I am a Professor in Public Management in the School of Public Policy at University College London (UCL).
My core research interest is in the use of data from original surveys, administrative records and field experiments for more evidence-based management of public servants and public sector organizations.
I frequently collaborate with governments and international organizations – such as the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank – in this research, and my research has led a range of government organizations to change and improve management practices.
My work has been published in the Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, Public Administration Review, Public Administration, Governance, Regulation & Governance, the International Public Management Journal, World Development, Comparative Political Studies, the European Journal of Political Research, the World Bank, Inter-American Development Bank and several national governments. My research has received over £2.5m in funding from research funding bodies, governments and international organizations, and has won the 2018 Haldane Prize for the best article published in Public Administration and a 2023 World Bank Bureaucracy Lab Innovation Award for contributions to the measurement and innovation of public administrations in the global south. My latest books are ‘The Government Analytics Handbook: Leveraging Data to Strengthen Public Administration’ (published in 2023 with the World Bank), co-edited with Dan Rogger, and ‘Motivating Public Employees’ (published in 2019 with Cambridge University Press’ Elements Series), co-authored with Marc Esteve.
My current and most recent research projects include:
- ‘The Global Survey of Public Servants’ – a joint initiative with colleagues from the World Bank Bureaucracy Lab, the Stanford Governance Project (led by Francis Fukuyama) as well as Jan-Meyer Sahling (Nottingham) and Kim Mikkelsen (Roskilde) to undertake the world’s largest cross-country survey of civil servants and encourage governments to adopt civil service surveys as management instruments.
- ‘Digital Leadership Training and Digital Transformation in Government: Field Experimental Evidence from Brazil‘ (2025-2027) – a GBP636.000 ESRC-FAPESP-funded project (with Maria Alexandra Cunha, Dave Eaves and Kim Mikkelsen) to assess in a field experiment whether digital leadership training of public managers improves digital transformation outcomes
- ‘Training Executives to Enhance Employee Engagement in Government: Field Experimental Evidence from Luxembourg’ (2022-2025) – a GBP640,000 ESCR-FNR-funded project (with Ludivine Martin, Jan Meyer-Sahling and Kim Mikkelsen) to assess in a field experiment whether executive engagement training enhances employee engagement in government.
- ‘Evaluating the Effectiveness of Line Management Training in the Civil Service’ (2024-2025) – a UK Cabinet Office-funded project (with Ine Steenmans and Eleanor Woodhouse) to assess the impact of line management training in the civil service
- ‘Do Ethics Trainings Enhance Integrity in Government?’ (2019-2021) – a GBP350,000 Global Integrity-UK DFID funded project (co-led with Jan Meyer Sahling and Kim Mikkelsen) to assess with a multi-country field experiment whether ethics trainings of public servants enhance integrity in government.
- ‘Management Practices in National Statistical Offices in Latin America’ (2019-2021) – a US$200,000 Inter-American Development Bank (IDB)-funded project (with Jose Antonio Mejia, Jan Meyer-Sahling and Kim Mikkelsen) to survey public officials in National Statistical Offices (NSOs) across Latin America and the Caribbean to better understand management practices and their effectiveness in NSOs.
- ‘Making Civil Services Work in Developing Countries’ (2016-2018) – a GBP400,000 British Academy-UK DFID funded project (co-led with Jan Meyer Sahling) to understand the effects of management practices on the attitudes and behaviors of public servants in developing countries. A summary of results can be found here.
Previously, I was an Associate Professor and an Assistant Professor in the School of Public Policy at University College London (UCL), a Visiting Scholar at Sciences Po, the LSE Fellow in Political Science and Public Policy at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), a Visiting Research Scholar in the Research Department of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and an Economist with the World Bank. I received my PhD in Government from the LSE.