Collaborative Research Postgraduate Students' Seminar Series

Introduction

1. The View from the Inside: Some Notes on Academic Publishing in 2024

The academic publishing industry is in the midst of a major transition from subscription-based to open-access publishing. Brought about by digitalization and on-line book and journal access, this transition has many important implications for academic life and has undermined earlier relationships between scholarly associations and publishers as well as altered the landscape of journals and publication venues, readership and use. This presentation discusses the nature of academic publishing and both the beneficial and problematic aspects of the transition, from the emergence of predatory publishers to the inequitable challenges of Author Processing Charges across nations and disciplines.

2. Competences, Capabilities and the Policy Capacities of Government: Blending Skill and Resources to Avoid Policy Failures

Policies can fail to meet expectations for many reasons. High among them, however, are faults related to the competences or skills of policy actors, the resources or capabilities they have at their disposal, and how these two elements join together to determine policy capacity. This presentation focuses on the nature of these skills and resources and how they can best be conceived and managed in order to reduce the chances for policy failure and enhance the odds of policy success.

Speaker’s Bio

Professor Michael Howlett is Burnaby Mountain and Canada Research Chair (Tier 1) in the Department of Political Science at Simon Fraser University. He specializes in public policy analysis, political economy, and resource and environmental policy. His articles have been published in many professional journals in Canada, the United States, Europe, Latin America, Asia, and Australia and New Zealand. Dr. Howlett currently edits the Annual Review of Policy Design, Policy Sciences, Policy Design and Practice, Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis and Policy & Society, as well as the University of Toronto Press Series in Comparative Political Economy and Public Policy, the Policy Press International Library of Policy Analysis, Cambridge Studies in Comparative Public Policy and Cambridge Elements of Public Policy. He is the founder of Research Committee 30 (Comparative Public Policy) of the International Political Science Association and sits on the Executive Committee of the International Public Policy Association. His most recent book is Designing Public Policies: Principles and Instruments (New York: Routledge, 2024).

Enquiries

For enquiries, please contact [email protected].

Hosted by

• School of Graduate Studies, Lingnan University

Co-organiser

• The Education University of Hong Kong

Inter-institutional Collaborative Scheme

Organising Committee

• Professor Joshua MOK Ka-ho
• Professor Maggie LAU Ka-wai
• Professor AMOAH Padmore Adusei
• Jane TIAN-zhen
• Emily WONG Shuk-wai
• Cora SIU Wai-shan

The programme is generously supported by the University Grants Committee through the Teaching Development and Language Enhancement Grant.