Dr Louise Reardon

• PhD in Political Science, University of Sheffield, 2014
• MA in Governance and Public Policy, University of Sheffield, 2009
• BA (hons) Philosophy, Politics and Economics, University of Durham, 2008

Louise is an interdisciplinary researcher, whose work spans the fields of political science and public policy, transport and wellbeing. Her research covers a broad range of theoretical interests, including the advancement of multi-level governance, policy networks, and agenda setting theories. Empirically, Louise’s work analyses a range of governance challenges in the transport sector, including barriers to integrated urban transport governance and the sector’s response to climate change. Moreover, Louise’s work explores the rise of the wellbeing agenda and its implications for policy and practice.

Before joining INLOGOV in 2017, Louise worked for two years as a Research Fellow in Governance and Transport Policy at the Institute for Transport Studies, University of Leeds.  

Louise is co-Director of the Public Management and Leadership Executive Apprenticeship and MSc. The programme won the HeFi award for educational innovation in 2019, for its innovative blend of online and on campus teaching. Louise is also INLOGOV’s Director of Doctoral Research.

Louise also co-leads a number of on-line, on campus, and blended INLOGOV modules:

• Public Management
• Public Management and Governance
• Public Management in a Changing World
• Digital Era Public Policy

Louise is keen to supervise PhD students in her areas of research expertise and interest, including:

• Multi-level governance
• Agenda setting
• Policy networks
• Transport policy
• Wellbeing and quality of life
• Policy change
• Policy implementation
• Smart cities

Please contact her for an informal chat about the topic you have in mind.

Research interests

• Multi-level governance
• Policy networks
• Agenda setting
• Policy change
• Policy implementation
• Transport policy
• Wellbeing and quality of life
• Smart cities

Current projects:

UNDER REFORM (ESRC/ICSSR): Louise is currently co-Investigator of ‘UNDERstanding Indian Urban Governance REFORM: A comparative analysis of the Smart City Mission reforms and their impact on sustainable urban mobility’. This project is running for two years from 1 May 2018 and is an Urban Transformations project, funded through the Newton Fund by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and the Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR). It is an interdisciplinary collaboration between the Institute for Transport Studies (ITS), University of Leeds, UK, the Institute of Local Government Studies (INLOGOV) University of Birmingham, UK, the Department of Transport Planning, School of Planning and Architecture Delhi (SPA), India, the Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore, India and the World Resources Institute.

This research has two primary aims. The first is to develop cutting edge, theoretically informed insights into the nature of mobility governance reform and the potential to generate more sustainable urban mobility in India. The second aim is to bring together, develop and inspire a community of researchers and practitioners to advance the study and understanding of mobility governance across India and between the UK and India. More information on the project can be found here. You can also follow the project on twitter: @UnderReform

Long-term institutional Change in the Wake of Crisis (IGI): Louise is co-Investigator of the project ‘Long term institutional Change in the Wake of Crisis: Understanding Implications for Energy-System Resilience’ and is funded by the Institute for Global Innovation (Resilient Cities theme). The project is in collaboration with colleagues from the Department of Chemical Engineering and Loughborough University. The research focuses on energy resilience in Nepal in the wake of their 2015 earthquake. The aim is to ascertain the extent to which long-term institutional changes have been made in relation to energy supply and energy access in response to the earthquake (covering both infrastructure changes and governance processes), and analysing the extent to which these changes have the potential to create a more resilient energy system.

Previous projects:

DEMAND (RCUK): Louise worked as a research associate as part of the Dynamics of Energy, Mobility and Demand Centre, funded by Research Councils UK. The Centre aimed to understand the social practices that determine the demand-side of energy and mobility demand. Louise’s research within the centre focused on the role of politics and policy in steering and shaping demand for mobility services

Louise is co-Chair of the Governance and Decision-making Processes Special Interest Group of the World Conference on Transport Research Society (WCTRS). The aim of the special interest group is to transform the ways in which the formation and delivery of transport policies are understood within the research community and amongst policymakers and practitioners, with the aim of accelerating the adoption of more inclusive and sustainable transport futures.