CALL FOR PAPERS

Dear colleagues, 

The Department of Public Administration and Management at Babes-Bolyai University will host the 6th edition of the Transylvanian International Conference in Public Administration from 3rd to 5th October 2024, an event envisioned to bring together academics, researchers and practitioners in the field of public administration from all over the world and to create the framework in which they can exchange ideas, disseminate best practices and develop networking opportunities for future teaching, research, and capacity building  projects.

The overarching topic for 2024 is fostering local and regional innovation through partnerships, with an emphasis on the role of universities. In the last three decades, the role and functions of universities worldwide have undergone a significant transformation process. From basic functions such as teaching and research, the role of universities has evolved to include economic initiatives geared toward profit generation, policy development, knowledge transfer, etc. Concepts such as the ‘engaged university’, ‘multiversity’ or ‘university as a complex enterprise’ all encompass this transformative process and have received their fair share of scrutiny from academics and practitioners. More recently, the role of universities is discussed within the framework of local innovation ecosystems where they interact with, evolve/grow and coproduce innovation alongside and/or in partnership with the other relevant actors in these ecosystems. There is currently EU-wide recognition of the changing role of universities. In 2022 we had the first European Strategy dedicated to universities. A significant dimension is that the Strategy recognizes the changing role of universities and the importance of them being active actors within local innovation networks. The European strategy for universities emphasizes how universities should be the central nodes of local innovation systems and use a living lab approach – piloting public solutions/policies in a real context and generating them through co-design with beneficiaries.

The conference is focused on critically discussing and analyzing characteristics and dynamics of local innovation systems, on defining local and locality in relation to existing cities and communities, and more importantly on assessing how universities enter into and interact with the other actors in the local networks whose interactions initialize, stimulate and diffuse economically useful knowledge. Local innovation systems and the role of universities within them can be examined from a variety of perspectives, including power relations and negotiation, communication and marketing, strategic planning, and leadership studies, etc. Our conference welcomes all these perspectives as we strive to explore this topic through the contributions coming from different academic fields.  

One day workshop for PhD students in public administration and connected fields will be organized in connection with the main conference. It will take place on October 2nd, 2024. PhD students, both domestic and from the partner universities abroad, are encouraged to participate with or without a paper. In addition to the presentations of the best research proposals, several lectures by international professors will be provided to the attending participants.

The language for papers and presentations is English. In addition to English speaking panels, the conference will include a panel in Hungarian. The conference main topic applies for the Hungarian panel as well. 

There is no participation fee for those presenting a paper in the main conference. Coffee breaks, lunches and dinners are provided free of charge for all participants by the local organizers on the 2 days of the conference (3rd and 4th October 2024). In addition, the social event organized on October 5th, 2024, after the closing of the conference, is also sponsored by the local organizers for all interested participants in the conference.

Full papers accepted for presentation in the main conference panels will be published in a collective volume. The publisher is Accent Publishing House, Cluj-Napoca, Romania. There is no publication fee involved. Participants will be given additional details in the closing of the conference. Estimated time limit for submission of conference papers for publication in mid-December 2024. 

The conference website will be available starting with mid-March 2024 at http://www.apubb.ro/intconf.     

Important deadlines

For the PhD workshop

  • Registration to participate without paper presentation by September 1st, 2024 (online, via the conference website)
  • Registration to participate with paper presentation by July 15th, 2023.
  • Final decision of the organizers on accepted papers for presentation by August 1st, 2024. 

For the main conference 

  • Submission of short abstract, up to 250 words, by June 1stth, 2024 (online, via conference website). 
  • Final decision of the organizers on accepted papers for presentation by July 5th, 2024. 
  • Full paper submission by September 1st, 2024. 

Important notice – those who intend to participate without a paper presentation are still required to register online, by September 1st, 2024. 

International organizing committee: 

