Papers for SIRC are welcomed around the following three themes: Innovation in public and social policy formulation and implementation · Are our current models of policy and social policy-making robust or are there ways we can enhance our theoretical and empirical understanding of them? · What role does policy transfer play in public and social policy change and innovation, what evidence do we have of effective policy transfer (either across policy areas or between geographic regions), and can we identify its key contingencies? · Do we have resilient tools of policy analysis that might assist in our understanding of policy transfer or can we develop them further? How can they be used to evaluate key elements of the policy making and implementation process (such as policy alienation) · Are there emergent models of citizen participation in the public and social policy processes and what impact are they having upon these processes? · Are ICT, digital technology and social media changing the mechanisms and conduits of public and social policy making and with what effect? · What is the importance of ‘street level bureaucrats’ for innovation in public and social policy making and implementation? · What are the key trends of policy transfer between the east and west? · How might we capture and enhance learning within public and social policy processes? Innovation in the delivery of public services · Are our current models of innovation in public services robust, what are the contingencies of innovation in public services, and what evidence is there about the effectiveness of innovation as a route to public services reform? · How can we both develop further an evidence-based approach to innovation in public services delivery and evaluate its impact upon practice? · What role can and does co-production and co-creation play in innovation in public services, and are there effective ways to engage citizens in innovation in public services? · Does the third sector have a key role to play in innovation in public services, and if so what is it? · How might innovation, as a process, be evaluated and enhanced? · What role can ICT, digital technology and social media play in the innovation process – either as innovations themselves or as an environment/conduit to stimulate innovation? · How might we capture and enhance learning within the public service innovation process – at a community, organizational and/or service level? · How are public services responding to the key issue of responding to and governing risk within the public services delivery process? Learning · What models of social learning might best assist our understanding of innovation in public and social policy and in public services delivery? · How might performance and service evaluation drive forward innovation in public and social policy and public services? · How can citizens be engaged in the process of active learning about service delivery and policy formulation, and how might we capture the ‘sticky knowledge’ of service users to enhance future innovation and policy transfer?