Curriculum Vitae Professor Nirmala Rao CURRENT POSITION AND RESPONSIBILITIES Present post Current duties Pro-Warden (Academic) and Professor of Politics, Goldsmiths, University of London Chair, Academic Development Committee Chair, Programme Scrutiny Committee Chair, College Board of Examiners Chair, External Systems College Committee Chair, Standards Scrutiny Panel Chair, various ad hoc working parties and standing panels Member, Promotions Panel Member, Finance and Resources Committee Member, College Research Committee Member, External Systems Academic Committee Co-opted Member: Senate, University of London Management responsibility for a group of academic and nonacademic departments Lead responsibility for a range of projects to build new partnerships CAREER 2002 Professor of Politics, Goldsmiths, University of London. 2000-02 Reader in Politics, Goldsmiths, University of London, Head of Department, 1999-2002) 1997-2000 Senior Lecturer in Politics, Goldsmiths, University of London. 1994-97 Lecturer in Politics Goldsmiths, University of London. 1991-94 Research Fellow, Department of Political Studies, Queen Mary and Westfield College, University of London. Responsible for
research studies on local government, including changing local politics and the impact of competition on local services. 1989-91 Research Fellow, Policy Studies Institute. Working to the Joseph Rowntree Foundation s Research Committee on Central-Local Government Relations. Responsible for undertaking research, writing reports and making presentations on key legislative changes in housing, education and social services. 1987-89 Researcher, London Race and Housing Research Unit, Runnymede Trust. 1983-85 Research Assistant, School of Social Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University. EDUCATION AND QUALIFICATIONS 1976-79 BA (Hons.) Economics with Statistics, Delhi University, India 1979-81 MA Sociology, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India 1981-84 MPhil in Sociology, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India 1991-93 PhD, Queen Mary & Westfield College, University of London (thesis title The Changing Role of the Councillor in British Local Government: An Empirical Analysis). Thesis published in 1994 as The Making and Unmaking of Local Self-Government. 2003 Elected as Academician of the Academy of the Social Sciences
PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITY Professional memberships Peer reviewing PhD supervisions 2004), Hill. Visiting appointments Political Studies Association, Social Research Association, Academy of the Social Sciences. for Political Studies, Public Administration, Local Government Policy-Making, Pearson Education, Policy Press, University of Toronto Press. John Meadowcroft (awarded 1998), Monika Nangia (awarded Leon Mannings (awarded 2004), Malcolm Stewart (2005). In progress: Mark Cunningham, Nigel Fletcher, Ali Somers, Ian Adviser to Government of Andhra Pradesh, Centre for Good Governance, Hyderabad, India Visiting Professor, Erasmus University, Rotterdam External examining Birmingham and Sunderland Universities, King s College London, Queen Mary College, Birkbeck College Consultancy Consultant to Audit Commission, 1996/7; consultant to Channel 4, A Week in Politics, 1998; consultancy advice to the London Borough of Lewisham, 1996-; research consultant to Local Government Management Board Survey of Organisational Change in Local Government, 1996/7; Research consultant to DETR/SCPR Survey of Employers, 1997/8 Training and Media training 2006; Leadership Foundation Top Management Development Programme, 2007 RESEARCH GRANTS AWARDED 1991-3 Grant of 42,000 from Joseph Rowntree Foundation for a national survey of councillors (2 years). The survey was carried out over a period of 12 months with a sample size of 1800 councillors. 1993 Grant of 19,500 from Joseph Rowntree Foundation for a study of compulsory competitive tendering (1 year). A study based on indepth interviews with local authority officers and councillors.
1994 Grant of 10,000 from the National Federation of Housing Associations for a study of community care (7 months). Study based on interviews and case studies to explore the housing problems of patients released from hospitals and other institutions. 1997 Grant of 10,000 from the Department of the Environment for a study of time off for public service (1 year). A large scale survey involving 3,000 councillors designed to examine employers attitudes and practices to giving time off for public service. 1997 Research award of approx. 5,000 from the College Research Committee (1 year) for a national survey to explore local authority members attitudes to local government reform proposed by New Labour. 1998 Grant of 9,000 from the Nuffield Foundation for a study of the political representativeness of councillors (1 year). A national survey of councillors to establish their social, economic and political profiles and examine changes to their composition over the last twenty years. 1998 Grant of 4,000 from department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions for a study of public attitudes to local finance (3 months). A survey of British public to establish their knowledge, perceptions and experiences of local government finance. 1999 Grant of approximately 10,000 from ESRC for study of institutional change and development under the new government of London (9 months). The study was based on in-depth interviews with civil servants, officials and politicians at the Greater London Authority (GLA). 2002 Shared grant of 900,000 from Office of the Deputy Prime Minister for a five year evaluative study of new council constitutions set out in the Local Government Act, 2000. 2004 A grant of 45,000 from the ESRC for a study over two years of the role of local government in the promotion of social enterprise. 2006 A shared grant of 40,000 from the Department of Communities and Local Government for a study of the barriers to political participation.
