Centre for Economics, Policy and Public Management

To support and promote research and impact into the theory and practice of public policy, public management and applied economics. The purpose of CEPPM is to:

• Provide a focus for the scholarly activities and a distinctive research identity for economics, public management, policy and governance research within NBS.
• Provide a catalyst for organisational, staff and curriculum development in economic, public policy management and service delivery.
• Generate interest and financial support for research and other scholarly activity in economics, public policy and management.
• Promote, disseminate and support the research of members, their collaborators and associates.
• Facilitate the creation of public value and optimise the social impact and influence of the research and activities of its members.
• Facilitate interdisciplinary collaborations, within NBS, across Nottingham Trent University and in the wider academic community interested in the theory and practice of economics, public policy and management.

To achieve these aims, CEPPM brings together distinct, but mutually reinforcing, research interests in public policy, public management and applied economics research; economics consultancy, contract research and training; betting research; and political forecasting. Its objectives include:

• To promote individual and collaborative research at all stages of individuals’ careers
• To grow research capacity in these areas, by engaging more colleagues in research and through recruitment of researchers, including Research Assistants and Fellows.
• To facilitate research activity through external grant capture, consultancy and contract research
• To promote both the academic and societal impact of research

CEPPM members are engaged in multiple projects with external partners and stakeholders, a number of which are also linked to REF Impact Case Studies. We offer here a flavour of this research – more detail is provided on the separate pages dedicated to the constituent groupings of CEPPM.

Applied Economics and Policy Analysis

Rob Ackrill and Eleni Stathopoulou are doctoral supervisors and, respectively, Scientific Manager and Work Package Lead, in the €4million EU-funded Marie Skłodowska-Curie Innovative Training Network Smart-BEEjS ‘Smart Value Generation by Building Efficiency and Energy Justice for Sustainable Living’, led by Kostas Galanakis (Dept of Management, NBS). Project details are available here.

This reflects wider interests in Energy, Environment and Resources, through the work of, from Economics, Ackrill, Arntsen, Bakas, Bickerton, Ebireri, Makhlouf, Stathopoulou; and, from the Management Department, Galanakis and Zhang. This work also provides a strong link between CEPPM and the Responsible and Sustainable Business Lab in NBS.

Will Rossiter is working with Daniel King (co-leader, NBS Centre of People, Work and Organizational Practice) and colleagues in NBS and partners on a (£430k) ESRC-funded project to investigate the impact of Covid 19 on the delivery of social care services by voluntary organisations in the UK. This work involves close collaboration with a range of voluntary providers as well as with the sector representative body the National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO). Details here.

This reflects wider interests and extensive external links in work on the local and regional economies, led by Will Rossiter and Piers Thompson. Partners include regional LEPs and the Midlands Engine.

Betting Research and Political Forecasting

Leighton Vaughan Williams leads CEPPMs research on betting and political forecasting, via the Betting Research Unit (see here) and the Political Forecasting Unit. This work has had a major impact on gambling taxation policy at national and international levels over the last 20 years. He has worked with, inter alia, (what is now) HM Revenue and Customs; and he has given evidence to national and international courts of law, both Houses of Parliament, and the Competition and Markets Authority. He has also correctly called the winner of every state in the 2004, 2008, 2012 and (with one exception) the 2016 US Presidential elections, as well as the vast majority of congressional and primary elections.

Public Policy and Management

This research, led by Pete Murphy, has three distinct but related strands: Central and Local Government; Health and Social Care; and the Emergency Services of Police, Ambulance, and Fire and Rescue Services. Projects include the following.

Pete Murphy, Martin Jones, Katarzyna Lakoma and Bernard Kofi Dom are part of an international six-year project, also involving researchers from Birmingham, Oxford, MMU and Cardiff Business Schools and five Japanese Universities, led by Professor Ishihara from Kwansei Gakuin University and Chairman of CIPFA (Japan), entitled “The UK Public Audit and Inspection Regime - Implications for Japanese Governments' Fiscal Democracy”.

Michael Hewitt, David Candon, Yu-Ling Liu-Smith and Pete Murphy are collaborating with the local NHS on the development of new Integrated Care Systems for Health and Social Care, that is currently being rolled out across the country.

Pete Murphy, Peter Eckersley and Katarzyna Lakoma are working on a group of interrelated projects investigating how policy development service delivery and public assurance can be improved in relation to emergency services. The programme has generated Impact Case Studies for both the 2014 and the 2021 Research Excellence Framework.