Welcome to the UKAPA Conference 2025!
Dear colleagues and friends,
It is our great pleasure to welcome you to the second annual conference of the United Kingdom Association for Public Administration (UKAPA), which this year will be proudly hosted by Ulster University.
As convenors, Professors Paul Carmichael and Karl O’Connor, we are delighted to bring together scholars, practitioners, and colleagues from across the field of public administration to our Belfast campus. The conference will take place on Thursday 11 and Friday 12 September, with the conference dinner on Thursday evening at our Academy Restaurant.
We look forward to welcoming you to Belfast and to an engaging and stimulating event.
Registration and participation
Please be reminded that all registrations are closing on 1st September.
PRICE FREEZE – We have made a commitment to peg registration prices for the event at the 2024 rate, mindful of the pressures on budgets.
Participation can take the form of panel chair, paper giver, panel organiser as well as joining the audience for the various sessions throughout the event.
Read more >>
Accommodation
A ‘hold’ has been placed on rooms at a nearby hotels with discounted rates though, as in Birmingham, participants will be expected to make their own arrangements for accommodation and travel.
CONFERENCE REGISTRATION DESK: OPENING HOURS
The Registration and Help Desks will be in the foyer of the
BA and BD buildings on the Campus Map.
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Date |
Opening |
Venue |
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Wednesday |
8:30am-9:30am |
BD |
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Thursday 11th September |
8:30am-5:30pm |
BA BD |
|
Friday 12th |
8:30am-3:00pm |
BA BD |
CONFERENCE SOCIAL EVENTS
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Date/Time |
Event |
Venue |
|
Wednesday |
Drinks (Doctoral |
Academy Ulster |
|
Thursday 11th September – 7:00pm-7:30pm
|
Drinks Reception
|
BD-00-011/BD-00-011A |
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Thursday 11th September – 7:30pm-10:30pm
|
Conference (Pre-booking |
Academy Restaurant, Ulster University |
CONFERENCE SCHEDULE AT A GLANCE
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Wednesday 10 September 2025 (Doctoral Conference Only) |
Thursday 11 September 2025 Main Conference Day 1 |
Friday 12 September 2025 Main Conference Day 2 |
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0830-0930 Registration in BD Building foyer |
0830-0930 |
Registration in BA Building foyer |
0830-0930 |
Registration in BA Building foyer |
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0930-1700
Boardroom BD-07-004
(including lunch in situ)
|
UKAPA Annual Doctoral Conference |
|
0930-1000 |
Conor Lecture Theatre, BA Building Welcome and Opening Remarks Profs Paul Carmichael and Karl O’Connor, Conference Convenors Professor Cathy Gormley-Heenan, Provost Dr Karin Bottom, UKAPA Chair |
0900-1000 |
Conor Lecture Theatre, BA Building Keynote 2 – Frank Stacey Memorial Lecture – Prof Rod Rhodes Professor of Government Department of Politics and International Relations and Director of the Centre for Political Ethnography University of Southampton |
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1000-1100 |
Conor Lecture Theatre, BA Building Keynote 1 – The Future of Public Administration Dr Sian Thornthwaite Programme Director Small business research initiative Strategic Investment Board Northern Ireland |
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1100-1130 |
Refreshments and Networking in BD-00-011 |
1000-1030 |
Refreshments and Networking in BD-00-011 |
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1130-1300 |
Parallel Sessions 1 including Roundtable 1 in BD Building |
1030-1200 |
Parallel Sessions 4 including Roundtable 4 in BD Building |
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|
1300-1345 |
Lunch in BD-00-011 A ‘Meet the Editors’ session will be held during lunch. |
1200-1245 |
Lunch in BD-00-011 |
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1345-1430 |
UKAPA AGM and announcements in BD-00-011A |
1245-1415 |
Parallel Sessions 5 including Roundtable 5 in BD Building |
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1400-1600
BD-05-23 |
UKAPA Executive meeting
|
|
1430-1600 |
Parallel Sessions 2 including Roundtable 2 In BD Building |
1415-1515 |
Keynote 3 – Introduction to Generative AI and State of the Art in BD-00-011A Dr Michael Callahan Reader In Intelligence Systems School of Computing, Engineering & Intelligent Systems Ulster University |
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1600-1615 |
Refreshments and Networking in BD-00-011 |
1515-1530 |
Refreshments and Networking in BD-00-011 |
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1615-1745 |
Parallel Sessions 3 including Roundtable 3 |
1530-1545 |
Concluding Remarks and Conference Close in BD-00-011 |
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1800-2100
|
Doctoral Conference Drinks Reception and Executive Dinner Academy Restaurant, Ulster University |
1745-1900 |
Break |
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1900-1930 |
Drinks Reception In BD-00-011 and BD-00-011a followed by Main Conference Annual Dinner Academy Restaurant, Ulster University |
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1930-2200 |
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Doctoral conference
A linked doctoral conference will take place the day before on Wednesday 10 September.
Read more >>
The Frank Stacey Memorial Lecture
The 2025 Frank Stacey Memorial Lecture will be delivered by Professor Rod Rhodes (University of Southampton)
Keynote 1
by Dr Sian Thornthwaite
The first keynote Lecture will be delivered by Dr Sian Thornthwaite (Strategic Investment Board, Programme Director sbri – small business research initiative).
Title: Thinking Forward: reflections on the future of public administration from a career at the public policy front line
Keynote 2
by Dr Michael Callaghan
The second Keynote Lecture will be delivered by Dr Michael Callaghan (Ulster University).
Title: Introduction to Generative AI and SOTA