Leaving no one behind in a Pandemic Recovery

Enabling Employment Services through Governance, Collaboration and Co-Production

Friday 14th May 2021
10am - 4.15pm

Hosted by the ACA PES, Maynooth University Social Sciences Institute (MUSSI),

Discussing enabling public employment services with an exciting lineup of national and international speakers.

Organised by Prof Mary Murphy (Mary.P.Murphy@mu.ie) Dr Nuala Whelan (Nuala.Whelan@mu.ie) & Dr Michael McGann (Michael.Mcgann@mu.ie)

Morning Schedule - Enabling activation? International best practice, assessing Irish policy

Time	Title
10:00	Welcome Professor Linda Connolly Director of Maynooth University Social Sciences Institute (MUSSI)
	Introduction Professor Mary P Murphy, ACAPES, Maynooth University
Session 1: 10.10-11am	A capability and collaborative approach to employability for most distanced
	Chair Jean Michel Bonvin (University of Geneva) Flemming Larsen and Dorte Caswell (Aalborg University, Denmark) Co-creation and employment services: lessons from Denmark Colin Lindsay (University of Strathclyde, Scotland) Collaborative approaches and employability services: lessons from Scotland Q & A
Session 2 11.05-12.00	Governance, marketisation and Institutions – delivering activation
	Chair: Jay Wiggan (Edinburgh) Impacts of marketisation on PES delivery in Ireland - (GAII, Michael McGann, MU) Re-imagining public employment services and institutions (ACAPES Mary Murphy) Q &A

Afternoon Schedule - Enabling Employment Guidance, research perspectives on Activation in Ireland

Time	Title
Session 3 2pm – 3.15pm	Model for Enabling Employment Guidance: Toolkit and Progression Metrics.
	Chair: Mary Ryan MU Dept Adult and Community Education Deirdre Hughes OBE, DMH Associates (UK) Contextualising employment guidance Nuala Whelan (ACAPES) : Model of Enabling Employment Guidance: Toolkit and Metrics Ciaran Reid Louth Leader Partnership & Irish Local Development Network: Usability, dissemination, standards Respondents: Mary Stokes National Centre for Guidance in Education (Career guidance) Jenny Bimrose Institute for Employment Research, The University of Warwick Interactive Poll; Q&A
Session 4 3.15 – 4.15pm	Launch of Special Issue of Administration: Activation and Welfare Reform in Ireland
	Chair Muiris McCarthaigh (QUB) Plugging the Gaps for a More Tailored Public Employment Service: Helen Johnston and Anne Marie McGuaran (National Economic and Social Council) Navigating indifference: Irish jobseekers experiences of welfare conditionality - Philip Finn (MU) Opening the Black box of Implementing Activation in Ireland: Nuala Whelan (MU) Sacrificial citizens? Activation and retrenchment in Ireland’s political economy. Fiona Dukelow (UCC)
	Response: Brid O Brien (INOU/ACAPES Advisory Committee) Dr Delma Byrne Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology
	Close- Mary Murphy and Nuala Whelan (ACAPES) , Michael McGann (GAII)

Speakers include:

Jean Michel Bonvin, University of Geneva
Flemming Larsen and Dorte Caswell , Aalborg University, Denmark
Colin Lindsay, University of Strathclyde, Scotland
Jay Wiggan, Senior Lecturer in Social Policy University of Edinburgh
Mary Ryan, Maynooth University Dept Adult and Community Education
Deirdre Hughes OBE, DMH Associates
Ciaran Reid, Irish Local Development Network
Mary Stokes, National Centre for Guidance in Education
Jenny Bimrose, NI Institute for Employment Research, The University of Warwick
Muiris McCarthaigh, Queens University Belfast
Helen Johnston and Anne Marie McGuaran, National Economic and Social Council
Philip Finn, Assistant Lecturer in the Department of Sociology, Maynooth University
Fiona Dukelow, University College Cork
Brid O’Brien, INOU/ACAPES Advisory Committee

