Janine is Director of the Crawford School of Public Policy

Since 2023 I have served as the Director of the Crawford School, one of the world's leading multidisciplinary public policy schools, and the premier school in the Asia-Pacific region. At the Crawford School we shape public policy through excellence in research, postgraduate education, and policy engagement. We educate people who change the world, and we undertake research that helps policy makers navigate an increasingly complex environment.

Prior to taking on the role of Director, I was Professor of Public Management at the University of Melbourne (2013-2023) and undertook an extended secondment to the Australia and New Zealand School of Government (2018-2023). Across research, education, and engagement, my interests are in better understanding how government works and working with current and future leaders to improve governmental outcomes.  

My expertise is in public administration and management, with major research interests in public sector reform and relational dynamics. I have made major contributions to the field in areas such as public value, paradigmatic change, collaboration, contracting, and performance. Most recently my work has focused on staking out the foundations of a more human(e) government and deepening our understanding of a more positive public administration. Alongside, I have been exploring the intersection of public management practices and morality in areas of extreme complexity, and future directions for the field. My collaborative research projects have received several academic awards including: best articles in Public Administration Review and Review of Public Personnel Administration; best book award at the Academy of Management; and several best paper awards at Academy of Management. 

You can find my most recent books here: Pathways to Positive Public Administration (2024 with Patrick Lucas, Tina Nabatchi, and Paul 't Hart) and Research Handbook on Public Management and COVID-19 (2024 with Helen Dickinson, Sophie Yates, and Catherine Smith). For a full list of my publications you can access my CV here. 

I have served as an Associate Editor at Public Management Review (2022-2024), and as an Editor of the Australian Journal of Public Administration (2015-2021). Currently, I serve on several editorial boards:  Public Administration; Public Management Review;  Policy Design and Practice; Global Public Policy and Governance; Halduskultuur: The Estonian Journal of Administrative Culture and Digital Governance; and Australian Journal of Public Administration. Previously I have served on the editorial boards of: Public Administration Review; Journal of Teaching Public Administration; Asia Pacific Journal of Public Administration; International Journal of Public Administration; Journal of Public Affairs Education; Canadian Public Administration; and Journal of Management & Organization. 

In education my focus has been on management issues in the public sector and the challenges faced by contemporary leaders in pursuit of public purpose. For most of my career I have worked with experienced professionals from across the world in both executive education and postgraduate programs and have been recognised for teaching excellence through various college, university and national level awards. As a keen observer of international practice in public management, I have had the opportunity to provide expert advice to a range of policymakers including in Australia, Chile, Bhutan, New Zealand, the United States of America, Vietnam, Canada, China and Singapore.

From 2021 to 2025 I served as an elected member of the Board of Directors for the Public Management Research Association. Between 2012-2018 I was an elected member of the Executive Board of the International Research Society for Public Management. In 2022 I was appointed to the Australian Capital Territory Institute of Public Administration Australia Council and have represented the ACT on the National Council of the Institute of Public Administration Australia since 2024.

In 2022 I was elected as a fellow of the (US) National Academy of Public Administration and in 2013 I was appointed a fellow of the Institute of Public Administration Australia (VIC). In 2025, I was recognised as a Distinguished Fellow of the Australia and New Zealand School of Government. 

In 2022, I was appointed by the Minister to the Advisory Board of the Victorian Public Sector Commission and served until 2025. Previously I was a member of the Advisory Board for the Australian Public Service Centre for Leadership and Learning (2018-2020) and a member of the Infrastructure Victoria Expert Panel on the Role of Infrastructure in Addressing Regional Disadvantage (2019-2020). Since 2021 I have been a member of the Centre for Public Impact Australia and New Zealand Research Committee, and now co-chair the Research Committee. 

In 2019, I was commissioned to co-author a major research paper to  inform the work of the Independent Review of the Australian Public Service in relation to how commissioning and contracting could be done by the federal government: 2030 and Beyond: Getting the Work of Government Done. This work has helped to shape the reform agenda in Australia.  In 2025 I was invited to join the Advisory Panel to oversee the development of a white paper on the future of public service in New South Wales, a project being led by the Institute of Public Administration Australia (NSW).

PhD (Melbourne)

Bachelor of Commerce (Hons. First Class, Melbourne)