Robert Shepherd

Honours BA in Politics and Business Administration (Brock University, Canada)
MA in Public Policy and Administration (Carleton University, Canada)
MBA (University of Ottawa, Canada)
PhD in Political Science and Public Administration (University of Toronto, Canada)

Robert’s research spans public management and governmental reform, Indigenous public management, ethics, and policy and program evaluation. He is interested in how public accountability and oversight systems intersects to improve overall public management and governance systems. In addition, his research extends to understanding how governmental program evaluation functions can improve public policy and decision-making. Improving ethics in government also contributes to governmental legitimacy and democracy.

My research focuses on the interplay between ethics in government, oversight and public confidence. Building on the thoughts of Jeremy Bentham, I believe that systems that enhance transparency in decision-making make governments and their concomitant systems behave and work as they were intended. Making governments accountable means building a public service culture of integrity, service, and the willingness to provide forthright advice to elected leaders. My research into areas of ethics in public management, accountability, governance reform and program evaluation come together in various ways, including ultimately building a public service culture of honesty and integrity. Recent reform efforts in areas such as performance measurement, deliverology, evaluation, and audit provide fertile ground for studying how these oversight systems can make a difference to improving public confidence in government.