2007 A grant of 40,000 from the Department of Communities and Local Government for an international literature review of the representativeness of councillors. PUBLIC SERVICE 1997-98 Member, Minister for Housing and Local Government s Academic Advisory Panel. Provided academic advice for policy development leading up to the White Paper Modern Local Government: In Touch with the People (1998). Prepared occasional papers and advice notes to assist the Minister and her officials. 1997- Trustee, Learning from Experience Trust. Supporting the Trust s activities in promoting and encouraging individuals and groups to realise their potential through recognising the value of informal learning both in the workplace and in the community. 1998-2004 Lay Member, General Council of the Bar. Attending meetings of the Professional Complaints and Standards Committee of the Bar Council, which regulates the conduct of barristers in England and Wales. Sitting as member of informal hearings, adjudication panels and disciplinary tribunals. 2001-03 Member, Fabian Society advisory group on the reform of the public services. 2003 - Appointed Member, Architects Registration Board. As member of Investigations Committee, duties involve investigating complaints against members of the profession and consider appropriate action. I also sit on the Board s Prescription Committee, which reviews and validates courses provided by architecture schools, and prescribes qualifications. Appointed as Chair of the Investigations Committee, 2008 2003-05 Non-executive Director, Ealing NHS Hospital Trust. As Chair of the Clinical Governance Committee, responsibilities included staff management, patient and public involvement and overall management of the Trust. Member of Audit and Risk Management Committees. Chair of appointment panels.
Publications BOOKS Cities in Transition: Growth, Change and Governance in Six Metropolitan Areas, Routledge, 2007, 194 pp., ISBN 0-415-32901-9 Transforming Local Political Leadership (co-edited with Rikke Berg), Palgrave, 2005, 236 pp., ISBN 1403992835 Governing London (with Ben Pimlott), Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2002, 220 pp., ISBN 019-924492-8 Reviving Local Democracy: New Labour, New Politics? Bristol, Policy Press, 2000, 234 pp., ISBN 1-86134-218-7 Representation and Community in Western Democracies (edited), Basingstoke, Macmillan, 2000, 225 pp., ISBN 0-333-77695-X Local Government Since 1945 (with Ken Young), Oxford, Blackwell, 1997, 385 pp., ISBN 0-631-19581-5 Towards Welfare Pluralism: Public Services in a Time of Change, Dartmouth, 1996, 199 pp., ISBN 1-85521-729-9. The Making and Unmaking of Local Self-Government, Dartmouth, 1994, 248 pp., ISBN 1-85521-635-3. REFEREED JOURNAL ARTICLES Guest editor, Local Government Studies, special issue on the new government of London, Vol 32 (3), 2006 Rao, Nirmala, Modernising Local Government, Economic Affairs, Vol. 26, No. 1, pp. 18-24, March 2006 Metropolitan Miasma: Blurred Accountabilities in the Governance of London (with Ben Pimlott), London Journal, 29 (2), 2005, pp. 33-44, ISSN 0305-8034 The Representation of Women in Local Politics, Policy and Politics, 33 (2), April 2005, pp. ISSN 0305-5736. London: Metropolis Redux GeoJournal special issue on Developments in the Government
of Seven European Metropolitan Areas, 58 (1), pp. 3-9, 2002, ISSN 0343-2521 Options for Change: Mayors, Cabinets or the Status Quo? Local Government Studies, 29 (1) 2002, pp. 1-16, ISSN 0300-3930. Labour and Education: Secondary Reorganisation and the Neighbourhood School, Contemporary British History, 16 (2), 2002, pp. 99-120, ISSN 1361-9462. Representing the People? Testing Assumptions About Local Government Reform, Public Administration, 77 (2), 1999, pp. 257-271, ISSN 0033-3298. Recruitment to Local Politics: Pathways and Barriers, Policy and Politics, 26 (3), July 1998, pp. 291-305, ISSN 0305-5736. Representation in Local Politics: A Reconsideration and Some New Evidence, Political Studies, 46 (1), March 1998, pp. 19-35, ISSN 0032-3217. Place, Personal Characteristics and Councillor Roles: A Multivariate Analysis of Survey Data, (with Ken Young, Peter Lynn and Philippa Hurrell), Policy and Politics, 22 (1), January 1994, pp. 31-42, ISSN 0305-5736. CHAPTERS IN BOOKS Institutional Reforms in Local Government: A Comparative Framework with Rikke Berg, in Transforming Local Political Leadership, edited by Rikke Berg and Nirmala Rao, (Palgrave- Macmillan, 2005), pp. 1-14, ISBN 1403992835 From Committees to Cabinets and Leaders: the British Experience in Transforming Local Political Leadership, edited by Rikke Berg and Nirmala Rao, (Palgrave-Macmillan, 2005), pp. 42-58, ISBN 1403992835 Local Government, in Jonathan Hollowell (editor), Britain Since 1945, (Oxford, Blackwell, 2003), pp. 194-210, ISBN 0-631-20968-9 Representation Under Strain: the British Experience in N. Rao (editor), Representation and Community in Western Democracies, (Basingstoke, Macmillan, 2000), pp. 51-67. ISBN 0-333-77695-X The Changing Context of Representation in N. Rao (editor), Representation and Community in Western Democracies (Basingstoke, Macmillan, 2000), pp. 1-9, ISBN 0-333- 77695-X
