I am a Senior Lecturer in Public Policy and Administration at the Centre for Public Policy and co-Editor-in-Chief of Public Administration and Development.

My research includes work on strategy in government, public leadership and organisational change. I have extensive consultancy and research experience and have successfully supervised six doctoral students to completion. I am subject expert for Public Services and Healthcare in the Chartered Association of Business Schools (CABS) Scientific Committee for the Journal Quality Guide. I am also Chair of the Joint University Council for Applied Social Sciences (JUC). I am currently on the Editorial Board of Teaching Public Administration, Public Policy and Administration, the Journal of Public Affairs Education, and Public Administration: An International Quarterly.

My research spans two streams - firstly, the Strategic State; and secondly, the Teaching of Public Administration.

The Strategic State

Governments are increasingly grappling with volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous (VUCA) challenges and are seeking new ways to collaborate across sectors and communities to enhance policy and practice. The Strategic State is "a set of capabilities around the creation and delivery of an effective strategy at a country-wide level” (Elliott, 2020: 286). My research has focused on how the Scottish Government developed a form of Strategic State in the period 2007-2015. 

Key publications include:

Elliott, I. C. (2023). "Chapter 6: The strategic state: a case study of devolved government in Scotland". In Greve, C. and Ysa, T. (eds). Handbook on Strategic Public Management. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing. Retrieved May 2, 2023, from https://doi.org/10.4337/9781789907193.00013.

Elliott, I.C. (2020) “The Implementation of a Strategic State in a Small Country Setting - the case of the ‘Scottish Approach”, Public Money and Management, 40 (4), 285-293. https://doi.org/10.1080/09540962.2020.1714206

Teaching Public Administration

In order to support effective decision-making and policy implementation it is important that those engaged in public policy and administration are highly skilled and informed. The teaching of public administration is therefore key to enabling the strategic state. My research has explored how the status of the discipline has changed within the UK and how best to support public service workers in future by drawing on international examples and previous experience.

Key publications include:

Elliott, I.C., Bottom, K.A. & O’Connor, K. (2023) The status of public administration teaching in the UK, Journal of Public Affairs Education, DOI: 10.1080/15236803.2023.2202609

Bottom, K. A., Diamond, J., Dunning, P. T., & Elliott, I. C. (2022). “Making the case for research informed practice and situated pedagogy”, in Bottom, K. et al. (eds) Handbook on Teaching Public Administration (pp. 1-11), Edward Elgar Publishing.

Bottom, K. A., Moller, F., and Elliott, I. C. (2022). “The History of UK Public Administration” in Bottom, K. et al. (eds) Handbook on Teaching Public Administration, Edward Elgar.

Elliott, I.C., Robson, I., Dudau, A. (2021) “Building Student Engagement through Co-production and Curriculum Co-design in Public Administration Programmes”, Teaching Public Administration. 39(3), 318–336. https://doi.org/10.1177/0144739420968862

Elliott, I.C. (2020). “Organisational learning and change in a public sector context”, Teaching Public Administration. 38 (3), 270-283. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0144739420903783

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I welcome opportunities to supervise doctoral research in topics related to:

• Public administration / public management
• Leadership and change in public services
• Strategic forms of government
• Multi-level governance

I am an experienced doctoral supervisor and examiner. I have supervised six PhD and DBA students to completion and have examined four PhD, DBA and DPA students from a range of universities. 

I have significant experience in the development and delivery of postgraduate and doctoral programmes in public administration including SLMDA's, MPA's and DPA's. Much of my prior teaching experience has included engaging with employers, such as Academi Wales, City of Edinburgh Council, Dundee City Council, Orkney Islands Council and Association of Chief Officers of Scottish Voluntary Organisations, in the design and delivery of professionally-relevant postgraduate programmes.

Key teaching achievements:

• Teaching experience across over 30 different modules at UG, PG and Doctoral levels
• Module leadership experience across 11 modules
• Developed and validated 6 and led 9 degree programmes including professional doctorate (DPA) and Senior Leaders Master’s Degree Apprenticeship (SLMDA).
• External examining experience for degree programmes across 8 UK HEI’s
• Validation panel member for 6 programme validations including as Validation Panel Chair
• Examiner for 4 doctorates (2014, 2020, 2022, 2023), supervised over 40 Master’s students and 6 doctoral students to completion.

Editorial boards

• 2023 - ongoing: Public Administration and Development
• 2021 - ongoing: Journal of Public Affairs Education
• 2021 - ongoing: Public Administration
• 2018 - ongoing: Teaching Public Administration
• 2018 - ongoing: Public Policy and Administration

Professional & learned societies

• 2021 - ongoing: Honorary Chair, Joint University Council (JUC)
• 2018 - 2021: Honorary Chair, JUC Public Administration Committee (PAC)

I have extensive experience of advising governments and conducting research on behalf of governments and public bodies including most recently as a member of UK Government GSCU Leadership Research Evidence and Impact Panel and a member of Scottish Government Expert Advisory Group on the National Performance Framework.

I have also lead a number of national education initiatives including as Deputy Chair of the QAA Business and Management Subject Benchmark Statement and panel member of the QAA Public Policy and Public Administration Subject Benchmark Statement.

I also serve on the international accreditation bodies: the International Commission on the Accreditation of Public Administration and Training Programs (ICAPA) and the European Association for Public Administration Accreditation (EAPAA).