Faculty research

Image depicts interconnected list of research topics in a circular diagram. Text reads: Our research is about…. Public Engagement Indigenous Community engagement Community Development Governance Studies Comparative Public Policy Local Government administration European studies Border studies HR management Organizational Behaviour Decision-making Evaluation Dispute Resolution Leadership Public sector reform Change and transformation Science innovation and collaboration Social innovation Human rights Decolonization Cross-cultural approaches Access to justice Labour movements Feminism Planetary Health Socio-ecological transition Environmental Justice Ecological Economics Equity

For specific information on our researchers, please see the faculty profile pages.

Research chairs

Three research chairs are located in the School of Public Administration.

Impact Chair in Transformative Governance for Planetary Health

Heather Castleden holds the Impact Chair in Transformative Governance for Planetary Health.

The objectives of this Impact Chair are:

  1. Develop transformative and convergent approaches to governance that will address current and future environmental crises.
  2. Implement community-based participatory food, water, energy, and climate research to decolonize current structures of capitalism, extractivism, colonialism, racism and globalization.
  3. Create decolonized spaces for connecting Indigenous perspectives and surfacing emergent Indigenous systems solutions with a view to new decision-making systems, structures and fora.
  4. Train early career researchers in the art and science of seeking the kinds of questions needed to unsettle, decolonize and Indigenize the range of policy choices at multiple scales of governance.

Jean-Monnet Chair in European Union Policy and Governance

Emmanuel Brunet-Jailly Profile

Dr. Emmanuel Brunet-Jailly holds the Jean-Monnet Chair in European Union Policy and Governance

The goals of the chair are to:

  • internationalize and Europeanize courses in the graduate program of the School of Public Administration
  • to showcase the successes of the European Union in comparative perspective with Canada, in areas such as policy (European semester; governance: subsidiarity and multilevel) and border policy and governance (Schengen and Dublin)
  • use EU governance and policy making about borders, customs, migration, and human and state security as exemplary comparative cases to contrast and compare with Canada’s

The chair offers a new course in Borders and Customs and one in Migration and Human to Military Security. It also offers a course in Border Management. Each course is comparative and policy relevant primarily focusing on European and North American policy and experiences.

The chair also offers courses in governance and policy each focusing on both Canada and the European experience. Students in those courses work on policy case studies that are discussed with for instance, the Canadian Border Services Agency and other organizations such as the Association of European Border Regions. Both summer schools have guest speakers of doctoral and post-doctoral fellows as well as professional and experts.

Lam Chair in Law and Public Policy

Robert Lapper, QC holds the Lam Chair in Law and Public Policy

The David and Dorothy Lam Chair in Law and Public Policy is established to further research and education on the influence of legal and justice issues on the development and implementation of public policy and on public administration. In turn, it also examines the influence of social justice and policy issues on the development and evolution of law and on justice policy.

Some current themes that inform the research, writing and teaching of the Lam Chair include:

  • access to justice
  • justice sector reform
  • design thinking approaches to justice and public administration
  • professional regulation and regulatory reform
  • climate justice