The Bridge

Connecting you to the latest public policy and management research.

• More than 15,000 subscribers
• 90 per cent of readers use The Bridge in their daily work
• Research Briefs read by thousands of people every fortnight

The Bridge and its writer Maria Katsonis celebrated 100 issues on 28 May 2024 with an online panel event: ‘Academics are from Venus, public managers are from Mars’ exploring the relationship between policy and research. The panel featured:

• Professor Janine O’Flynn, Director of the Crawford School of Public Policy at ANU,
• Eleanor Williams, Managing Director of the Australian Centre for Evaluation,
• Simon Corden, former Commissioner at the Victorian Essential Services Commission, and former Chair of the ANZSOG-auspiced National Regulators Community of Practice (NRCoP)

A video recording of the event is available below:

Finding the latest policy and public management research can be time-consuming and difficult. Navigating academic research is not always easy as it can be complex to read.

That’s why ANZSOG launched The Bridge in March 2020 – to connect public managers with current and relevant research. Every fortnight, subscribers receive a free email which distils relevant academic research to the public sector into an easy-to-read format.

Since then, we have built a community of more than 15,000 Bridge subscribers. More than 90 per cent of The Bridge readers tell us they use The Bridge content in their daily work, and more than 70 per cent have shared The Bridge content with colleagues.

“I share it with my team for their general professional development and to broaden their reading choices. I love its format and brevity. and the personal touch at the end of what Maria is reading – always interesting.”

“I have found articles or summaries of them helpful when considering how to approach an evaluation or project design task. I also like to read about developments and issues relevant to the public sector beyond my own work, this helps me to see things in context and keep an eye on where we are going.”

The Bridge will continue to strengthen engagement between academic researchers and policymakers and allow research with practical application to reach a wider audience, as part of ANZSOG’s mission to strengthen the quality of public sector leadership in Australia and Aotearoa-New Zealand.

The Bridge is compiled and curated by Maria Katsonis – a former senior Victorian public servant with more than 20 years’ experience who is now a Public Policy Fellow at the University of Melbourne. Maria’s insights are vital to The Bridge, bringing a practitioner’s perspective to academic research. She was previously the curator of The Drop – a joint project between ANZSOG and The Mandarin.

The Bridge is emailed fortnightly to readers in Australia, New Zealand and globally. Full access to back issues and to Research Briefs can be found below.