2^nd Annual Conference, Thursday 11^th to Friday 12^th September 2025, Belfast Campus.

UKAPA website: https://www.ukapa.org.uk/conference/ukapa-2025-conference/

Conference Overview

The UK Association for Public Administration's second annual conference will be organised by the Centre for Public Administration in the School of Applied Social and Policy Sciences, Ulster University. The Conference will be held at the University’s Belfast Campus in Northern Ireland.

The conference continues the Joint University Council Public Administration Committee’s tradition of the annual conference which is open to scholars from member and non-member institutions. It affirms our commitment to international scholarship, the importance of relationships with other public administration learned societies, and the recognition that global problems require global solutions.

The two-day conference will be preceded by our one-day Doctoral Conference that is open to all doctoral students studying at member institutions.

Conference Theme: The Future of Public Administration

Building on the theme of last year’s inaugural conference – the future of public services – this year’s conference’s theme is ‘The Future of Public Administration’. With many governments around the world wrestling with the impact of stagnant economic growth and rising public expectations, while seemingly approaching the limits of public toleration for higher taxation, the resulting fiscal stress poses serious challenges in terms of the size, scope and funding of the state, and hence of publicly provided goods, services and welfare. Environmental pressures, sustainability concerns, demographic change and rapidly changing technological capabilities, combine to exacerbate these intense pressures on governments, policy makers and public administrators. More than ever, therefore, those same governments, policy makers and public administrators are being tasked with developing innovative ways of providing public services within ever tighter public budgets. The nature of public provision in many states is now at a crossroads, with previous longstanding commitments to universalism susceptible to calls for more affordable but selective governmental interventions.

The changing global landscape demands a renewed conversation between academics, policy makers and practitioners to examine how best to meet the challenges of our age. Governments everywhere are obliged to examine the breadth of their operations, considering radical measures in terms of the form, function, finance and staffing of the public sector, if the most vulnerable in society are to be protected, in ways that do not undermine incentives and economic vitality, nor alienate public sector workforces. These pressures afflict not only the advanced and most affluent of the world’s economies but span the globe. For industrialising states and those at dissimilar stages of economic development, particularly those experiencing conflict or having emerged recently from conflict, while particular local pressures may differ, there is a shared if not even greater need to address global challenges relating to the environment, resources, demography, and technology. In all instances, how do public sectors innovate and better adapt to their circumstances, both those specific to them and those more global in nature, working more effectively with stake holders to harness and deploy optimally available resources?

This two-day conference seeks to provide a space for academics, researchers, doctoral research students and practitioners to discuss the future of public administration. The multi-disciplinary nature of the event will provide opportunities for colleagues from the various dimensions of public administration (and allied subjects) to connect and engage in open dialogue and vigorous debate.

We warmly invite colleagues from member and non-member institutions to submit conceptual, theoretical, methodological, and empirically focused proposals for papers, panels, and roundtables. While proposals relating to the conference theme are especially welcome, we are open to consideration of all contributions that focus on topics relevant to the future of public administration, both in the UK as well as from further afield. The  conference is committed to inclusivity and opportunity and abides by UKAPA’s values.

Conference Convenors:
Professor Paul Carmichael and Professor Karl O’Connor
January 2025

KEY DATES FOR UKAPA 2025 ANNUAL CONFERENCE

Invoice Payments:

If you would like to pay via invoice, please contact us at: [email protected].

Cancellation Policy:

Registrations cancelled before Wednesday 13 August 2025, will receive a 50% refund minus admin fee. No refunds can be processed after this date. Registration names can be substituted at any point by emailing [email protected] please copy in both parties to confirm consent for the substitution.

It may be necessary for reasons beyond the control of the organisers to alter the content and timing of the programme or the identity of the speakers. The UKAPA 2025 committee and Ulster University take no responsibility for non-refundable travel/accommodation in the case of a changed programme or cancelled event.

VISA Support Letters:

If you would like to request for a visa invitation letter to support your visa application, you will first need to register for the conference, and full payment must have been received.  Please email us at [email protected] with the below details: 

• First Name
• Last Name
• DOB
• Nationality