PhD Students

The PhD focuses on a central issue in contemporary governance debates: the interaction of civil servants and politicians in the implementation of public policy. The purpose of the research is to identify measures to assess the role of political and administrative factors in policy implementation, and to explain key processes and mechanisms involved. The main theoretical background used for the study is institutionalism, in particular the Institutional Analysis and Development Framework (Ostrom, 2008). The research will identify key formal and informal rules of policy implementation, and explore how they work in different contexts. Moreover, it will investigate structures and mechanisms influencing the input of various stakeholders during the decision-making process. The research takes the case of Integrated Territorial Investments within EU Cohesion Policy and their implementation in selected Polish regions. It employs an innovative combination of research methods to analyse policy implementation, combining systematic content analysis, in-depth-interviews, and participatory observation. Besides theoretical insights for institutionalist literature, the research will include recommendations and conclusions for practitioners to maximise effectiveness of policy instruments through their design and implementation.

Alina’s research looks at the role of non-state actors in the process of European integration and policymaking. The main focus of the research is to examine the role of non-state actors as co-producers and deliverers of European policies, their characteristics and capacities, with a focus on the Cohesion policy implementation in Romania. The research will look at the Regional Development Programme. The purpose of the research is to identify the role that the socioeconomic actors play in the shared management of the Cohesion Policy, the level and depth of their involvement, key factors influencing their role, especially administrative capacity, and the effects of their engagement on the performance of the policy. This will involve in-depth-interviews, and network analysis. The research seeks to develop research tools for an efficient analysis of the factors that are impacting the capacities and the involvement of different actors in policy making with effects on policy performance.

Claudia's research explores the relationship between delegated governance in Cohesion policy and public accountability. It focuses on the implementation of financial instruments in Cohesion policy, which provide new forms of delegated governance. The financial instruments co-financed with European Regional Development funds in Germany, Italy and the UK in 2007-13 are analysed. The research draws on comparative evidence to investigate the variation in the institutional design and performance frameworks for financial instruments implementation. It combines secondary data from policy documents and primary data from qualitative interviews and an online survey.

Alba’s research is conducted as part of a European Investment Bank (EIB) funded project on administrative capacity-building in the European Cohesion policy domain. With her PhD research, Alba seeks to contribute to the wider discussion on the relevance of good governance for development and growth.  Using Italy as a case study, her thesis looks at the interplay between institutional variables, administrative capacity and EU regional policy performance.  The purpose of her research is to offer a better understanding of what builds capacity for Cohesion policy and how this can be built and sustained over time.

Dorine’s PhD analysed the relationship between network-based approaches to policy implementation and policy performance, taking the case of Cohesion policy implementation in Scotland. A mixed methods approach was used, incorporating Social Network Analysis and semi-structured interviews, allowing the assessment of network components and their relationship with performance. The conclusion was that the inclusion of more actors in networks is not automatically beneficial for performance. Instead, the governance of networks is crucial. 

Eleftherios’ PhD assessed whether and how EU pre-accession assistance in the form of CARDS and IPA programmes acts as an instigator of institutional change (Europeanisation) via its influence on administrative capacity. Taking the case of Croatia, the research disaggregated administrative capacity into the component elements of structures, resources, and systems and procedures. It found that that EU pre-accession assistance supports learning processes but its effects on administrative capacity tend to be temporary or particular to ‘islands of excellence’ in the public sector and rarely become commonplace.