Department of Public Administration

To commemorate 75th year of India's Independence, Department of Public Administration, Panjab University, Chandigarh organized a webinar on ‘Evolving relationship between Public Policy and Social Science Research’  under “Public Policy – Theory and Praxis” Lecture series under the aegis of  Professor Raj Kumar, Vice Chancellor, Panjab University as chief patron, Professor. V.R. Sinha, Chairperson, Department of Public Administration, Panjab University, Chandigarh and Dr. Bharati Garg, Coordinator,  Department of Public Administration, Panjab University, Chandigarh.  The lecture was delivered by Professor B.S.Ghuman, Former Vice-Chancellor, Punjabi University, Patiala and Professor (Retd.), Department of Public Administration, Panjab University, Chandigarh.

Dr. Bhawana Gupta, Assistant Professor, Department of Public Administration, Panjab University, Chandigarh moderated and opened the lecture by briefly introducing the theme and welcomed all the participants. Professor Ramanjit Kaur Johal, Department of Public Administration, Panjab University, Chandigarh very eloquently welcomed the key Speaker‒ Professor B.S.Ghuman.

Professor Ghuman opened his lecture with focus on emerging trend of evidence based policy making and the opportunities it creates for social science research, particularly for the discipline of Public Administration as research and public policy are at its core. He further talked about two approaches that could be deciphered from the interaction of Social Science research and Public Policy. The conventional approach is characterized by a dichotomy between social science research and public policy, while the emerging approach presents a complimentary role of social science research and public policy. However, according to Prof. Ghuman, there are several challenges which must be overcome to avail the emerging opportunities. There is a need to develop relevant methodological tools that could prepare Public Institutions for participating in the output oriented evidence based policy making scenario. Professor Ghuman concluded with a discussion on strategies to make social science research play an important role in public policy.

The subsequent open house discussion resulted in a healthy exchange of ideas on newer ways in which relationship between researchers from public institutions and the government can be improved when it comes to collaboration for public policies. Also, emerging technologies such as open data, artificial intelligence and machine learning, must be incorporated in academic approaches towards research. Participants from different disciplinary background appreciated the relevance of the theme of the lecture in the current scenario of academic research. This was followed by the formal vote of thanks proposed by Dr. Bharati Garg, Coordinator & Assistant Professor, Department of Public Administration, Panjab University, Chandigarh.