In our research activities, we study how governments and other organizations address the complex challenges that our modern societies are faced with, ranging from the local to the global level. These activities cover a variety of topics in the areas of public governance, policy studies and public management. Much of our current research is embedded in interdisciplinary research themes of the Faculty BMS, especially those about Resilience and Emerging Technologies & Societal Transformations. At the university level we participate in the Digital Society Institute.
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Our staff members often present their latest research findings at conferences, like this group did at the NIG Conference in Leuven in 2026. (From left to right: Spencer, Jelle, Stefan, Tafadzwa, Martin & Igor)
Research areas
Our department’s research is organized around key questions in three areas:
- Public governance. Which governance structures facilitate legitimate decision-making in political-administrative systems about societal problems, policy responses and technological solutions? Which interests are affected and represented in the decision-making by political and administrative actors when addressing challenges in society? What role do citizens play and how are digital technologies used to involve them?
- Public policy. What effective and legitimate policy solutions can we design to address complex (wicked) problems that require the involvement of multiple stakeholders, who regularly have diverging perspectives and conflicting interests? How can we design policy solutions that make optimal use of modern technologies and work in practice?
- Public management. How do administrative organizations, public managers and professionals effectively and legitimately implement and monitor public services and technological solutions? How do they operate in an environment that is polarized and politicized, under intense public scrutiny and constantly changing in the face of new technological developments?
Our research draws on a broad range of methodological approaches, combining quantitative and experimental methods with comparative analysis, qualitative case studies, and interpretive research. This methodological diversity enables us to study public governance, policy processes and public management from different perspectives, bringing together explanatory and interpretive approaches to better understand and address complex societal challenges.
Research centres
The focus of our scholarly work is reflected in the names of two research centres that were established by our group, namely the Centre for European Studies (CES) and Centre for the Study of Democracy (CSD).
We are currently in a process of repositioning and revitalising them in light of new research lines from colleagues who more recently joined our group. These include topics such as digital democracy, technology governance in the EU, and global democratic backsliding. To read more about this research, for now it is best to consult the personal webpages of our staff members.
The roots of our department lie in the Faculteit Bestuurskunde, which was established in 1976 and subsequently merged twice with other faculties to form the current Faculty of Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences (BMS). The former faculty was also home to two other research centres: Centre for Higher Education Policy Studies (CHEPS) and Centrum voor Schone Technologie en Milieubeleid (CSTM), which focuses on sustainability governance. More information about those centres is available here for CHEPS and here for CSTM.
Research projects
We conduct our research frequently in collaboration with colleagues from other departments and other universities, as well as a wide range of societal and governmental organizations. Below is a list of some of the larger projects that we are presently involved in.