Tina Nabatchi, professor of public administration and international affairs, was a keynote speaker at the annual Social Outcomes Conference 2024, hosted in hybrid format by the Blavatnik School of Government at Oxford University in England.

The annual conference connects scholars and practitioners from all over the world to discuss pressing topics and share insights and strategies for building partnerships. This year’s theme focused on collaboration as well as accountability, transparency and trust in cross-sector partnerships.

In her keynote speech, Nabatchi distinguished between “clock problems”—those that are regular, well-defined and solvable with disciplinary knowledge—and “cloud problems,” which are complex, ever-changing and involving different expertise and ideologies. Tackling cloud problems, she argued, requires participatory, collaborative, dynamic and creative approaches beyond traditional, managerial and expert-driven ones.

“Collaboration is no longer optional, it is obligatory,” she said. “We must work across our boundaries, whether those are organizational, jurisdictional, sectoral or otherwise to produce outcomes that make the world a better place.”

In her speech, she outlined 10 principles for pursuing collaboration, including embracing diverse knowledge and participation and input from multiple actors. “I have seen these principles not only build accountability, trust and transparency,” she said. “I’ve seen them help us improve our social outcomes and, frankly, make the world a better place.”

Nabatchi is the Joseph A. Strasser Endowed Professor in Public Administration and director of the Program for the Advancement of Research on Conflict and Collaboration. Her research focuses on citizen participation, collaborative governance, conflict resolution and challenges in public administration. She is an elected fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration and recipient of the Laura J. and L. Douglas Meredith Professorship of Teaching Excellence (2021-24).

By Michael Kelly