Recordings of all 4 sessions

Sessions 1 & 2

Sessions 3 & 4

Speaker Profiles Session 1

Linda Connolly	Professor Linda Connolly joined the Maynooth University Social Sciences Institute as Director in July 2016. She is a Professor of Sociology and her research interests include gender, Irish society, family studies, migration, and Irish studies.
Delma Byrne	Dr Delma Byrne is Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology in Maynooth University. Her research interests focus on social stratification and the sociology of education in particular, and the role of education in shaping life chances over the life-course, including labour market experiences, with a particular focus on inequalities relating to gender, social class, race/ethnicity, disability, and special educational needs, with a particular focus on the structure of education systems and the graduate labour market.
Jean Michel Bonvin	Jean-Michel Bonvin is Professor of Socioeconomics and Sociology at the University of Geneva (Switzerland). His main fields of expertise and extensive publication are in social and labour market policies, with a special focus on the issue of social investment, theories of justice and capability approach. He has led or coordinated numerous research projects including NCCR LIVES project “Overcoming Vulnerability: Life Course Perspectives”, and the Re-INVEST European project “Rebuilding an Inclusive, Value-based Europe of Solidarity and Trust Through Social Investments” (H2020).
Flemming Larsen	Flemming Larsen is Professor and Head of Centre for Labour Market Research (CARMA) at Aalborg University. His research focuses on labor market and social policy, both from a political science and public administration perspective. One major research topic has been international comparative research applying the concepts of flexicurity and transitional labor markets. Another important field of research is analyses of labor market and social policy reforms, studying changes (and trends) in policies, as well as the motives and consequences of introducing new governance and operational reforms (e.g., marketization). FL has participated in several international research networks and projects and has published widely internationally.
Dorte Caswell	Dorte Caswell is an associate professor at the Department of Sociology and Social Work, Aalborg University, Denmark. She is the head of SAB, a research group focusing on social work at the frontline of active labour market and social policy. Her research focuses on social work under the canopy of active labour market and social policy.
Colin Lindsay	Professor Colin Lindsay is Deputy Director of the Scottish Centre for Employment Research at the University of Strathclyde. He has been researching and teaching on employability, skills, public management, and social policy for more than twenty years. He has published more than 40 peer reviewed articles, book chapters and policy reports, and has conducted research for the UK Commission for Employment and Skills; the Scottish Government; the Scottish TUC; and the European Commission. Professor Lindsay's research addresses a range of issues including, the governance of employability and labour market policies, labour market exclusion and the barriers faced by disadvantaged groups; and inequalities in access to workplace training.

Speaker Profiles Session 2

Jay Wiggan	Dr Jay Wiggan is currently Programme Director for the MSc Public Policy and course organiser for the postgraduate course Political Issues in Public Policy in Edinburgh University. Widely published he is also Co-Editor of the Journal of Social Policy, commentaries Editor for Critical Social Policy and a member of the journal's Editorial Collective. He is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and a member of the Social Policy Association
Michael McGann	Dr Michael McGann is a Marie Sklodowska-Curie Research Fellow in the Department of Sociology and Social Sciences Institute at Maynooth University, where he is leading a study of the governance of activation in Ireland, looking at the impact of recent marketisation reforms on how public employment services are delivered. He specialises in the sociology of work, social policy on employment, and the governance of activation with a particular focus on issues related to welfare-to-work and the marketisation of public employment services. He has published widely in the fields of Social Policy, Sociology, and Public Policy and Administration and, with Mary P. Murphy, is the co-editor of a forthcoming special issue of Administration on Debating activation and welfare reform in Ireland.
Mary Murphy	Mary Murphy is Professor in the Department of Sociology, Maynooth University, with research interests in gender and social security, globalisation and welfare states, and power and civil society. She co-edited The Irish Welfare state in the 21st Century Challenges and Changes (Basingstoke, Palgrave, 2016) and Policy Analysis in Ireland (Policy Press, 2021). She is the Principal Investigator of ACAPES, the IRC Coalesce funded research on Collaborative Approaches to Public Employment Services in Ireland. An active advocate for social justice and gender equality, she is a member of the Council of State.

Speaker Profiles Session 3

Mary Ryan	Dr Mary B Ryan is Head of the Department of Adult and Community Education. She codirects the adult guidance and counselling programme, which includes the Certificate in Adult Guidance, Diploma and Postgraduate Diploma in Adult Guidance Counselling and the MEd in Adult Guidance Counselling. The emphasis on these courses is on the development of reflexivity, the key communication and relationship skills and competencies that underpin the practice of Adult Guidance and a critical awareness of the core concepts and ideas concerning marginalisation, exclusion, and adult career development as they relate to employment and unemployment.
Deirdre Hughes OBE	Dr Deirdre Hughes is a freelance academic researcher, career development professional and government policy adviser. She has written over 125 articles and book chapters, and made over 200 presentations to international, national, and regional professional groups dealing with all-age careers work, employment and skills issues. She is co-editor of the British Journal for Guidance and Counselling International Symposium Series. She is also a Cedefop appointed national expert in lifelong guidance and careers education (May 2017). In 2012 she was awarded an OBE in the 2012 Queen’s Birthday Honours List for services to career guidance.
Nuala Whelan	Dr Nuala Whelan is a Work and Organisational Psychologist and post-doctoral researcher on the IRC Coalesce project ACA PES: A Collaborative Approach to building a Public Employment Service at Maynooth University Social Science Institute (MUSSI) and the Department of Sociology. With 20 years’ practitioner experience in Ballymun Job Centre Nuala’s main research interests lie in effective employment guidance services, labour market policy and activation, long-term and youth unemployment, policy - practice gaps, interagency working, innovative assessment design, coaching, and well-being at work.
Ciaran Reid	Ciarán Reid has worked in local and community development over the last 27 years, Ciaran is currently the Chief Executive of Louth LEADER Partnership which as a Local Development Company provides a range of Employment, Community and Rural development programmes. Ciaran is a Board member POBAL and is active in identifying and promoting good practice in the Local and Community Development Sector.
Mary Stokes	Mary Stokes has been the Guidance Programme Coordinator for Further Education & Training with the National Centre for Guidance in Education (NCGE) since October 2016. NCGE is an agency of the Department of Education and Skills, with responsibility to support and develop guidance practice in all areas of education and to inform the policy of the Department in the field of guidance. Mary’s academic background includes B.A. Psych. and M.A. (Research, Guidance Counselling). She has worked for over twenty-five years in a wide range of Guidance Counselling roles including Post Primary Guidance Counsellor, PLC and Community Guidance Counsellor, Adult Education Guidance Counsellor and AEGS Guidance Counsellor Coordinator.
Jenny Bimrose	Jenny Bimrose is Emeritus Professor at the Institute for Employment Research, University of Warwick. With over forty years' experience in higher education, researching, managing, and teaching at post-graduate level, Jenny also has extensive experience of external project management and consultancy, both in the UK and Europe. She is a Legacy Fellow of the Career Development Institute, a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and was a Research Associate at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, South Africa. She was a member of the Career Profession Task Force, convened by Government (2010-2012), Principal Investigator for an ESRC seminar series on the careers profession (2010 - 2012), Co Editor for the British Journal for Guidance and Counselling (2011 - 2015) and is a member of the Boards of both the Journal for Vocational Behaviour and the International Journal of Vocational & Educational Guidance.

