buenos Aires. He has also worked for the Argentine Government consulting on institutional reform and in the private sector.
More information: Experts entry
Themes: Public Sector Productivity; Public Sector Innovation
Contact details: Room L300, 020 7955 6909, l.n.carrera@lse.ac.uk

Paolo de Renzio - LSE Fellow
Paolo is an LSE Fellow on the MPA Programme, and a DPhil candidate in the Department of Politics and International Relations at the University of Oxford, where he is affiliated to the Global Economic Governance Programme. His research focuses on the interplay between aid policies and modalities and public finance management systems in developing countries. Recently, Paolo worked as a Research Fellow in the Centre for Aid and Public Expenditure at the Overseas Development Institute, after six years spent working as an economist and policy advisor in Papua New Guinea's Ministry of Finance, and as a UNDP public sector specialist, Lecturer and independent consultant in Mozambique. His past research spans from issues related to aid architecture and mutual accountability, to donor conditionalities and general budget support, to assessing the quality of PFM systems and their reform.
Contact details: p.de-renzio@lse.ac.uk

Chris Gilson - Editor/Research Assistant
Chris Gilson joined the LSE PPG in December 2007 as Editor/Researcher for the long-standing hot review contract with the National Audit Office. Before this, he worked for three years at the Department of Health, firstly as a Correspondence Officer and then as a Freedom of Information Officer. He has a undergraduate and a Masters degree in Geography, and a postgraduate diploma in Strategic Management, all from the University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand.
Themes: Audit and Assessment; Public Sector Innovation
Contact details: Room L300, 020 7955 6909, c.h.gilson@lse.ac.uk

Jane Tinkler - PPG Manager / Researcher
Jane has been PPG Manager since September 2005. She is also actively involved in research projects undertaken by PPG. Previous to this, she was Managing Editor of the journals, Political Studies and Political Studies Review for six years. She also was a Research Fellow in the School of Public Policy, University College London. Her first degree was in psychology and business at Leeds University and she later took an MSc at Birkbeck College, University of London. She has published in UK public policy and worked on the Citizen Redress report (2004).
Themes: Audit and Assessment; Citizen Voice; Impact of the Social Sciences; Public Sector Innovation; Digital Era Governance
Contact details: Room L301, 020 7955 6064, j.tinkler@lse.ac.uk 

Sofia Goldchluk
Sofia Goldchluk joined PPG in October 2008, as a Research Assistant. She holds a Masters in Public Policy and Administration from the London School of Economics and an undergraduate degree in Sociology form the University of Buenos Aires. Her working experience includes the Argentinean Ministry of Economy evaluating infrastructure projects made with external funds. She was also in charge of undertaking impact assessments of e-government projects in Argentina’s provinces.
Themes: Citizen Voice
Contact details: s.goldchluk@lse.ac.uk

Dr Joachim Wehner - Lecturer in Public Policy Joachim is Lecturer in Public Policy and a member of the Political Science and Political Economy (PSPE) research group at the LSE. He studied political science at the Free University Berlin (Germany), the Universities of Stellenbosch and Cape Town (South Africa), and the LSE. He holds masters degrees from the University of Stellenbosch and the LSE, and a PhD in Government from the LSE. Prior to joining LSE as a lecturer, Joachim worked as a policy analyst at the Institute for Democracy in South Africa (Idasa), focusing on public finances. He has also worked as a consultant for the World Bank, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the UK Department for International Development, and other organisations. This has included assignments in Eastern Europe, Asia and Africa. His main research interests are public budgeting, fiscal performance, legislatures and federalism. He teaches Public Budgeting and Financial Management (GV4E4).
Contact details: Room V811, 020 7955 6422, j.h.wehner@lse.ac.uk 

Research Associates

Dr Françoise Boucek
Françoise Boucek is a Teaching Fellow in the Department of Politics at Queen Mary, University of London where she has been teaching comparative and EU politics since 2003. Previously, she was Research Officer in the LSE Public Policy Group where she worked on various projects notably the ‘Difficult Forms’ report for the National Audit Office for which she was Team leader for all aspects of planning, organising and running multiple focus groups. She also managed the LSE Internships Programme and lectured and taught in the Department of Government while on the doctoral programme. Her PhD thesis, which won the 2002 LSE’s William Robson Memorial Prize, focused on the impact of factionalism on dominant parties in Britain, Canada, Italy, and Japan. She is presently writing a book on this subject for Palgrave. She is also co-ordinating a collaborative project on ‘Dominant Parties and Democracy’ with international scholars and editing a volume on the conceptualisation and comparative study of dominant parties. Her association with the LSE goes back to 1989 when she joined the MSc programme in European Politics and Policy. She returned to the LSE in 1993 after teaching for two years in the Department of Politics and Modern History at London Metropolitan University. However, before returning to university in the mid-1980s to study political science at the University of Toronto, she worked for a large investment bank in Toronto (Canada) as Research Officer and Junior Financial Analyst covering the oil and gas industry. Before this, she worked in various administrative capacities in commerce and industry in Toronto and Montreal (Canada) and in London (UK) where she moved from France in the mid-1970s after completing her undergraduate studies.

