The College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences of CityU is pleased to announce that Professor Bert GEORGE, Associate Professor, Department of Public and International Affairs, is one of the recipients of the IBM Center for the Business of Government (the Center) Stipends Awards. The award is highly competitive, with just 8% of the proposals receiving the stipends to support practical research on key public management issues.

Prof George is an expert in the field of public management, his research includes strategic planning and management in public administration, public sector performance, behavioural public policy and administration, and meta-science in public administration. His research report entitled “Back to the future? Futurizing strategic planning in government: Insights from the US, EU and Singapore” will be published by the Center this year to help public sector executives and managers improve the effectiveness of government.

The awarded report will draw on a comparative case study of the US Center for Strategic Foresight, the EU Foresight Network, and the Centre for Strategic Futures in Singapore, in order to answer how futurising takes place in practice. It will conclude with concrete recommendations for government leaders and public managers on how to futurise their strategic planning. 

Since the establishment of the Center in 1998, it has awarded research stipends to public management researchers in the academic and non-profit communities that have resulted in nearly 425 reports, intending to spark creativity in addressing pressing public sector challenges—crafting new ways of improving government by identifying trends, ideas, and best practices in public management that can help government leaders respond more effectively to their mission and management priorities.