The Statutory Sector, in Bob Hudson, The Changing Role of Social Care, (New York, Jessica Kingsley, 1999), ISBN 1-853-027529. Revitalising Local Democracy (with Ken Young) in R. Jowell et al (editors) British Social Attitudes: the 19th Report (Aldershot, Ashgate, 1999), pp. 45-64, ISBN 1-840114-050 X Public Attitudes to Local Government (with Ken Young), in New Perspectives on Local Governance: Reviewing the Research Evidence, (York, York Publishing, 1997), pp. 118-57, ISBN 1-899987-26-6. Faith in Local Democracy (with Ken Young), in Roger Jowell et al (editors), British Social Attitudes: the Twelfth Report, (Aldershot, Dartmouth, 1995), pp. 91-118, ISBN 1-85521- 606X Continuity and Change: Responses to Pressures for Institutional Reform in Olivier Borraz et al, Local Leadership and Decision-Making: A Study of France, Germany, United States and Britain, (York, Joseph Rowntree Foundation), 1994, pp. 81-92. RESEARCH REPORTS Improving the Representativeness of Councillors: an International Literature Review (with Lesley Grayson and Ken Young), Department of Communities and Local Government, 2007. A Research Report for the DCLG s Councillors Commission. Improving the Representativeness of Councillors: Learning from Five High Performing Local Authorities in England (with P. John, F. Gains, M. Goodwin, L. Richardson and E. Evans), Department of Communities and Local Government, 2007, A Research Report for the DCLG s Councillors Commission The New Council Constitutions: Outcomes of the Local Government Act 2000, DCLG, April 2007 Councillors, Officers and Stakeholders in the New Council Constitutions, DCLG, October 2006. Councillor and the New Council Constitutions, ODPM, January 2005 Revisiting Public Perceptions of Local Government Finance: A Decade of Change? (with C. Bromley and N. Stratford), DETR, 1999. A collaborative study based on national survey of British electors to examine their perceptions of, and attitudes to, local government finance. The Impact of Releasing People for Council Duties, (with J. Courtney, S. Finch and K.
Young), Research Report to the Department of Environment, Transport and the Regions, July 1998. A survey based study to examine employers attitudes to releasing their employees for public service. Competition, Contracts and Change: The Local Authority Experience of CCT, Joseph Rowntree Foundation, 1995, 80 pp. An interview and case study based study to examine the effects of extending tendering processes in local government. Coming to Terms with Change: The Local Government Councillor in 1993 (with Ken Young), Joseph Rowntree Foundation, 1994, 78 pp. A survey based study involving over 1600 councillors. The Role of Housing Associations in Community Care, research report to the National Federation of Housing Associations, 1993. A study based on in-depth interviews with housing association representatives and local authority officers. Managing Change: Councillors and the New Local Government, York, Joseph Rowntree Foundation, 1993, 82 pp. A national survey of councillors to assess their changing role under Thatcher s third term administration, complemented by 280 interviews with councillors. Developments in Local Government, Parliamentary Briefing Paper, Constitutional Reform Centre, London, 1991, 8 pp. From Providing to Enabling: Local Authorities and Community Care Planning, Joseph Rowntree Foundation, London, 1991, 78 pp. A study based on in-depth interviews and focus groups with social services directors, councillors and representatives of mental institutions and hospital workers. Educational Change and Local Government: The Impact of the Education Reform Act, Joseph Rowntree Foundation, London, 1990, 77 pp. A study based on in-depth interviews with local authority officers, education officials and elected representatives. The Changing Role of Local Housing Authorities: An Interim Assessment, Policy Studies Institute for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, London, 1990, 53 pp. A study based on indepth interviews with local authority officers and housing representatives. Black Women in Public Housing, London Race and Housing Research Unit, Runnymede Trust, London, 1990, 127 pp. Study based on interviews with a cross-section of homeless women.