Engagement

How should we engage with the communities of which we are part, other than by teaching and doing research?

One way is by going out and speaking at conferences and in organisations, talking to people about what we do (and what they do).

Another way is by bringing people into the university, to share what it offers more widely. Our dialogues, exchange fellowships and public sessions promote the university as a place for informed talk among diverse participants in the academy and the city, across Scotland and beyond.

I’ve worked with organisations including Oxfam Scotland, the Association for Public Service Excellence (APSE), the Scottish Development Centre for Mental Health, the City of Edinburgh Council, a Scottish Government National Reference Group, a WHO Europe Working Group, the US Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, the Harvard Program in Refugee Trauma, the Pittsburgh Conference on Social Inclusion and the Transformation of Mental Health Services, and the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease.

What do policy makers really do?

The question is important because making policy engages a great number of people one way or another, and what they do they might do well or badly.  Our standard answers are rather hazy, not least because policy making entails such great numbers of people doing a great...

Local politics in Scotland: the work of the councillor

Three reports for APSE (Association for Public Service Excellence), part of continuing work with Professor Steve Griggs at De Montfort University, Leicester, explore the work entailed in local politics, focusing on the role of the councillor: Anderson, D, Barnett, N,...

Working for Equality: policies, politics, people

Equality is a hugely important topic for most Scots and many of us want to see a more equal society. But what kind of equality do we want, and how, in practice, might we achieve it? This book brings together a group of experienced practitioners from across the country...

The Work of Commissions in Scotland

This paper reports a project undertaken by the Academy of Government, in collaboration with Oxfam Scotland, on the work of commissions. Its purpose was to inform a report by Oxfam Scotland responding to the Scottish Government’s announcement, in the Fairer Scotland...

Reference Group on In/Equalities

A Reference Group is a community of policy makers and practitioners working in different contexts in pursuit of a common goal.  They meet periodically in order to reflect, both individually and collectively, on the challenges they face in doing so: they discuss their...

Scottish Drugs Policy Conversations

The Academy of Government supported the early development of the Scottish Drugs Policy Conversations, which address changing patterns of drug use and related harm, developments in policy and practice in Scotland and other countries, new research findings as well as...