Researcher biography

Alastair gained his PhD from Strathclyde University’s Department of Government in 2008 with a thesis that examined the relationship between representative democracy and crisis management policy. He is a crisis management expert, a topic that he explores through governance, public policy and political science perspectives and he also has an ongoing interest in the institutionalization of deliberative democracy within policy environments. His current projects include an examination of the role of post-crisis inquiries in terms of policy learning, a multi-dimensional analysis of the 2010-11 Queensland floods and an audit of the deliberative nature of leadership debates in the United Kingdom.

Research Interests

  • Public Policy
  • Governance
  • Crisis Management
  • Deliberative Democracy

Alastair has published widely in high-ranking international journals and is the recipient of the Meyer Prize (best paper in the Australian Journal of Political Science) and the Lasswell Prize (best paper in Policy Sciences). He has authored two books, won two Australian Research Council Discovery grants and is always looking for outstanding students who may be interested in studying PhDs in relation to the topics outlined above