Adjunct Professor for the School of Government
Email: bill.ryan@vuw.ac.nz
Bill has been a public administration and management academic in Australia (University of Queensland, Griffith University, University of Tasmania) and Aotearoa New Zealand (Victoria University of Wellington) since 1986. He returned home in 2000 and was appointed as the original School of Government Programme Director from 2003 onwards. Since 2017, for the School of Government.
Bill has presented the year-long Postgraduate Certificate in Public Management customized for social sector middle managers and delivered in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland (also known as the ‘PMSS’).
For further information on the 2026 PMSS, go to (22) Post | Feed | LinkedIn. The Information Sheet and Call for Nominations can be downloaded from that page.
His teaching and research interests are government and governing in the 21st century; theory and practice in public management and policy; public sector reform; civil society and government.
Bill's best-known publications:
- 2011 ‘The Signs are Everywhere: ‘Community’ Approaches to Public Management’. In Ryan, B. and Gill, D. (eds) The Future State: Directions for Public Management in NZ. VUP, Wellington.
- 2011 'Co-production: Option or Obligation?’, Australian Journal of Public Administration, Volume 71, Issue 3, pp. 314–324,
- 2006 “Beyond Westminster: Thinking the Aotearoa/New Zealand way of governing”. Policy Quarterly Vol 2 No 3, pp. 40-47.
- 2006 “Managing for Outcomes: Understanding clients”. Policy Quarterly Vol 2 No 4, pp. 39-46.
- 2004 Learning MFO: Developments in ‘Managing for Outcomes’. Institute of Public Administration Australia (Brisbane)., 138 pages.
- 2003 ‘Death by evaluation’? Reflections on monitoring and evaluation in Australia and New Zealand’, Evaluation Journal of Australasia, Vol. 3 No. 1, August 2003, pp. 6-16.