Sandra Margaret Nutley

Sandra's research centres on two core areas: (1) understanding and improving research use and impact in public policy and practice contexts; and (2) performance management systems, with a particular focus on public service audit and inspection regimes. She has published widely in both of these areas. She has wider research interests in public management reform and managing change.

She was the founding Director of the Research Unit for Research Utilisation (www.ruru.ac.uk), which is a research collaboration that investigates the use of social science research in public policy and service delivery settings. She has served on the editorial boards of several academic journals including Evidence & Policy, Public Administration, and Public Money and Management.

Prior to her academic career, Sandra worked in local government in the UK. Since joining academia, she has been seconded to work with several public sector organisations, including the National Health Service and the Scottish Government. She has also worked on a consultancy basis with a wide range of public and voluntary sector organisations. From 2005-2011 she was a non-executive member of the Social Work Inspection Agency Board in Scotland. She has served as a member of several policy advisory groups, including working in an advisory capacity with provincial/ state governments in Australia and Canada.

Public and third sectors

Research use; performance; service improvement