New professors to join Policy Evaluation and Research Unit

We are delighted to announce that Professors Hannah Hesselgreaves, Toby Lowe and Rob Wilson will join Manchester Metropolitan University this autumn. They will be joining the Policy Evaluation and Research Unit (based in the Sociology Department) where Hannah will become PERU’s new Director and Rob Wilson will become the new Director of the Masters in Public Administration

Collectively, Hannah, Toby and Rob’s work on relational public service focuses on innovation in public service reform, and public management and public policy. For example, it has led to the development of a new approach to public management called Human Learning Systems (HLS).  HLS is one of the biggest and most exciting ideas currently emerging in public management and public service reform and is already influential. The Human Learning Systems Collaborative has grown to over 300 organisations from small voluntary sector organisations to large public sector bodies across the NHS and local government with increasing involvement from public bodies internationally. HLS provides a useful language for encouraging national conversations about relational practice, research, and policy which the team will continue to foster.

Hannah Hesselgreaves will become Professor of Public Service Reform and Director of PERU. Hannah is currently Professor of Organisational Learning at Newcastle Business School, Northumbria University and has a background is in organisational development, applied to healthcare education . Her current work focuses on developing complexity-informed evaluation and building learning and evaluative capacity in public sector organisations as a learning partner. She is also developing innovations in much needed complexity-informed approaches to public service reform, which are helping to build capacity in many parts of social reform.

Rob Wilson will become Professor of Digital Social Innovation. Currently he is Professor of Digital Economy at Newcastle Business School, Northumbria University. His research is broadly positioned in the relationship between information systems and public and social innovation including the emergence of relational thinking in social policy, public management and public administration. His expertise includes the application of approaches to knowledge exchange, such as co-creation, to the challenges of innovating relationships between organisations working on developments across a range of areas of digital and information systems in public service and civic contexts.

Toby Lowe will become Professor of Public Management. Toby is currently Professor of Public Management at Newcastle Business School, Northumbria University. Toby spent 15 years working across the public and voluntary sectors in the UK, working in both policy and delivery roles (including national government, funding agencies and regional government bodies). He has recently returned from a secondment with the Centre for Public Impact (a Social Enterprise consultancy founded by Boston Consulting Group where he was a Visiting Professor) where he built a global platform for the Human Learning Systems approach.

The team will use their expertise to shape and develop the Masters in Public Administration, embedding relational ideas like Human Learning Systems throughout this programme. This is really exciting news for the department and our students, and we are very much looking forward to working with Hannah, Rob and Toby.