Dr Sonia Bussu
Senior Lecturer in Politics and Public Administration
My profile
Biography
I study and teach public policy, or what governments do or do not do, why and how. My main research interest is participatory governance, or ways of involving citizens, and particularly those groups often at the margins of social and political life, in making policies that affect them directly, in a way that responds to their needs and demands. I’m also interested in doing research with citizens as co-researchers to reframe problems and research questions, by taking their perspective. My research has a strong practical focus and this is also why, after my PhD in Government at the London School of Economics, I spent a few years working in the third sector, before coming back to academia, where I helped to design and evaluate innovative processes to strengthen democracy through citizen participation and community engagement. I joined ManMet in 2018.
Words of wisdom
“When everyone in the classroom, teacher and students, recognizes that they are responsible for creating a learning community together, learning is at its most meaningful and useful.”
bell hooks, Teaching Critical Thinking: Practical Wisdom
Academic and professional qualifications
- PhD in Government, London School of Economics - thesis on participatory governance
- MSc in Globalisation and Development, Institute of Commonwealth Studies, SAS, University of London
- Certificate in International Relations and European Studies, Birkbeck College
- MA in Bilingual Translation, University of Westminster
- BA + MA (First Class with Distinction) in Modern Languages (English and French), University of Sassari, Italy
- Liceo Classico (classical studies, Ancient Greek and Latin), Sassari, Italy
Teaching qualifications:
Fellow of the Higher Education Academy
Other academic service (administration and management)
External Examiner for Leeds Beckett University
Link Tutor for UCEN Public Services
Languages
- Italian (mother tongue)
- English - fluent
- French - advanced
- Spanish - intermediate
External examiner roles
Leeds Beckett University (2020-to date)
Expert reviewer for external funding bodies
Books: Edward Elgar; ECPR Press
Journals: Public Administration, Public Management Review, Local Government Studies, Qualitative Research; Administration & Society
Membership of professional associations
- Co-convenor of the PSA Participatory and Deliberative Democracy specialist group (March 2020-to date)
- Co-convenor of the PSA Local Politics specialist group (2010-2016).
- Conference Coordinator PSA Postgraduate Network (2009-2011).
- Graduate representative PSA Italian Politics specialist group (2009-2011)
Projects
Current Projects
2022-2023. Mindset Revolution: opening space for youth-led change in mental health (PI) - funded by UKRI/ RSA, £60,000
Public dialogue is often a top-down, one-off affair, where the commissioner (e.g. public agencies; academia) sets the agenda, plans the process, decides who is invited. There is limited follow-up, and it is hard to assess the impact of isolated initiatives. Mindset Revolution flips this and reinvents public dialogue as a bottom-up process embedded in the community. The focus is on youth mental health: young people work with diverse partners (academics, grassroots and institutions) to co-design, and evaluate, sustainable participation processes that don’t stop at recommendations but also strengthen scrutiny, putting young people’s voice front and centre of mental health policymaking.
2022 - Optimistic Minds: Re-imagining young people’s agency in evidence-based decision making in mental health (Co-I) - funded by Emerging Minds,£30,955; PI: James Duggan
The Optimistic Minds project will experiment with the processes, spaces, and cultures by which various stakeholders come together to improve evidence-based decision making by commissioners and policy makers to inform mental health support for young people. The project will seek to understand how we can embed participatory spaces that ensure that evidence is discussed, understood, and evaluated through engagement with youth and other key stakeholders working on youth mental health to strengthen implementation of research into practice. This project will work in partnership with the Greater Manchester Living Well youth co-researchers, supported by 42nd street, who are conducting research with young people, practitioners, professionals, commissioners and policymakers. The project is grounded in approaches for building inclusive spaces for evidence-based dialogue between young people, professionals, practitioners, commissioners and policymakers: co-production, participatory innovations (i.e.; citizen juries) and Legislative Theatre.
Other grants
2021 - The British Academy Horizon Europe Pump Priming Collaboration between UK and EU Partners - £ 9,985.99.00
2020 - International Collaboration Fund, MMU, £5000 - Understanding Developments in Participatory Governance
2017-2018 - As part of the UCL Improvement Science Team I contributed to a successful bid to Tower Hamlets CCG for a 2-years evaluation of integrated care, £300,000
2014 – 2017- While working in the third sector I contributed to successful research bids – i.e. Engage 2020 funded under the EU’s Horizon 2020 programme.
2010-2011 - PSA (British Political Studies Association) funding to organise and present panels at the annual PSA and SISP (Italian Political Science Association) conferences
2010 - ECPR funding to present at a Joint Sessions Workshop
2008-2012 – full-time PhD scholarship “Masters and Back”, Regional Government of Sardinia, Italy (100,000 euros)
Teaching
Why do I teach?
I’m passionate about teaching and helping students challenge their assumptions, strengthen their critical thinking skills to question the status quo, and develop as confident, independent thinkers. All my sessions are highly interactive and problem-based. I am a strong believer in the value of close integration of research and teaching and my research often informs the content of the modules I teach. By encouraging my students’ active participation, I try to make a class about knowledge co-creation.