Dr Liz Williams
Dr Williams has been working in the Internet and telecommunications industries since the early 1990s, focusing on a wide variety of network governance issues including Internet architecture management, expansion of the domain name system and privacy protection. She is an Australian international affairs specialist, currently based in Europe, with a Doctorate in Information Technology and Law on the globlisation of regulation and its impact on the domain name system and a Masters in Communication on regulating the Internet and privacy protection.

She is a former Deputy Chair of the .au Domain Administration Board of Directors http://www.auda.org.au and has worked across the full range of policy development issues with the global technical co-ordination organisation, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers. In an earlier phase in her career, she spent several years in Australia's Federal Parliament working on telecommunications issues, health policy research and environmental issues. She has worked extensively in developing countries particularly in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos and in the Pacific on Internet governance and country code management. She is an accredited Australian Company Director, a member of the Australian Internet Industry Association and the Internet Society.

Dr. Kennedy Stewart
Kennedy Stewart graduated from LSE in 2003 with a PhD in Government and is currently an assistant professor in Simon Fraser University’s Graduate Public Policy Program in Vancouver. He teaches research methods, public policy analysis, public management, and about metropolitan government and democratic institutions. His publications cover the same topic areas. For more information or to contact Kennedy please see www.kennedystewart.ca

Dr. Rekha Diwakar

Dr. Rekha Diwakar (r.diwakar@lse.ac.uk) is Lecturer at Department of Politics, Goldsmiths College, University of London, where she teaches courses in research methods, public policy and comparative politics. (Further details can be found on her personal webpage at http://www.goldsmiths.ac.uk/politics/staff/diwakar.php). She obtained an MRes and a PhD in Political Science at the LSE, and worked as an LSE Fellow in the MPA programme 2005–08. She has published on the size of party system and voter turnout in India and her current research interests include electoral competition and voter behaviour, comparative public administration especially civil service reforms.

Academic Associates

Dr Michael Barzelay
More information: Expert entry
Contact details: Room G507, 020 7955 7396, m.barzelay@lse.ac.uk

Professor Tim Besley
More information: Staff page
Contact details: Room R527, 020 7955-6702, t.besley@lse.ac.uk

Professor Gwyn Bevan
More information: Expert entry
Contact details: Room G311, 020 7955 6269, r.g.bevan@lse.ac.uk

Professor Keith Dowding 
More information: Australian National Universit (ANU) staff page

Professor Julian Le Grand
More information: Expert entry
Contact details: 020 7955 7353, j.legrand@lse.ac.uk

Professor Simon Hix
More information: Expert entry
Contact details: Room L104, 020 7955 7657, s.hix@lse.ac.uk

Professor George Jones 
More information: Expert entry 
Contact details: g.w.jones26@btinternet.com

Professor Martin Loughlin
More information: Expert entry
Contact details: 020 7849 4642, m.loughlin@lse.ac.uk

Professor Helen Margetts
More information: Oxford Internet Institute staff page
Contact details: 01865 287 210, Helen.margetts@oii.ox.ac.uk

Dr Matthew Mulford
More information: Expert entry
Contact details:  Room B802, 020 7955 6834, m.mulford@lse.ac.uk 

Professor Edward Page
More information: Expert entry
Contact details: 020 7849 4629, e.c.page@lse.ac.uk 

Professor David Piachaud
More information: Expert entry
Contact details: 020 7955 7369

Professor Anne Power
More information: Expert entry
Contact details: 020 7955 6300

Professor Michael Power
More information: Expert entry
Contact details: 020 7955 7228, m.k.power@lse.ac.uk

Dr Yvonne Rydin
More information: The Bartlett staff page
Contact details: y.rydin@ucl.ac.uk

Professor Colin Scott
More information: University College Dublin (UCD) School of Law staff page

Dr Mark Thatcher
More information: Expert entry
Contact details:  m.thatcher@lse.ac.uk

Tony Travers
More information: Expert entry
Contact details: Room Q403, 020 7955 7777, a.travers@lse.ac.uk

Professor Anne West
More information: Expert Entry
Contact details: 020 7955 7269, a.west@lse.ac.uk

Dr Edgar Whitley
More information: Expert entry
Contact details: Room U407, 020 7955 7410, e.a.whitley@lse.ac.uk

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