Trans-European Dialogues (TED) are series of scholarly conferences on timely topics of public administration, jointly organised by the European Group for Public Administration (EGPA) and the Network of Institutes and Schools of Public Administration in Central and Eastern Europe (NISPAcee). TED2024 is high level conference bringing together senior public administration experts – academics and high-level practitioners – from across different regions – with the aim to discuss current research results and practices as well as future research opportunities. The emphasis of the conference is on broad debate among all invited participants based on their research based and practical experience.

Participants can choose between academic track with abstract proposal for later publications OR reflective track for experienced researchers and practitioners with brief proposal. TED2024 is hosted and organized by the Faculty of Law, University of Zagreb, Croatia in collaboration with the Centre for Advanced Academic Studies of the University of Zagreb / http://www.caas.unizg.hr/ and the Inter-University Centre in Dubrovnik, Croatia /https://iuc.hr/

The public administration’s shift towards e-government and thus digital governance has been one of the main trends in the contemporary change in public sector. The support of the technology enabled more effective, and efficient public administration, made it simultaneously more flexible and more restricting, as well as accountable and transparent. It has changed the relationship between the public administration and the society and business, transforming it a real servant in citizen-centred processes, but also a partner in innovative collaborative structures. The e-government also posed various challenges to organisation, processes, and people in public administration, especially with the emergence of artificial intelligence, which simultaneously increased effectiveness, but made the principles of fairness, justice and responsive more vital for the functioning of the public administration.  Both public servants and citizens have in this process underwent significant changes in their positions and expectations. Transformative effects of the technological revolution on the organisation, functioning, and people in and outside public administration have been tremendous and still in the process of constant flux.

Participants of the TED2024 will address the nature of digital governance challenges and recent trends in terms of the changes in the organisation of public administration and its processes, the effects of digitalisation in public governance on the society, the effectiveness of government digital programmes, the potential of collaborative structures for the design and implementation of digital government programmes, the adaptive potential of the agile government, the success and challenges of smart cities and other technological innovation implementation frameworks, the regulatory practices and results related to digitalisation in the public sector, the impact of artificial intelligence use on effectiveness and citizens’ rights, the relationship between digital innovation and fairness, the data challenges for policy-making (big data, open data, privacy, security, transparency), as well as teaching and education in the context and for the digital governance.  

The discussions and presentations will evolve around six subtopics of digital governance in the age of artificial intelligence reflecting the evolving policies, regulations, and practices:

• Designing and implementing digital programs effectively and efficiently
• Collaborative digital innovation
• Legal challenges for digital government: AI regulation and oversight 
• Developing knowledge and awareness of public servants and citizens
• Agile government: innovation and flexibility in public administration 
• Education and training for digital age public service and economic development

We are looking forward to your contributions, such as case studies, empirical findings, and comparative research results, as well as policy and legal frameworks and recommendations.

FORMAT & HOW TO APPLY at TED2024.

All participants are expected to contribute – informed by their research and paper submitted – to the topic of the session’s discussion rather than presenting their research as it is customary in traditional conference formats. Up to 50 researchers and high-level practitioners, will be selected as participants for this event, based on their relevant topic and degree of professional recognition in their study field. The program (one day and a half) will be structured into thematic sessions, each of them will start with a keynote speech, which will be followed by discussion with the participants (papers and/or briefs). 

TED welcomes broad contributions from academics and practitioners. We kindly invite participants to develop and submit one or both of the following as the condition for registration:

• One or two brief(s) (100–300 words long) propositions related to a conference theme, along with an explanation of how the propositions reflect their research interests and activities. Practitioners are invited to reflect on the nature of their work within the context of the selected topic. These propositions will be the basis of a brief discussion at the TED2020 event.
• A proposal (abstract) of a full paper (500–750 words long) to be briefly presented during TED2020 in one of the thematic sessions (not as a conventional research paper but rather as part of the debate), underlining key arguments for the discussions of one specific topic chosen by the participant. A proposal/abstract indicates the intent of the participant to develop it further into a full paper after the conference (to be considered for NISPAcee Journal of Public Administration and Policy, other indexed journals as well as special volume with eminent publishing companies, such as Palgrave McMillan.

APPLICATION AND IMPORTANT DATES

Deadline for application with proposal (abstract in case of academic track with 500-750 words OR policy brief in case of reflective track with 150-300 words): 5 January 2024

• Proposals should be submitted online at https://ted2024.pravo.hr/ (open for submissions from 1 December 2023)
• Participants will be notified by 10 January 2024 upon the selection results.

Deadline for full paper proposal (in case of academic track): 22 February 2024

Selected papers will have a publication opportunity in a special issue of the NISPAcee Journal of Public Administration and Policy, Croatian and Comparative Public Administration, as well as the special volume published by international publisher (Palgrave)

Attendance / registration fee: The conference fee is 100 EUR. It includes participation in the scientific program, regular coffee breaks, welcome reception (6 March), gala dinner (7 March), and two conference lunches (7 and 8 March)

Deadline for registration: 15 February 2024

Registration and fee payment will be open through the official website: https://ted2024.pravo.hr/