Much of my research interests are focused on three main pillars:
- The conditions for Citizen e-Participation in Urban Settings
- Networks of Technology Policy and Digital Governance
- Portuguese Administrative Policy including Public Policy Evaluation and E-Government Trajectory
The conditions for Citizen e-Participation in Urban Settings
The main focus is on how technology can enhance public participation in urban mobility decision-making, striving to engage all social groups in the deliberation process. This work aims to bridge the gap between citizens, stakeholders and decision-makers.
Top-down and bottom-up factors can affect the structures of public e-participation. One of this research’s main goals is to unravel how these factors interact to hinder participation in urban settings. This will allow for discussing the part played by the institutional configuration of the local administration, the costs of adaptation to ICT devices, and the population’s behaviour for the success of these projects. My PhD findings will delve further into this topic.
Networks of Technology Policy and Digital Governance
Innovation can only be achieved through collaboration between different actors in very diverse ways. While the literature has focused on the final outcome of these collaborations, organisational issues within the constitution of those collaborations deserve further study. Some of my work related to these processes was developed for the BioAssembler Horizon project.
My research enhances Universities’ role in establishing digital governance or digital management of public administration. The higher education institutions might bridge the knowledge basis of a technology-related innovation, built in the labs and university corridors, with the patent creation outside of academic environments. As argued in BioAssembler and this paper, there is a need to promote ethical innovation and the diversity of synergies in digital governance, including the strength of the universities’ role, which can go a long way in the near future.
Portuguese Administrative Policy including Public Policy Evaluation and E-Government Trajectory
Throughout the years, I have had the opportunity to engage in several projects focused on administrative policy in Portugal, including the development of innovative tools for assessing public policy at the regional and national levels. Some of the most interesting findings related to the inefficient implementation of EU funding into national projects can be found here (in English) and here (in Portuguese).
Recently, I became part of the team working on the GovAPP project, which aims to track the evolution of administrative reform in light of ideal public governance models. This project maps the critical periods of the Portuguese administration since the ’80s and how those contributed to building an institutional path that led to the ongoing modernisation of the central administration. The outcome of this project will highlight the organisational culture of the Portuguese public administration and provide an overview of the reform trajectory, including the latest efforts towards digitalisation, efficiency and responsiveness.
Bernardo Valente 