Paul Cairney

Glad that the younger generation can finally experience being gubbed by Brazil in a world cup.

Thanks Julia. Even the thought of one person reading it cheered me up!

How should policy actors respond to buzzwords? Three ways to deal with policy ambiguity - Policy Sciences Policy Sciences -

How should policy actors respond to buzzwords? Three ways to deal with policy ambiguity

link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Painting at QUB, looks like the 4th Estate/Volpedo

The first deadline is 18th November (tomorrow). The deadline for research fellows is 2nd December (not tomorrow).

You will have the continuous opportunity to explain the meaning of FORTH2O whenever people don't see the logo: the Forth (Water Basin and surrounding area) is the 'place' in which we situate a 'place based approach', and the H precedes the number 2 and letter O to describe water. It is that simple.

FORTH2O Policy Innovation Partnership A ground-breaking Partnership in the Forth Water Basin offering a range of services to support innovation through collaboration.

Website for the project
forth2o.ac.uk

A renewed vision for FORTH2O This very long blog post describes new developments in the FORTH2O Policy Innovation Partnership (a shorter version will appear on the FORTH2O website). A change in our leadership team, coupled wit…

Background on the project
paulcairney.wordpress.com/2025/11/11/a...

Research Fellows
www.stir.ac.uk/about/work-a...

Research Partnership Manager
www.stir.ac.uk/about/work-a...

We are recruiting five Postdoctoral Research Fellows and one Research Partnership Manager for the University of Stirling FORTH2O project These posts will help to deliver key tasks for the FORTH2O Policy Innovation Partnership at the University of Stirling. For a thorough description of the project and its progress, please see: A ren…

We are recruiting five Postdoctoral Research Fellows and one Research Partnership Manager for the University of Stirling FORTH2O project

paulcairney.wordpress.com/2025/11/11/w...

We are recruiting five Postdoctoral Research Fellows and one Research Partnership Manager for the University of Stirling FORTH2O project These posts will help to deliver key tasks for the FORTH2O Policy Innovation Partnership at the University of Stirling. For a thorough description of the project and its progress, please see: A ren…

We are recruiting five Postdoctoral Research Fellows and one Research Partnership Manager for the University of Stirling FORTH2O project
paulcairney.wordpress.com/2025/11/11/w...

Why don’t governments learn, and what can we do about it? The first in our PoPP group’s series of blog posts reflecting on the connections between established political science/ policy theory insights and a renewed focus on learning from success. Learning…

Why don't governments learn, and what can we do about it?
paulcairney.wordpress.com/2025/11/06/w...

So you want to be a systems leader? Systems leaders are trusted actors who help many people to collaborate to address wicked policy problems. These policy problems resist simple solutions by a few powerful actors in one center of gov...

Now published in the latest Policy Design and Practice:

So you want to be a systems leader?

www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

It's an article about systems leadership. You don't need to want to be a systems leader to read it.

New political science analysis of the renewed push for preventive health: ‘Can it be any different this time around?’ The idea that ‘prevention is better than cure’ is often treated as self-evident in health policymaking: who would not want to shift resources from mit…

Interesting (esp as I get more and more into public health research) & valuable piece by @paulcairney.bsky.social & colleagues on poli sci approaches to preventative healthcare. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

A reminder: people say "guru" because it uses fewer characters than "charlatan". But still, do come along...

This is….and imagine all the other ways this manifests… and across different contexts

The 'what did we learn on our summer holidays?' anonymous memo itself archive.ph/5imGV

Using political science to inform our understanding of the challenges of preventive health policymaking: ‘Can this time be any different?’ By Paul Cairney, John Boswell, Hashum Mahmood, Annie Bliss. This post summarises our new article in Social Science & Medicine. Advocates of preventive health and care policy often feel like the…

Using political science to inform our understanding of the challenges of preventive health policymaking: ‘Can this time be any different?’

paulcairney.wordpress.com/2025/09/25/u...

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Professor Nicole Busby is Professor of Human Rights, Equality and Justice at the University of Glasgow. They have over 30 years of experience focused on EU law, labour law, equality law, and human rights. She holds a PhD in Law, with a specialism in EU and UK sex equality law. She has held key advisory roles and currently serves on the Scottish Government’s Human Rights Incorporation and Implementation Oversight Board.

Professor Paul Cairney is Professor of Politics and Public Policy at the University of Stirling. He specialises in UK and Scottish Government policymaking, with a particular focus on public health and inequalities. He served as Special Advisor to the Scottish Parliament’s Finance and Public Administration Committee inquiry into effective government decision-making, and as an Expert Witness to the UK COVID-19 Inquiry, providing a written report and oral evidence on Scottish political governance.

We will hear from:
🔵 Professor Nicole Busby - Professor in Human Rights, Equality and Justice, @uofglasgow.bsky.social
🔵 Professor @paulcairney.bsky.social - Professor of Politics and Public Policy, @stir.ac.uk

For more information please visit our website: covid19inquiry.scot

Yes, in that there are high/low state versions of the same vague ambition

New political science analysis of the renewed push for preventive health: ‘Can it be any different this time around?

doi.org/10.1016/j.so...

COPPR26 Proposal Submission & Registration Important Dates to Remember June 5, 2025-August 31, 2025: Open call for pre-COPPR workshops, papers, panels, and roundtable proposals September 30, 2025: Notification of accepted or rejected propos…

🫱🏽‍🫲🏿 #COPPR26 is more than a conference. It’s a space for building community across disciplines, methods, and institutions. Come find your people, share your ideas. CFP here: policyprocessresearch.org/coppr26-prop...

COPPR26 Proposal Submission & Registration Important Dates to Remember June 5, 2025-August 31, 2025: Open call for pre-COPPR workshops, papers, panels, and roundtable proposals September 30, 2025: Notification of accepted or rejected propos…

📖 Do you work with the IAD Framework?
Institutional rules, action arenas, and the grammar of institutions? Then you should be at #COPPR26.
Present your work. Find your people. Build the field.
CFP open now 👉 policyprocessresearch.org/coppr26-prop...

COPPR26 Proposal Submission & Registration Important Dates to Remember June 5, 2025-August 31, 2025: Open call for pre-COPPR workshops, papers, panels, and roundtable proposals September 30, 2025: Notification of accepted or rejected propos…

🏛️ Do you map belief systems, coalitions, and policy subsystems? The Advocacy Coalition Framework remains a cornerstone of policy process research — and so is #COPPR26. Submit your ACF work by Aug 31. policyprocessresearch.org/coppr26-prop...

COPPR26 Proposal Submission & Registration Important Dates to Remember June 5, 2025-September 15, 2025: Open call for pre-COPPR workshops, papers, panels, and roundtable proposals October 15, 2025: Notification of accepted or rejected propo…

📢 UPDATE! The submission deadline has been extended to September 15th. As always, we look forward to reviewing your proposals.—COPPR Team policyprocessresearch.org/coppr26-prop...

Session Information The Conference on Policy Process Research (COPPR) is focused on advancing policy process research through a wide range of theoretical and methodological approaches. COPPR offers six types of sessio…

Not sure what to submit to #COPPR26? We have SIX different session formats, check them out:
policyprocessresearch.org/coppr-26-ses...

20-23 January 2026, COPPR, University of Bern

The Conference on Policy Process Research 2026 is in Bern, Switzerland, January 20-23. You can submit your paper or presentation ideas here - policyprocessresearch.org - and can attend in person or online.