  • Eka Akobia, Professor and Dean, Caucasus School of Governance at Caucasus University; President, NISPAcee.
  • Maria Aristigueta, Charles P. Messick Professor of Public Administration, University of Delaware, US.   
  • Matthew Auer, Dean of the School of Public and International Affairs Arch Professor of Public and International Affairs, UGA, US
  • Emil Boc, mayor of Cluj-Napoca city and former prime minister of Romania.  
  • Geert Bouckaert, Professor, KU Leuven Public Governance Institute (Faculty of Social Sciences) of the KU Leuven, at Leuven, Belgium; Member Kuratorium of KDZ Zentrum für Verwaltungsforschung (Administration Research Centre), Vienna, Austria; Honorary Professor at the Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose (IIPP) of the University College London (UCL); Member of the IIAS Council of Administration (International Institute of Administrative Sciences) as Immediate Past President. 
  • Trevor Brown, Dean of the John Glenn College of Public Affairs, Ohio State University, US
  • Taco Brandsen, professor and chair, Radboud University, Nijmegen, Netherlands, and secretary general, European Association for Public Administration Accreditation.  
  • Charles Nelson Davis, Professor and dean, Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication, University of Georgia, US. 
  • Jean-Michel Eymeri-Douzans, Exceptional Class Professor and Vice-Rector of international relations at Sciences Po Toulouse, France; President of the European Group for Public Administration (EGPA/ GEAP), IIAS/IISA, Brussels.
  • Wolfgang Drechsler, Professor of Governance at TalTech’s Ragnar Nurkse Department for Innovation and Governance, Honorary Professor of University College London in the Institute of Innovation and Public Purpose, Adjunct Professor of Universitas Indonesia at the Faculty of Administrative Sciences, and Associate at Harvard University’s Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies.
  • Ľudmila Gajdošová, Executive Director, Nispacee
  • Gyorgy Hajnal, Professor, Corvinus University of Budapest, Hungary and ELKH Centre for Social Sciences (Hungarian Academy of Sciences). 
  • Diana Iancu, Associate professor and Dean, Faculty of Public Administration, National School of Political and Administrative Studies (SNSPA), Bucharest, Romania.
  • Karen Johnston, Professor and Associate Dean Research and Innovation, University of Portsmouth, UK.
  • Veronica Junjan, Director, Public Administration Programmes, Behavior, Management and Social Sciences Faculty, University of Twente, The Netherlands
  • Ivan Kopric, Dean, Faculty of Law, University of Zagreb
  • Sabine Kuhlmann, Professor at Universität Potsdam, Germany, Editor-in-Chief of International Review of Administrative Sciences
  • Hiroko Kudo, professor at the Faculty of Law, Chuo University, Japan
  • Paul Joyce, associate at INLOGOV, University of Birmingham, UK; a Visiting Professor in Public Management at Leeds Beckett University, and Publications Director of the International Institute of Administrative Sciences (IIAS) headquartered in Brussels, Belgium. 
  • Arno Loessner, professor emeritus, University of Delaware, US. 
  • Patrizia Magaro, Professor, University of Genoa
  • Fabienne Maron, IIAS Scientific Director
  • Andrew Massey Professor and Academic Director, International School for Government King’s College London, UK; Editor in Chief of the journal International Review of Administrative Sciences). 
  • Tetsuo Morishita, Vice President, Sophia University, Tokyo 
  • Amanda Murdie, Department Head, Department of International Affairs, Georgia Athletic. Association Professor, School of Public and International Affairs, UGA, US. 
  • Juraj Nemec, Professor, Masaryk University, Czech Republic; past president of NISPACee and editor-in-chief, NISPAcee Journal of Public Administration and Policy.  
  • Mihaela Onofrei, Professor, Al. I. Cuza University, Iași, Romania.  
  • Razvan Papuc, Professor and Vice-Rector, University of Bucharest, Romania.  
  • Suchada Pongkittiwiboon, Dean of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at Burapha University, Thailand
  • Marian Preda, Professor and Rector, University of Bucharest, Romania. 
  • Constantin Marius Profiroiu, Professor and Vice-Rector for International Affairs, Academy of Economic Studies (ASE), Bucharest, Romania.  
  • Tom Reichert, Dean, College of Information and Communications, University of South Carolina, US. 
  • Allan Rosenbaum, Professor, Public Administration and Director, Institute for Public Management and Center for Democracy and Good Governance, Florida International University; Vice Chairperson, United Nations Committee of Experts on Public Administration; Chairperson, International Commission on the Accreditation of Public Administration Education and Training Programs – IASIA.
  • Konstantinos Spanoudakis, Vice Rector, University of Crete, Greece
  • Christopher Stream, Director, School of Public Policy and Leadership, University of Nevada, Las Vegas
  • Hirofumi Takada, Vice President / Professor, National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS), Tokyo 
  • Sarolta A. Takács, Dean, Humanities and Social Sciences, College of Staten Island – CUNY, NY
  • Laszlo Vass, Rector Emeritus and University Professor, Budapest Metropolitan University, Hungary. 
  • Cristian Vlad, Professor, Nagaoka University of Technology, Japan 
  • Tudor Vlad, Executive Director, James M. Cox Jr. Center for International Mass Communication Training and Research Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication University of Georgia, US. 
  • Joseph Watson Jr., Carolyn Caudell Tieger Professor of Public Affairs Communications, Advertising & Public Relations, Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication, University of Georgia, US. 
  • Bradley E Wright, Professor and Department Head, Department of Public Administration and Policy, School of Public and International Affairs, University of Georgia, US. 

Local organizers: 

  • Dan Lazar, Professor and Vice Rector, Babes Bolyai University, Romania.
  • Calin Hintea, Prof. and Dean, Faculty of Political, Administrative and Communication Sciences, Babes Bolyai University, Romania.
  • Roger Hamlin, Michigan State University professor emeritus, associate dean for international affairs at FSPAC/Babes Bolyai University, Romania. 
  • Cristina Hințea, Assoc. prof., Public Administration and Management Department, Babes Bolyai University, Romania; associate editor Transylvanian Review of Administrative Sciences.    
  • Bogdana Neamtu, Assoc. prof.  and Chair, Public Administration and Management Department, Babes Bolyai University, Romania. 
  • Bianca Radu, Assoc. prof., Public Administration and Management Department, Babes Bolyai University, Romania.
  • Dorin Spoaller, Assoc. prof., Department of Communication, PR, Advertising, Babes Bolyai University, Romania. 
  • Nicolae Urs, Associate prof. and Vice-dean, Public Administration and Management Department, Babes Bolyai University, Romania.   

Please feel free to contact any of the local organizers for further details or for assistance with visas and traveling at the following email address neamtu@fspac.ro.