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Annual Conference of the UK Association for Public Administration (UKAPA) 2026

Dates: Wednesday 9^th September to Thursday 10^th September 2026 plus Doctoral Colloquium Tuesday 8^th September 2026

Venue: Manchester Metropolitan University, Dalton Building, Chester Street, Manchester, M1 5GD

Conference Theme:

Building on last year’s conference which considered the future of public administration, this year’s theme is ‘Defending Public Administration in theory and practice’.

This theme is chosen considering recent impacts on UK public administration, both domestically and globally. Recent years have witnessed international shifts away from accepted modes of working in public administration, such as collaboration. Scholars have described a contemporary era of ‘turbulence’ (Ansell et al., 2023) and related populist attacks on established ideas of processes and conventions in public administration such as attempts to decry bureaucracies and the importance of checks and balances. Prominent populist figures also seek to undermine trust in governing institutions that threatens the roles and practices of public administration organisations.

Public administration has further been threatened by issues of industrial relations in some public services focused on pay and conditions that have resulted in strike action despite a renewed appreciation of public services during the pandemic. Equally, staff in public services continue to suffer from boundary spanning, overwork, voluntarism, stress and associated impacts on public administration identity.

Additionally, issues of funding and resources stubbornly remain in UK public services. Despite the growing influence of ideas such as relational public services and the widespread use of practices like co-production and value co-creation the use of metrics underpinned by New Public Management (NPM) remains prevalent in UK public services, such as healthcare, education and policing. Indeed, the UK Government has recently championed the use of such performance management indicators

This two-day conference provides a space for academics, researchers, and doctoral students engaged in public administration research across disciplines as well as practitioners working in and in collaboration with public services to debate defending public administration in theory and practice.

Link to conference website: UKAPA 2026

Early bird registration deadline: 9^th July 2026

Hotels: Please see our preferred hotel partners and deals by scanning the QR Code below.

Conference Dinner

On Wednesday 10^th September there will be a conference dinner in the Dalton Building. Join us for food, drinks and a chance to relax and chat with other conference attendees. The ticket includes a 3-course dinner and ½ bottle of wine or soft drinks per person.

Wednesday 24th June 2025

PLEASE NOTE: If you would like to purchase more than one ticket, i.e a day ticket and a dinner ticket please add your conference ticket to the cart first, complete the registration details and before selecting 'view cart', add the second ticket. You won't need to complete the registration details again. When you select 'view cart', both tickets will be available to purchase.