Relational Public Services Book Launch: Co-Creation in Public Services for Innovation and Social Justice
Venue: Geoffrey Manton Building, Room GM 3.38
Date: Wednesday, November 20 · 15:30 – 17:30 GMT
The event will be followed by a drinks reception
You are warmly welcomed to join the team in person to hear about the case studies from the book including Professor Chris Fox and others followed by a discussion panel and debate chaired by Professor Hannah Hesselgreaves (Director of PERU) including Mark Smith (Director of Public Service Reform at Gateshead Council and leader of the Changing Futures Northumbria project and Liberated Method) and Dave Kelly (Assistant Director, Public Service Reform Greater Manchester Combined Authority) with a response from Professor Rob Wilson (MMU and one of the co-editors of the collection).
The book produced by members of the Policy Evaluation and Research Unit (PERU) at MMU in collaboration with practitioners, policy makers and academics from across Europe examines the idea and practice of co-creation in public services. Informed by practical action, lived experience and EU research from 10 countries including the UK, it shines new light on the theory and reality of co-creation by conceptualising it in terms of human rights, social justice, social innovation, and the future trajectory of relational public services. Focusing on human dimensions, the book presents real life examples in public services as diverse as social care, health, work activation, housing, and criminal justice. It also highlights the ways digital technologies can accelerate or hinder co-creation.
The book confronts a paradox at the heart of co-creation: scalability and context; standardisation and inflexibility in planning and resourcing, or ‘concrete-ness’, counters the ‘elasticity’ required to sustain co-creation in complex contexts.
Our colleague Professor Sue Baines was a driving force behind the book and worked closely with many of the authors for many years. Sue sadly passed away a few months before the book was published. This event is held in memory of Sue, and will include a short tribute to her from a long-term colleague.
Programme
- 15.30: Welcome and introductions (Chris Fox – Manchester Metropolitan University )
- 15.35 – 15.45: Remembering Professor Susan Baines (Irene Hardill – Northumbria University )
- 15.45 – 16.00: Co-Creation in Public Services for Innovation and Social Justice (Rob Wilson, Manchester Metropolitan University)
- 16.00 – 16.15: Understanding co-creation: strengths and capabilities (Chris Fox, Manchester Metropolitan University)
- 16.15 – 16.30: Co-creating capacity? The role of front-line managers and workers? (Inga Narbutaité Aflaki, Karlstads University)
- 16.30 – 16.45: Co-creation in Europe: The Barriers to Co-Creation in Disadvantaged Rural Areas in Hungary (Flórián Sipos and Judit Csoba, University of Debrecen)
- Panel: 16:45 – 17.30
- Chaired by Hannah Hesselgreaves, Director of the Policy Evaluation and Research Unit and featuring Mark Smith (Director of Public Service Reform at Gateshead Council and leader of the Changing Futures Northumbria project and Liberated Method) and Dave Kelly (Assistant Director, Public Service Reform, Greater Manchester Combined Authority). The panel will explore the potential for relational public services in practice.
- 17.30 Close and drinks
It is also available Free online (Open Access) via https://doi.org/10.51952/9781447367185
This is a registration only event.