The 9th Chinese Public Management Scholars Seminar was Held at Sun Yat-sen University

From October 8 until October 10, the 9th Chinese Public Management Scholar Seminar was jointly held at Sun Yat-sen University by the School of Government and the Center for Chinese Public Administration Research of Sun Yat-sen University, the School of Public Policy and Administration of Xi’an Jiaotong University, and the China-America Association for Public Affairs. More than 150 experts, scholars, teachers, and students of public administration from various countries and regions all over the world joined the seminar, both online and offline. The seminar was originally scheduled in 2020, but was postponed to this year due to the pandemic. The theme was “Risk, Technology, and Decision: National Capabilities and Public Governance.”

As Professor Chen Nabo of the School of Government of Sun Yat-sen University hosted the seminar and gave the keynote report. Executive Vice President Bao Jing of Chinese Public Administration Society, Executive Dean Yang Kaifeng of the School of Public Administration and Policy of Renmin University of China, Executive Deputy Dean Zhu Xufeng of the School of Public Policy and Management of Tsinghua University, Dean Jing Yijia of Institute for Global Public Policy of Fudan University, Secretary of the Party Committee Jiang Xiaoping of the School of Public Administration of Sichuan University, Professor Zhu Zhengwei of the School of Public Policy and Administration of Xi’an Jiaotong University, Head Ho Tat-Kei of the Department of Public Policy of City University of Hong Kong, Dean Zhao Zhirong of the School of Public Affairs of Zhejiang University, and Professor Yue Jinglun of the School of Government of Sun Yat-sen University respectively made brilliant reports on the topics as follows: Governance in the Digital Era, the Post-Pandemic Development of Public Management as a Discipline, Biometric Recognition Technology and Urban Governance, Digital Transformation of Urban Governance: Reform Experience of Shanghai’s “Integrated Online Platform”, Theoretical Cognition, Practical Logic and Resilient Governance of Urban Social Governance: From Sponge Cities to Resilient Cities, Reflections on Good Governance under Major Global Changes, New Liberal Arts, Big Public Administration and Chinese Urban Governance Research, and Welfare Management in the Modernization of National Governance.

The Chinese Public Management Scholars Seminar was proposed by Mr. Xia Shuzhang and jointly initiated by Sun Yat-sen University, Xi’an Jiaotong University, and the China-America Association for Public Affairs in 2010. It aims at providing a platform for Chinese public management scholars to commence conversations and engage in dialogue concerning problems, opportunities, and challenges of public management in China, so that constructive academic opinions and theories can be brought forth to improve the capability of national governance. Since its foundation, eight seminars have been successfully held, with an extensive influence and appeal for Chinese scholars all over the world.

The 9th Chinese Public Management Scholars Seminar had a duration of two days, including 18 parallel sub-forums in addition to the opening ceremony. The topics of the sub-forums were as follows: Political Party and National Capabilities, Crisis Response and Emergency Management, Information and Digital Governance, Urban Governance and Collaborative Regional Development, Innovation in Public Service, Government and Public Sector Performance Management, Reform of Administrative Organizations and Institutions, Public Finance and Budgeting, Public Management Research Methods, Theoretical Frontier and Disciplinary Reflection of Public Management, among others.)

Experts, scholars, teachers, and students of public administration from various countries and regions made in-depth and extensive academic exchanges under the theme of “Risk, Technology, and Decision: National Capabilities and Public Governance” in Chinese, English, and a combination of both languages. Relative research of public management was carried out, providing a theoretical foundation and an empirical inspiration for governments in the realm of decision-making and implementation.

During the closing ceremony, Associate Professor and President-designate Sun Rui of the China-America Association for Public Affairs introduced and presented the Wang Wen Youth Scholar Award and the Best Student Paper of 2020 and 2021 The 2020 honorees were Cheng Yuan of the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities and Zhang Pan of Shanghai Jiaotong University. The 2021 honorees were Han Yanbing of Nanjing University and Yang Wenhui of Peking University. The four award winners shared their experiences via the internet concerning their written papers.

Ultimately, Professor Tan Ankui, Dean of the School of Government and Head of the Center for Chinese Public Administration Research of Sun Yat-sen University, gave the closing remarks and passed the flag of the Chinese Public Management Scholars Seminar to Xi’an Jiaotong University, the 10th seminar host. Thus, the 9th Chinese Public Management Scholars Seminar came to an astounding finish.