Professor Helen Sullivan
Background
Helen Sullivan was born in Wales and educated at the Universities of Birmingham and York. She worked in local government before returning to academia full-time in 1996, first as a lecturer at INLOGOV, University of Birmingham, then as Director of Research at the Cities Research Centre, UWE, Bristol, and most recently as Director of the Advanced Social Science Collaborative and Director of Research and Knowledge Transfer in the School of Government and Society, University of Birmingham. She joined The University of Melbourne as Director of the Centre for Public Policy in 2011. She has published widely on public policy, public governance and public service reform in journals including Public Administration, Evaluation, Policy and Politics, Local Government Studies and Critical Policy Studies. She also publishes regularly in practitioner outlets. She has undertaken numerous evaluations for government bodies and has acted as an advisor to government locally and nationally in the UK. She has a keen interest in generating new knowledge with policy makers and practitioners and in 2010/11 directed the University of Birmingham’s first Policy Commission into ‘the future of local public services’.
Research
- Theories and practices of collaboration
- Democratic governance (particularly at the local level)
- State-society relationships in public policy and service reform
- Interpretive approaches to public policy analysis
Subjects taught
- Policy design and implementation
- Policy evaluation
- Public service reform
Supervision
Policy evaluation (particularly theory-based approaches), public governance (particularly collaboration, accountability, citizen action, neighbourhood governance), UK public policy, interpretive approaches and methods
Selected publications
Books
Barnes, M, Newman, J and H Sullivan (2007) Power, Participation and Political Renewal: Case studies in public participation, Bristol, The Policy Press
Barnes, M Bauld, L Benzeval, M Judge, K Mackenzie, M and H Sullivan (2005) Building capacity for health equity, London, Routledge
Sullivan, H and C Skelcher (2002) Working across boundaries: collaboration in public services, Basingstoke, Palgrave
Book chapters
Jeffares, S Sullivan H and T Bovaird (2012) ‘Beyond the Contract - The Challenge of Evaluating the Performance(s) of Public-Private Partnerships’ in Hodge, G and Greve, C eds Rethinking Public-Private Partnerships: Strategies for Turbulent Times, London, Routledge
Dickinson H and H Sullivan (2011) ‘Managing strategic collaboration’ in K Walshe and J Smith (eds) Healthcare Management, Open University Press pp 536-555
Sullivan, H (2011) ‘Evaluating cohesion’ in I Newman and P Ratcliffe (eds) From Community Cohesion to Social Cohesion: Implications for policy and evaluation’ Bristol, Policy Press pp.41-60
Sullivan, H (2010) ‘Governing the mix – how local government still matters’ in Richardson, J ed. From Recession to Renewal: The impact of the financial crisis on public services and local government, Bristol, Policy Press pp179-190
Sullivan (2009) ’Subversive spheres: neighbourhoods, citizens and the ‘new governance’ in Barnes, M and Prior D eds. Subversive Citizens, Policy Press, Bristol
Sullivan, H and M Taylor (2007) ‘Theories of ‘neighbourhood’ in urban policy’ in Smith, I Lepine, E and M Taylor eds Disadvantaged by where you live? Neighbourhood governance in contemporary urban policy, Bristol, Policy Press, pp 21-42
Lepine, E and H Sullivan (2007) ‘More local than local government: the relationship between local government and the neighbourhood agenda’ in Smith, I Lepine, E and M Taylor eds Disadvantaged by where you live? Neighbourhood governance in contemporary urban policy, Bristol, Policy Press, pp 83-104
Sullivan, H., M. Barnes and E. Matka (2007). Building Collaborative Capacity for Collaborative Control: Health Action Zones in England. In: T. Gössling, L. Oerlemans and R. Jansen (eds.), Inside Networks: A Process View on Multi-organisational Partnerships, Alliances and Networks. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, pp. 67-92
Sullivan, H. Newman, J. Barnes, M. and A. Knops (2003) 'The role of institutions in facilitating dialogue in partnerships with communities' in Scott, C and Thurston, W E eds. Collaboration in Context, Calgary, university of Calgary, pp.33-44
Journal articles
Sullivan, H, Williams, P, Marchington, M and Knight, L (2013) ‘Collaborative futures’. Discursive realignments in austere times’, Public Money and Management, Vol. 33. No.2. pp123-130
Griggs, S and Sullivan H ‘Puzzling agency in centre-local relations: Regulatory governance and accounts of change under New Labour’, British Journal of Politics and International Relations
Article first published online: 12 NOV 2012 | DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-856X.2012.00544
Sullivan, H and Williams, P (2012), "Whose kettle?: Exploring the role of objects in managing and mediating the boundaries of integration in health and social care", Journal of Health Organization and Management, Vol. 26 Issue 6 pp.697-712
