The call for panels for the 2024 India Public Policy Network conference, which will take place in Mumbai, India, from December 06 to December 08, 2024, is now open.

IPPN 2024: Policy Processes in the Global South

The 5th India Public Policy Network Conference will be held in-person from December 06 to 08, 2024 at the Ashank Desai Centre for Policy Studies, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IIT Bombay). The theme for this edition is Policy Processes in the Global South. We invite proposals for conference panels. Panels are 90-minute sessions (4-5 papers each) on topics of interest to policy studies rooted in the Global South, particularly in South Asia.

Public Policy research and writing in the Global South is growing rapidly. Innovative theoretical and empirical approaches are being used to investigate the policy process, with significant efforts focused on exploring its boundaries and the interdisciplinary nature of this field. Given this context, it is imperative to ask, what are the boundaries of a policy process. Where does this process begin? Who are the actors and institutions involved and how are these changing? What are the forms of contestation, knowledge networks, social and technical relations, and power relations that shape policy processes, policy agendas, and policy delivery? How can we rethink policy evaluation? How is public policy evolving as a discipline in the Global South? Additionally, what are the pertinent critiques of extant categories, frames, and methods, including "Global South"? What are the pedagogical practices and challenges of this? Importantly, what methodological shifts in the discipline are necessary in order to better decipher policy processes in the Global South? Beyond this, is there a need to expand theories and policy vocabularies?

In addition to these questions, we invite panels that cover, but are not limited to, the following themes. These themes are indicative but by no means exhaustive. We invite researchers to present their work or curate panels on various sectoral and thematic issues that are pertinent to research in the Global South given that these have consequences for Public Policy and are also impacted by the policy landscape in which they are situated.

• Social policy, including education, ageing, labour, employment and precarity

• Diversity and public policy

• Urban policy and governance

• Health policy and practices

• Water and sanitation

• Energy and energy transitions

• Climate change, environmental policy, and sustainability

• Technology and policy

• Digital societies and governance

• Data regimes in contemporary digital societies

Call for Panel Proposals

We encourage panel proposals that engage with theoretical and empirical questions on policy processes and sectoral/ thematic issues that are rooted in the Global South. We welcome panels adopting any methodological approaches, including qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods research.

Panel proposals (max. 1000 words) should include a title and an overview of the panel including its central theme(s), its research questions, how it relates to the overall theme of the conference, and which of the sub-themes it is most closely aligned to (if any). Proposals should also include a draft call for papers (250-350 words) which includes more specific research questions. Keep in mind that most panels will have between 4 and 5 papers. Please submit your proposals through the submission link below or through this website (as well as below). Please provide details of panel co-conveners, if any. Proposals must be submitted by 23.55 hrs IST on March 31, 2024.

Please feel free to reach out to us on ippn2024@gmail.com if you have any questions.

Link for submission: https://forms.gle/vFCMyxrmbd4Wei3m8