Faculty of ArtsSchool of Social and Political Sciences

Assoc. Prof. Jenny Lewis

 

Background

Jenny Lewis is Associate Professor in Public Policy in the School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Melbourne. She completed her PhD at The University of Melbourne in 1997, held an NHMRC Postdoctoral Fellowship from 1997-2000, and then a Senior Research Fellowship funded by VicHealth and the Department of Human Services 2001-2005, before joining the School in 2006.

Jenny has worked for state government in a number of different roles and as a consultant, and has previously been a Visiting Fellow in London, at the King’s Fund and at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Jenny, with her co-author Mark Considine, received the Marshall E. Dimock award for the best article in Public Administration Review in 2000. In 2004 she received a VicHealth Award for Excellence in Health Promotion Research.

Jenny’s current research is centred on network theories and methods in a number of different settings, including: social connectedness in communities; academic collaboration and research performance; innovation inside government; health policy networks; partnerships for health; and capacity building in indigenous health policy. She is on the Editorial Board of Public Administration Review, and the Journal of Health Services Research and Policy, and is a founding board member of Australian and New Zealand Health Policy.

She is the Coordinator of the Networks and Partnerships Steering Committee - a joint initiative of the Schools of Social and Political Sciences and Behavioural Science. She is also on the scientific committee for a Danish government funded project on collaborative innovation in the public sector (2009-12), and is a consultant for the network analysis component of a Canadian government funded project on Indigenous knowledge networks (2009-11).

 

Research

 

Subjects Taught

 

Supervision

 

Recent Publications

Books

Considine, M, Lewis, JM, and Alexander, D (2009) Networks, innovation and public policy: Politicians, bureaucrats and the pathways to change inside government. Houndsmills UK: Palgrave Macmillan.

Lewis, JM (2005) Health policy and politics: networks, ideas and power, Melbourne: IP Communications.


Book Chapters

Considine, M, Lewis, JM, and Alexander, D (2008) 'Governance, networks and civil society: How local governments connect to local organisations and groups' in (J Barraket ed.) Strategic issues in the not-for-profit sector, Sydney: UNSW Press, 74-102.

Lewis, JM (2006) ‘Health policy in Australia: mind the growing gaps’, in (A McLelland and P Smyth, eds.) Social policy in Australia: understanding for action, 195-208. Melbourne: Oxford University Press.

Considine, M and Lewis, JM (2005) ‘Explaining the normative underpinnings of local governance: Comparing, governments, politicians and bureaucrats and their approach to innovation’, in (P Smyth, T Reddel and A Jones, eds.) Community and Local Governance in Australia. Sydney: UNSW Press, 205-225.

Lewis JM (2003) ‘Evidence based policy: a technocratic wish in a political world’, in (V Lin and B Gibson, eds.) Evidence-based health policy: problems and possibilities, Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 250-259.


Refereed Journal Articles

Lewis, JM, Baeza, J, and Alexander, D, (2008) 'Partnerships in primary care in Australia: network structure, dynamics and sustainability', Social Science and Medicine 67:280-291.

Pope, J and Lewis, JM (2008) 'Improving partnership governance: using a network approach to evaluate partnerships in Victoria', Australian Journal of Public Administration 67(4): 443-456.

Considine, M and Lewis, JM, (2007) ‘Innovation and innovators inside government: from institutions to networks’, Governance 20(4): 581-607.

Lewis, JM (2006) ‘Being around and knowing the players: networks of influence in health policy’, Social Science and Medicine 62: 2125-2136.

Lewis, JM (2005) ‘A network approach for researching partnerships in health’, Australia and New Zealand Health Policy 2:22 (11 pp).

Lewis, JM (2004) ‘Partnerships, primary health care and health inequalities: problems and possibilities’, Australian Journal of Primary Health 10(3): 38-45.

Lewis, JM, Marjoribanks, T and Pirotta, M (2003) ‘Changing professions: General Practitioners’ perceptions of autonomy on the frontline’, Journal of Sociology 39(1): 44-61.

Lewis, JM and Marjoribanks, T (2003) ‘Challenging autonomy through financial constraints and incentives: reforming general practice in Australia’, International Journal of Health Planning and Management 18(1): 49-61.

Marjoribanks, T and Lewis, JM (2003) ‘Reform and autonomy: perceptions of the Australian general practice community’, Social Science and Medicine 56: 2229-2239.

Considine, M and Lewis, JM (2003) ‘Bureaucracy, network or enterprise? Comparing models of governance in Australia, Britain, the Netherlands, and New Zealand’, Public Administration Review 63(2): 131-140.

Considine, M and Lewis, JM (2003) ‘Networks and interactivity: making sense of front-line governance in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Australia’, Journal of European Public Policy 10(1): 46-58.

Lewis, JM (2002) ‘Policy and profession: elite perspectives on redefining general practice in Australia and England’, Journal of Health Services Research and Policy 7(Suppl 1) S1: 8-13.


Fully written refereed conference papers

Lewis, JM (2008) 'Forming and using networks in academia: disciplines and gender', The Australian Sociological Association annual conference, Melbourne 2-5 December 2008. Published in: Marjoribanks, T, et al (eds.) Re-imagining Sociology. TASA Conference Proceedings, The University of Melbourne.

Considine, M, Lewis, JM and Alexander, D, (2008) 'Who are the innovators inside government: the importance of networks', The Australian Sociological Association annual conference, Melbourne, 2-5 December 2008. Published in: Marjoribanks T, et al (eds.) Re-imagining Sociology TASA Conference Proceedings, The University of Melbourne.

Lewis, JM (2007) ‘Intellectual curiosity, disciplinary traditions and performance frameworks: Understanding academic networks’, The Australian Sociological Association / Sociology Association of New Zealand, Joint Conference, Auckland, 4-7 December. Published in: Curtis, B, Matthewman, S and McIntosh, T (eds.) Public sociologies: lessons and trans-Tasman comparisons. TASA / SAANZ Joint Conference Proceedings, Department of Sociology, The University of Auckland.

Considine, M, Lewis, JM and Alexander, D (2007) ‘Understanding innovation inside government: The networking behaviour of politicians and bureaucrats’, refereed paper presented to the Australasian Political Studies Association Conference (published on the APSA website), Melbourne, 24-26 September.

 

Recent Research Grants

2008-10

Australian Research Council Discovery Grant ($276,000) ‘Academic networks and research performance: A comparison across disciplines and countries’, Sole Chief Investigator.

2008-10

Australian Research Council Linkage Grant 2008-2010 ($200,000 plus $60,000 from the industry partners: Jobs Australia and National Employment Services Association) 'Activating states: Transforming the delivery of welfare to work services to the long-term unemployed in Australia, Great Britain and the Netherlands' with Mark Considine.

2006-8

Australian Research Council Linkage Grant ($380,000 plus $130,000 from the industry partners: VicHealth and four municipal governments), ‘Connecting government to community: a study of social and political connectivity at the municipal level’ (Considine, Lewis & Barraket).

2004-9

Australian Research Council Network Grant ($1.5 million) ‘ARC Network for Spatially Integrated Social Sciences’ (one of 50 Named Investigators).

2004-8

National Health and Medical Research Council Capacity Building Grant ($2.5 million): ‘Building capacity in social analysis and research in Indigenous health policy’ (Cunningham, Anderson, Baillie, Lewis & Barnes).


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