Centre

Centre for Public Accountability and Management

An international platform for research, dialogue and collaboration on the future of public services

The skyline of the city of Osaka at night, with the city lit up.

What we do

The Centre for Public Accountability and Management (PAM) is an international platform connecting academics, practitioners and policymakers to advance public service research that matters.

We co-produce rigorous, policy-relevant and interdisciplinary work on accountability, equity, inclusivity and resilience in public services.

By bringing together expertise from public administration, management, accounting, law and governance, PAM offers new perspectives and a shared agenda for transforming public services to meet today's global and local challenges.

PAM is proud to support Financial Accountability & Management (FAM), a leading international journal, focusing on topics of great concern to PAM members, and edited by PAM’s own Director.

Our goals

Our aim is to become a globally recognised hub for interdisciplinary research and thought leadership, redefining public service accountability, administration and management through the lenses of equity, sustainability, inclusivity and resilience.

We want to shape the agenda for public sector reform by convening scholars, practitioners and policymakers, growing critical mass across disciplines, and creating new opportunities for funding, students and top talent to advance this agenda together.

Keep in touch

If you'd like to receive updates about the work of our Centre you can join our mailing list, or follow us on LinkedIn.

The Challenge

Public services face overlapping pressures: rising poverty and inequality, climate and demographic change, democratic backsliding, declining trust in institutions, and the disruptive effects of digitalisation and AI.

These are grand, interconnected challenges that no single discipline can resolve alone, marked by polarisation, conflict and genuine uncertainty about the right way forward.

Traditional models of public administration, whether rule-bound bureaucracy or market-driven efficiency, are no longer sufficient on their own to meet them.

A different, more pluralistic approach is needed.

Our response

Our response is to champion interdisciplinary, co-produced and practice-oriented research that meets the highest scholarly standards while remaining directly relevant to real-world decision-making.

We convene academics, practitioners and policymakers around shared questions, and turn dialogue into action through events, seminars, projects and national and international collaborations.

By bringing people together across sectors and disciplines, PAM builds a shared agenda and a coordinated response to the challenges facing public services today.

What we do

Our research Our events Resources

Who we are

University of Essex members External members

Professor Ileana Steccolini

Director

Centre for Public Accountability and Management, University of Essex

Join our mailing list

Subscribe to our mailing list to receive the latest news from our Centre, including updates on PAM events, seminars and activities.

If you are at the University of Essex

You can add yourself to the list in a few moments using the University’s mailing list page.

If you are outside the University of Essex

Please email pamadmin@essex.ac.uk with the subject line “Join PAM mailing list” and a member of our team will add you to the list. We only need your email address, name, and place of work.

Unsubscribing

You can unsubscribe at any time by emailing pamadmin@essex.ac.uk, and we will remove you from the list.

Centre for Public Accountability and Management Essex Business School

Wivenhoe Park, Colchester, CO4 3SQ

Email: pamadmin@essex.ac.uk

Link: Follow us on LinkedIn