How I’ll teach you
I like incorporating practical exercises and small group work to encourage students to reflect on how new ideas could be applied to their own context. As my students progressively build their confidence and communication skills, I ask them to contribute actively to the teaching, so that they develop ownership of the materials. One example of how I apply this reflective approach is the “adopt a country” game, which I often use when teaching public policy. At the beginning of the academic year, each student “adopts” one country and is responsible to carry out and share research on its institutions and policies throughout the year. This way we share the knowldege and multiply the learning. I also like making the most of online tools to build an online learning community with my students, making learning more fun and interactive.
Why study…
Studying politics and public policy prepares you for a number of exciting government jobs, in the civil service or local government; it can help you become a more critical political correspondent for the media, an effective policy analyst for a think tank, a researcher for charity or an international organisation, and much more. Whether you choose to pursue a career as a community activist or a policy wizard, understanding power dynamics, why and how policies change, or why certain policies never even get on the agenda, can help you unpack the relationship between different interests, between state institutions and citizens. This knowledge will help you navigate the world better as a citizen and perhaps contribute to the social change you want to see.
Postgraduate teaching
- Convenor, MPA module on Ethics and Standards in Public Administration
- Contributor, Social Housing and Health
Subject areas
Politics and Public Policy
Supervision
I am interested in supervising PhD research in the following areas:
- Participatory and deliberative democracy; collaborative governance
- E-participation
- Public engagement in public administration/ coproduction of public services
- Local government/ local governance; polycentric governance
I am also interested in research work using participatory methods (e.g. action research; participatory action research; coproduction; researcher in residence, etc.)
Research outputs
- Public Administration
- Participatory and deliberative democracy
- Local government
- Health politics and policy
- Coproduction
- Participatory research methods
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Chapters in books
Bussu, S. (2019) 'Collaborative governance: between invited and invented spaces.' Handbook of Democratic Innovation and Governance. Edward Elgar Publishing,
Bussu, S., Galanti, M.T. (2015) 'Local Governments at the Time of the Crisis.' The Year of the Bulldozer. John Hopkin and Istituto Cattaneo,
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Reports
Bussu, S., Golan, Y., Hargreaves, A. (2022) Understanding developments in Participatory Governance: a report on findings from a scoping review of the literature and expert interviews. Manchester Metropolitan University.
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Journal articles
Bussu, S., Bua, A., Dean, R., Smith, G. (2022) 'Embedding participatory governance.' Critical Policy Studies, 16(2) pp. 133-145.
Gagnon, J.P., Asenbaum, H., Fleuss, D., Bussu, S., Guasti, P., Dean, R., Chalaye, P., Alnemr, N., Marquardt, F., Weiss, A. (2021) 'The Marginalized Democracies of the World.' Democratic Theory, 8(2) pp. 1-18.
Bua, A., Bussu, S. (2021) 'Between Governance-Driven Democratisation and Democracy-Driven Governance: explaining changes in Participatory Governance in the Case of Barcelona.' European Journal of Political Research, 60(3) pp. 716-737.
Bussu, S., Lalani, M., Pattison, S., Marshall, M. (2021) 'Engaging with care: ethical issues in Participatory Research.' Qualitative Research, 21(5) pp. 667-685.
Bussu, S., Marshall, M. (2020) '(Dis)integrated care? Lessons from East London.' International Journal of Integrated Care, 20(4)
Mirza, L., Bussu, S., Martin, M. (2020) 'Understanding integrated care at the frontline using organisational learning theory: a participatory evaluation of multi-professional teams in East London.' Social Science and Medicine, 262pp. 113254-113254.
Bussu, S., Marshall, M. (2020) 'Organisational Development to support integrated care in East London: the perspective of clinicians and social workers on the ground.' Journal of Health, Organization and Management, 34(5) pp. 603-619.
Bussu, S., Tullia Galanti, M. (2018) 'Facilitating coproduction: the role of leadership in coproduction initiatives in the UK.' Policy and Society, pp. 1-21.
Bussu, S. (2015) 'Between a Rock and a Hard Place: The Councillor’s Dilemma between Strong Mayors and Citizens’ Needs.' Local Government Studies, 41(6) pp. 841-860.
Bussu, S., Bartels, K.P.R. (2014) 'Facilitative Leadership and the Challenge of Renewing Local Democracy in Italy.' International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 38(6) pp. 2256-2273.
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Conference papers
Bussu, S. (2018) 'Integrated care: learning from East London.' In BJGP Research Conference 2018. 68. Royal College of General Practitioners, London, UK, 23/3/2018 - 23/3/2018. Royal College of General Practitioners,
Lalani, M., Bussu, S., Marshall, M. (2018) '#Integrated care at the frontline: a participatory evaluation of locality level multi-professional teams in east london.' In Society for Social Medicine 62nd Annual Scientific Meeting, Hosted by the MRC/CSO Social and Public Health Sciences Unit. 72. Glasgow, Scotland, 5/9/2018 - 7/9/2018. BMJ Publishing Group,