Speaker Profiles Session 4

Muiris McCarthaigh	Muiris MacCarthaigh is Associate Professor in Politics and Public Administration at Queens University Belfast. His research engages with concerns within and between political science and public sector governance. He has authored and edited seven books on these issues, most recently Public Sector Reform in Ireland: Countering Crisis (Palgrave 2017), and his work has been published in leading journals including Governance, Public Administration, Public Management Review, Public Policy and Administration and the Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis. He is former President of the Political Studies Association of Ireland (2016-19) and co-chair of the European Group for Public Administration’s study group on the Governance of Public Sector Organisations.
Helen Johnston	Dr. Helen Johnston joined NESC as Senior Social Policy Analyst in July 2007. Since then she has worked on issues of well-being and social reporting, social regulation and standards, the social consequences of the crisis, as well as undertaking work for the OECD on social disadvantage.  Helen was previously Director of the Combat Poverty Agency.  A native of Northern Ireland, Helen has previous experience working in the Northern Ireland civil service. She is currently Chair of the Centre for Cross Border Studies and serves on the National Statistics Board.  Helen has qualifications in Environmental Science and Town and Country Planning, a Masters in Business Administration, and a Doctorate in Governance, where she examined the implementation of mental health policy in Ireland.
Anne Marie McGuaran	Dr Anne Marie McGauran is a Policy Analyst in the National Economic and Social Council. She has a PhD in Gender and Women’s Studies from Trinity College Dublin,and has previously worked as Head of the NDP Gender Equality Unit in the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform and as a researcher on the governance of state agencies in the Institute of Public Administration. She was also a post-doctoral research fellow in the University of Queensland, Australia. Anne-Marie worked as a Policy Analyst in the NESF from 2005 to 2010, before moving to NESC.
Philip Finn	Dr Philip Finn is Assistant Lecturer in the Department of Sociology, Maynooth University. Philip’s PhD The Absurdity of Welfare: Experiences of Irish Welfare Conditionality explored the lived experience of welfare conditionality and sanctions. His other research interests include welfare agency and resistance, and the politics of work. In 2019 he was a visiting fellow at York University as part of the Welfare Conditionality Project. He co-authored the report The High Road Back to Work: Developing a Public Employment Eco System for a Post-Covid Recovery.
Fiona Dukelow	Dr Fiona Dukelow is a Senior Lecturer in Social Policy at University College Cork. Her research interests include Irish social policy and the Irish welfare state in broad terms; Irish social security policy; economic globalisation and Irish social policy; and the impact of the economic crisis on social policy in Ireland. She is the author, with Mairéad Considine, of Irish Social Policy: A Critical Introduction (Policy Press, 2017) and co-editor, with Mary P. Murphy, of The Irish Welfare State in the Twenty First Century: challenges and change (Palgrave MacMillan, 2016)
Brid O Brien	Bríd O’Brien is Head of Policy and Media at the Irish Natonal Organisation of the Unemployed. She plays a key role in formulating and developing INOU policy on unemployment, social welfare and the development of an inclusive and equitable labour market. On behalf of the INOU Brid works with Colleagues in the Community and Voluntary Sector on issues of socio-economic justice. She is one of the Community and Voluntary Pillar representatives on the National Economic and Social Council and represents the INOU in social partnership and other structures including the Labour Market Advisory Council. Bríd is also a member of the INOU's Senior Management team and acts as the media spokesperson.

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