First International Scientific and Practical Conference for Postgraduate and Undergraduate Students “The Improvement of Public Administration: Issues of Theory and Practice”
April 2, 2025, HSE University held the First International Scientific and Practical Conference for Postgraduate and Undergraduate Students “The Improvement of Public Administration: Issues of Theory and Practice”
The conference was organized by the School of Politics and Governance of the Faculty of Social Sciences together with the Doctoral School of Public Administration and the Centre for Studies of Civil Society and Nonprofit Sector of HSE University. It was attended by a number of undergraduate and postgraduate students engaged in research in the field of public administration, including Ivan Makarov, a Research Assistant at the International Laboratory for Digital Transformation in Public Administration of the Institute for Public Administration and Governance of the HSE University.
Aimed at junior domestic and foreign researchers, the conference was designed to serve as a platform for discussion of current theoretical problems and promising practices of public administration. A number of completed and ongoing studies were presented at the conference, examining various issues within the topics of civil society and public governance, data-based governance, and public-private partnerships in the public governance system.
In his report, Ivan Makarov presented the preliminary results of the current study aimed to conduct a comprehensive multidimensional indicative analysis of the socio-economic development and regional government performance in the regions of the Russian Federation in order to formulate recommendations for improving administrative processes. The report described the mechanisms used to analyze the Russian regions using official statistical data, including an indicator of digital maturity of the regional government and public sector organizations. The preliminary results of the analysis were presented, that made it possible to transform the initial indicators into several composite quantitative indices, which can be used to conduct a comprehensive assessment of the socio-economic development of the regions, and to identify regions exposed to an elevated level of risks due to their relatively less successful development. A concept was put forward that involves using such an analysis to determine key areas for regional public policy development, and to formulate targeted recommendations for improving administrative processes related to such key areas. This approach should allow focusing efforts on the most important areas of regional development, and the corresponding areas of government activity, and thus increasing the effectiveness of measures to improve public administration. At the same time, this approach allows to reduce the degree of uncertainty in decision-making and avoid voluntarism, relying instead on objective data-based management tools.
Many of the presented studies became subjects for discussion among the attendees of the conference, including experienced researchers from the HSE staff and international scientific partners. At the conclusion of the conference, the organizers pointed out the high quality and relevance of the studies presented and noted that it would be beneficial to hold this conference on a regular basis. Some of the presented studies are planned to be included in the conference proceedings which will published in electronic form.