Complexity & Network governance

Rational and goal of the SIG

Society faces complex issues that require complex solutions. Scholars are studying the range of public management challenges from many different perspectives, and complexity and network perspectives are two dominant ones in public administration and public management research.

Our SIG was convened in 2019 in response to the increasing number of panels and papers presented at IRSPM conferences addressing the intersection of complexity and network governance. We aim to advance research on complexity and network theory through:

• enhancing scholarly debate and discussions about developments in the field
• stimulating publications including systematic literature reviews, special journal issues, monographs, edited books and thought leadership
• training and education of young researchers (especially PhD students)
• developing and supporting research grant applications in relevant areas
• identifying research intersections with other academic and practitioner interest groups within and beyond IRSPM

The SIG is dedicated to developing and furthering theoretical ideas about the field and also aims to make this knowledge useful for practice. Our SIG intends to translate research findings into practice by bringing practitioners more fully into the discussion of which tools and models can be most directly applied and how the application of complexity/network-friendly theories can be evaluated over time.

Activities: Key dialogues, presentations, and outputs

In our existence so far the SIG has been active in the following:

• Realizing well-attended panel sessions at the IRSPM conferences; the number of submissions making it a challenge to accommodate with available slots.  A significant number of the panel papers are published in well-established journals. Thus the panel functions as an exchange of ideas and vehicle to improve scientific publications as each paper receives feedback during the sessions.
• Providing Phd courses on collaborative and network governance; facilitating young researchers is likely one of the most important tasks of a SIG. The Phd course is jointly organized by IRSPM and NIG (Dutch research school of Public Administration and Political Science), and is organized and provided by convenors of the SIG (and guest speakers). Besides insight in theory and research on collaborative and network governance, it offers Phd’s opportunities to discuss their work and receive feedback. The course was organized in 2024 (Tampere) and 2025 (Bologna).
• Realizing publications with SIG members as well asresearchers outside the SIG, using the conference as tool to enhance the contribution. Examples include:
  • “Networks and collaboration in the public sector; essential research approaches, methodologies and analytical tools” Voets, Keast & Koliba (2020)
  • “Complexity Theory in Public Administration” Eppel & Rhodes (eds) (2020)
  • Keast, R., Voets, J., Meek, J.W., & Flynn, C. (Eds.). (2023). A modern guide to networks. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar. 
  • Founding and ongoing managing editors of Open Access journal:  “Complexity, Governance and Networks”
• Individual members of the sig organize Webinars / Workshops. These sessions with practitioners are mostly country/region based

Convenors of the SIG

• Joris Voets (Gent University, Belgium). E-mail: Joris.Voets@ugent.be Primary contact
• Robin Lemaire (Louisiana State University, US),-email: rlemaire@lsu.edu
• Erik Hans Klijn (Erasmus University Rotterdam, The Netherlands), email: klijn@essb.eur.nl
• Mary Lee Rhodes (Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland), e-mail: rhodesml@tcd.ie
• Chris Koliba (University of Kansas, USA), e-mail: ckoliba@ku.edu
• Robin Keast (Southern Cross, Australia). e-mail: robyn.keast@scu.edu.au

Short CV’s

Joris Voets is an Associate Professor of Public Administration in the Department of Public Governance and Management at the Faculty of Economics & Business Administration at Ghent University. His research focuses on governance networks, local government and regional governance. He has co-authored publications in journals like Public Management Review, Public Administration Review, Policy & Politics, Local Government Studies and Public Administration. More info: https://www.ugent.be/eb/publiek-management/en/team/voets

Robin H. Lemaire is an Associate Professor of Public Administration in the E.J. Ourso College of Business at Louisiana State University. Her research focuses on managing and governing organizational networks, integrating social network theory and analysis with organization theory. She has published research in journals such as Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, American Review of Public Administration, Perspectives on Public Management and Governance, Public Administration Review, and International Public Management Journal. More info: https://www.lsu.edu/business/directory/employee-profiles/lemaire-robin-pa.php

Erik Hans Klijn is professor of Public Administration at the department of Public Administration and Sociology (Erasmus University Rotterdam). His research focuses complex decision-making, (governance) networks, network management and public branding. His research has covered a wide range of research methods (case studies, Qualitative Comparative Analysis, Q sort, experiments and survey research) and has been published in journals as Public Management Review, JPART, Public Administration review and other well-known Public Administration Journals. More info: https://www.eur.nl/people/erik-hans-klijn

Mary-Lee Rhodes is an Associate Professor of Public Management at Trinity Business School, Trinity College Dublin. Her research is focused on complex public service systems and the dynamics of performance, value and impact. She is the co-Director of the Trinity Centre for Social Innovation and has expertise in research, consulting and management in the public and non-profit sectors along with extensive private sector experience in banking and ICT management.  More info: https://www.tcd.ie/business/people/faculty-professors/rhodesml/

Chris Koliba is the Edwin O. Stene Distinguished Professor of Public Administration, Policy & Governance at the University of Kansas School of Public Affairs and Administration (SPAA). He is the director of a new Center for Democratic Governance. Prior to joining the SPAA faculty in 2023, he served as Professor in the Community Development and Applied Economics Department at the University of Vermont where directed the MPA Program for many years.  He was elected as a Fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration in the fall of 2023.  In addition to publishing over 75 articles and book chapters, many relating to complexity and networks, he is the lead author of Governance Networks in Public Administration and Public Policy.  More info: https://spaa.ku.edu/people/chris-koliba

Robyn Keast (PhD) is a Professor in the Faculty of Business, Law and Arts at Southern Cross University and the former Chair of the Collaborative Research Network: Policy and Planning for Regional Sustainability. Her research focuses on networked arrangements and collaborative practice. She has also co-authored and co-edited several books on these topics like: Modern Guide to Networks (2023),  Social Procurement in the New Public Governance (2016),  and co-editor of Networks and Collaborations in the Public Sector: Essential Research Approaches, Methodologies and Analytical Tools (2020), With over 30 years of experience in the government and not-for-profit sectors in Australia and New Zealand, a key focus of her work is translating research into practice-based tools