The COVID-19 pandemic has brought huge challenges to governments worldwide as they have adapted to remote working while facing increased demand for public services and budgetary changes. During this crisis, we have seen governments partner with academics more closely than ever before, as academic research has been a crucial source of information, offering an unrivalled depth of knowledge of the pandemic and its impact on people, both at home and in the workplace.

We are by now unavoidably familiar with the impact of evidence-based research on public policy, having continually waited on the latest statistics to determine the extent of social restrictions. In the same way, people management within government and the switch to remote or hybrid working has been informed by innovative research, which has, for example, placed mental health at the centre of the conversation and demonstrated an unexpected increase in productivity in remote and hybrid arrangements.

In this discussion with experts Beth Blauer and Sabine Junginger, moderated by Margarita Gómez, Executive Director of the People in Government Lab, we will explore how to continue the close collaboration between governments and academia as the urgency of the pandemic subsides and the potential power and applications of this collaboration when facing other major challenges within the public service.

About the PeopleGov Speaker Series

The PeopleGov Speaker Series is a set of conversations where academics and practitioners -from the public and private sector - discuss the most pressing topics on people and performance management. Each talk will provide actionable knowledge to address key challenges and opportunities for the public sector. We convene outstanding speakers and an audience of participants with expertise on these subjects to bring together a community of excellence. The PeopleGov Speakers Series is coordinated by Margarita Gómez, the Executive Director of the People in Government Lab.

Save the date for the next PeopleGov Speaker Series talk

Lars Tummers, Lazy bureaucrats? Stereotypes of public sector workers, 5 May 2022, 12:00–13:00 at the Blavatnik School of Government.

About the Speakers

Beth Blauer

Executive Director and co-founder of the Centers for Civic Impact at Johns Hopkins University

Beth Blauer is the Executive Director and co-founder of the Centers for Civic Impact at Johns Hopkins University (Civic Impact). As a dedicated public servant and international expert on government performance programmes for more than fifteen years, Beth Blauer spent her career working to improve people’s lives by bringing data into governments’ decision-making processes. 

Blauer founded Civic Impact, originally as the Center for Government Excellence, in 2015 and since then, has successfully worked with over 140 mayors from around the globe to advance the use of data and evidence. She has built the organisation to be a leader in data-driven insights for city leaders and public sector practitioners across the country and around the world.

Prior to leading the Centers for Civic Impact, Blauer designed and launched Socrata’s GovStat platform for federal, state, and local governments. 

Blauer graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Maryland and holds a JD from New York Law School. She is a recipient of the 2012 CAP award for her work on Maryland’s StateStat.

Sabine Junginger

Head of the Competence Center for Design and Management at Lucerne University of Applied Arts and Sciences

Professor Sabine Junginger (PhD) is an expert on the principles, methods, and processes of human-centred design. Her research into design theories and design practices relevant to public and private organisations is internationally recognised. In addition, she explores policymaking and policy implementation as activities of design that are especially important to succeed in the digital transformation. 

Her academic work draws on her previous careers in journalism, marketing, and public relations. Today, she serves on several international editorial and advisory boards of academic, civil society and business organisations, including GovLab Austria, the European Forum Alpbach, the German University of Public Administration Sciences, and Dataport. She is Chairwoman of the German non-profit Politics for Tomorrow, Co-Founder of the Swiss Service Design Network and has been granted a biannually renewable Fellowship by the Hertie School in Berlin since 2009. 

Her publications include numerous journal articles and books, most recently Transforming Public Services by Design: re-orienting services, organisations and policies around people (Routledge 2017).

Margarita Gómez 

Executive Director of the People in Government Lab 

Margarita Gómez is the inaugural executive director of the People in Government Lab, the Blavatnik School’s innovation-in-government project aiming to improve the motivation, responsiveness and effectiveness of people working in government. She has more than 12 years of experience working to build better governments and to design more effective public policies. Margarita was a principal advisor to the Minister of Public Safety in Mexico and advisor of the Mexican Army and Air Force.