Meet the new Director of the Crawford School

Professor Janine O'Flynn feels she has come home.  

A world-leading public management expert, Janineis the newDirector of the ANU Crawford School of Public Policy.  

"To be asked to lead the School is a huge privilege," Janine said. 

"I plan to build on the outstanding reputation and stature of the Crawford School and ensure the School is seen as thebest public policy school in the region and in the world." 

However, Janine is no stranger to the Crawford School.  

Onsabbaticalfrom the University of Canberra, where she taught subjects in Public Administration and Public Sector Management,Janine joined ANU as a Research Fellow in 2007, a position jointly held in the Research School of Social Sciences and the Crawford School of Economics and Government. She was promoted to Professor in 2013. 

"I had a supersonic career at ANU. There's nowhere else in the world where you could have a career like you can at the Crawford School, where the breadth of what you do is recognised like it is at ANU," Janine said.  

"The Crawford School made me the academic I am today." 

Her next career move took her to the University of Melbourne, where she was a Professor of Public Management in the School of Social and Political Sciences and the Melbourne School of Government for ten years.  

While at Melbourne, she completed an extended secondment at The Australia and New Zealand School of Government (ANZSOG). At ANZSOGshe led the subject Delivering Public Value in the Executive Master of Public Administration, designed and delivered executive education programs for public servants, and took charge of strategic priorities in educational programs. In her role as Deputy Dean (Engagement) she was responsible forfuture trendsshapingthinking in public administration and management. 

When the Crawford School was looking for its next Director, she felt it was meant to be. 

"Coming back to the Crawford School was like coming home," Janine said.  

"Although ANU has changed a lot since I left ten years ago, I was so pleased to see that all the great things about the University are still here - its commitment to academic excellence and to the service of our nation. It really is an amazing place to work." 

In 2023, Janine hopes to lead the way in renewing the Schoolafter the prolonged disruption caused by the global pandemic. She asks herself - how can we renew a sense of community as students return to campus and how can we rethink the meaning of public policy within today's complex and uncertain landscape? 

"My aim is to get back a sense of that Crawford School magic," Janine said. 

Janine also plans to strengthen the special relationship ANU has with the Australian Government by working closely with government stakeholders and providing research-led policy advice. Building on a long history of expert policy advice, she looksforward to working closely with the Commonwealth on it aspirational reform agenda. 

To learn more about the Crawford School, please visit https://crawford.anu.edu.au/.