Sullivan, H Williams, P and Jeffares, S (2012) ‘Leadership for Collaboration – Situated agency in practice’, Public Management Review, Vol 14, No 1, pp41-66
Sullivan, H (2012) ‘A Big Society needs an active state’, Policy and Politics, Vol. 40, No. 1, pp.145-148
Sullivan, H (2011) ‘Truth’ Junkies – using evaluation in UK public policy’, Policy and Politics, Vol 39, No 4, pp.499-512
Geddes, M and H Sullivan (2011): Localities, leadership and neoliberalization: conflicting discourses, competing practices, Critical Policy Studies, Vol 5, No 4, pp.391-413
Skelcher, C Klijn, E-H Kübler, D Sørensen, E and H Sullivan (2011) ’Explaining the democratic anchorage of governance networks: evidence from four European countries’ Administrative Theory and Praxis, Vol 33, No 1, pp7-38
Farrelly, M and Sullivan, H (2010) ‘Neighbourhoods, Governance, and Citizens: an analysis of discourses in urban renewal projects’, Critical Policy Studies, Vol 4.No 3, pp 234-249
Lepine, E and Sullivan, H (2010) ‘Realising the public person’, Local Government Studies, Vol 36, No 1
Williams, P and Sullivan, H (2009) ‘Faces of integration’ International Journal of Integrated Care, Vol 9, December, pp1-13
Sullivan, H and Williams, P. (2009) 'The limits of co-ordination: Community Strategies as multi-purpose vehicles in Wales', Local Government Studies, Vol 35, No 2, pp161-180
Skelcher, C and Sullivan, H (2008) 'Theory driven approaches to analyzing collaborative performance', Public Management Review, Vol 10, No 6, pp751-771 (winner of Kooiman Prize for best paper in PMR 2008)
Lowndes, V and Sullivan, H (2008) ‘How low can you go? Rationales and challenges for neighbourhood governance’, Public Administration, Vol 86, No 1. pp53-74
Sullivan, H (2007) ‘Interpreting community leadership’, Policy and Politics, Vol. 35, No 1, pp141-162
Sullivan, H Barnes, M and Matka, E (2006) ‘Collaborative Capacity and Strategies in Area Based Initiatives’, Public Administration, Vol. 84, No. 2, pp. 289-310
Sullivan, H and Stewart, M (2006) ‘Who owns the Theory of Change?’, Evaluation, The International Journal for Theory and Practice, Vol. 12, No. 2, pp179-199
Sullivan, H, Downe, J, Entwhistle, T and D Sweeting (2006) ‘The three challenges of community leadership’ Local Government Studies, Vol. 32, No. 4, pp. 489-508
Barnes, M Newman, J and H Sullivan (2006) ‘Discursive arenas: Deliberation and the constitution of identity in public participation at a local level’, Social Movement Studies, Vol. 5, No. 3, 193–207
Sullivan, H (2005) ‘Is enabling enough? Tensions and dilemmas in New Labour’s strategies for ‘joining-up’ local governance’, Public Policy and Administration, Vol. 20, No. 4, pp.10-24
Bauld, L Judge, K Barnes, M Benzeval, M MacKenzie, M and Sullivan, H (2005) ‘Promoting Social Change: The experience of Health Action Zones in England’, Journal of Social Policy, Vol. 34, No. 3, pp 427-445
Sullivan, H. Judge, K and Sewell, K (2004) ‘In the eye of the beholder’: Perceptions of local impact in English Health Action Zones’, Social Science and Medicine, Vol. 59, pp1603-1612
Sullivan, H. Knops, A. Barnes, M and Newman, J. (2004) ‘Central-local relations in an era of multi-level governance: the case of public participation policy in England, 1997-2001’, Local Government Studies, Vol. 30, No. 2, pp 245-265
Barnes, M. Newman, J. and Sullivan, H (2004) Power , Participation and Political Renewal: theoretical perspectives on public participation under New Labour in Britain, Social Politics, Vol. 11, No 2, pp267-279
Barnes, M. Knops, A. Newman, J and Sullivan H (2004) 'The micro-politics of deliberation: case theoretical perspectives on public participation', Contemporary Politics, Vol. 10, No. 2, pp 93-110
Lowndes, V and Sullivan, H (2004) ‘Local Partnerships and Public Participation’ in Local Government Studies, Vol. 30, No. 2, Summer, 2004, pp 51-73
Newman, J Barnes, M Sullivan, H and Knops, A (2004) ‘Public participation and collaborative governance’, Journal of Social Policy, Vol. 33, No. 2, pp 203-233
Sullivan, H (2003) ‘New forms of local accountability - coming to terms with ‘many hands’?’, Policy and Politics, Vol. 31, no 3, pp-353-69
Barnes, M, Matka, E and Sullivan, H (2003) ‘Evidence, Understanding and Complexity’ Evaluation, The International Journal for Theory and Practice, Vol, 9. No, 3, pp.265-284
Barnes, M., Newman, J., Knops, A. and H. Sullivan (2003) ‘Constituting 'the public' in public participation’ Public Administration, Vol. 81, no 2, pp 379-99
Sullivan, H (2002) ‘Modernisation, neighbourhood management and social inclusion’, Public Management Review, Vol. 4, no. 4 pp.505-528
Sullivan, H Barnes, M and E Matka (2002) ‘Building collaborative capacity through ‘Theories of Change’: Early lessons from Health Action Zones in England’, Evaluation, The International Journal of Theory, Research and Practice, Vol. 8, no 2, pp.207-226
Sullivan, H (2001) ‘Modernisation, Democratisation and Community Governance’ Local Government Studies, Vol. 27, no 3, pp1-24
Other
Sullivan H (2011) When tomorrow comes. The future of local public services. Report of the Policy Commission, University of Birmingham