O.G. El-Taliawi PhD (Ola)

Dr. Ola G. El-Taliawi joined the PA Section as an Assistant Professor of Public Administration and Policy Science. She holds a Ph.D. from the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore (2019), and an M.A. in Public Policy and Administration from the School of Global Affairs and Public Policy at the American University in Cairo (2010). Prior to joining the University of Twente, she had been undertaking a Postdoctoral Fellowship at Carleton University’s Faculty of Public Affairs, Canada. Her scholarly and professional endeavors for the past 15 years have centered around three main pillars: research, teaching, and practice; with the three informing each other. She is author of the book "The Politics of Refugee Policy in the Global South"(McGill-Queens University Press, 2024).

Expertise

• Social Sciences

  • Government Policy
  • Research
  • Policy
  • Analysis
  • Perspective
  • Approach

• Computer Science

  • Contexts
  • Control

Organisations

Dr. El-Taliawi’s research lies at the nexus between comparative governance and policy, with specific emphasis on migration. Her doctoral research project, which was nominated for the Wang Gungwu Medal and Prize, focused on the comparative governance of refugee displacement and crisis migration. While working on this project, she was hosted as a Research Fellow at the University of Columbia and at the American University of Beirut. 

She has presented papers at key international fora including (but not limited to) the International Association of Schools and Institutes of Administration (IASIA-IIAS) Conference (2010, 2008); the Workshop on the Future of Policy Sciences, hosted by the Education University of Hong Kong (2019); and the International Research Society for Public Management (2017). In 2021, she chaired two panels that fall within her research agenda at the International Conference of Public Policy (ICPP).

In 2021, she was named Collaborator on a seven-year Partnership Grant provided by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) of Canada. Her research agenda over the coming years involves building on her previous work by conducting comparative analysis of governance and policymaking in response to different types of crises (ex. conflict-induced displacement, environmental disaster, and others) through incorporating conceptions of complexity and systems thinking. The aim of this line of inquiry is to contribute to the extant literature on crisis policymaking and governance. On this specific topic, she previously published with the Journal of Contingencies and Crisis Management.

She is currently expanding on her doctoral work by applying two analytical lenses to the study of refugee governance, including policy innovations and administrative and policy capacity. On administrative capacity, she has previously published with the Journal of Policy Design and Practice. She is also currently building on previous work presented at the Fifth International Conference of Public Policy, on the role of international organizations in promoting policy innovations in their capacity as policy entrepreneurs.

She has a vision to advance the policy sciences by making it more inclusive and diverse. For instance, she has recently published with Policy Sciences, one of the field’s highest impact journals, on the state of public policy education in the Global South, and she is currently pursuing several research projects aiming to explore the state of gender in public policy research and teaching. She is also particularly interested in the potential role of technology in solving societal challenges. She recently published on the transformative potential of big data for the field of public policy, and the use of social media by government. She also aims to advance the field in embracing complexity science, which she believes is needed to understand policy and governance in VUCA contexts; and to design sustainable policy solutions; in an inclusive evidence-based process. Such lines of inquiry constitute her current and future research agenda.

She believes that key contemporary phenomena impose governance challenges for fair, sustainable and resilient societies. Her goal is to help create societal impact towards fair, equitable and sustainable societies especially for under-represented, marginalized and vulnerable populations; and to improve governance amidst technological transformations and complex policy environments. Her broad research questions include: how under-represented, vulnerable and marginalized populations interact with and are impacted by technology? how governance systems enable / hinder their inclusion? how can we ensure transformations occur in a fair way that does not exacerbate current inequalities and social tensions?

RESEARCH THEMES:

- Policy entrepreneurship and innovation 
- Administrative and policy capacity 
- Migration and asylum policymaking 
- Gender and diversity policy

Publications

Other contributions

El‐Taliawi, O. G., Goyal, N., & Howlett, M. (2021). Holding out the promise of Lasswell's dream: Big data analytics in public policy research and teaching. Review of Policy Research, 38(6), 640-660. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/ropr.12448

El-Taliawi, O. G., Nair, S., & Van der Wal, Z. (2021). Public policy schools in the global south: a mapping and analysis of the emerging landscape. Policy Sciences, 54(2), 371-395. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11077-020-09413-z

El‐Taliawi, O. G., & Hartley, K. (2021). The COVID‐19 crisis and complexity: A soft systems approach. Journal of Contingencies and Crisis Management, 29(1), 104-107. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-5973.12337

Goyal, N., El-Taliawi, Ola G. & Howlett, M. (2021) “Embracing the Future of the Policy Sciences: Big Data in Pedagogy and Practice”. In The Future of the Policy Sciences. Edward Elgar Publishing. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4337/9781800376489 

Nair, S., El-Taliawi, Ola G. & Van der Wal, Z. (2021) “Public Policy Education in the non-Western Hemisphere: genesis, dynamics and prospects”. In The Future of the Policy Sciences. Edward Elgar Publishing. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4337/9781800376489

El-Taliawi, O. G., & Van Der Wal, Z. (2020, April). Three lessons in crisis governance for the age of coronavirus. In World Economic Forum-Global Agenda. Available at: https://www. weforum. org/agenda/2020/04/a-guide-tocrisis-governance-in-the-age-of-coronavirus/ 

El-Taliawi, Ola G., and Van Der Wal, Z. (2019) “Developing Administrative Capacity: an agenda for research and practice”. Journal of Policy Design and Practice. https://doi.org/10.1080/25741292.2019.1595916

El-Taliawi, Ola G., & Dayal, I. (2019) “Ethics and Public Administration”. In: Farazmand A. (eds) Global Encyclopaedia of Public Administration, Public Policy, and Governance. Springer. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-31816-5_3449-2

El-Taliawi, Ola G. (2018) “Resistance to Organizational Change”. In: Farazmand A. (eds) Global Encyclopaedia of Public Administration, Public Policy, and Governance. Springer. DOI: DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-31816-5_3450-1

El-Taliawi, Ola G. (2018) “Social Media Use by Government”. In: Farazmand A. (eds) Global Encyclopaedia of Public Administration, Public Policy, and Governance. Springer. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-31816-5_3451-1

Kadir, S., Brassard, C., & El-Taliawi, Ola G. (2016) “The Role and Limitations of Public Policy in Ensuring Gender Equity”. In “Equating Gender: explorations in the Asia Pacific”. Rawat Publications.

Bremmer, J., & El-Taliawi, Ola G. (2014) “Gender and Leadership Style in the Middle East: Evidence from Egypt’s Civil Service”. In “Middle East Conflicts and Reforms”. PSO/Westphalia Press.

Research profiles

Dr. El-Taliawi has 12 years of experience working as an Assistant Lecturer and Teaching Assistant, in several institutional and cultural settings in Canada, Singapore and Egypt; working on diverse topics related to administration, governance and policy. She also has experience with blended learning (online and in person), and in managing various e-Learning platforms. In 2020, she was awarded among others, a grant for innovative Online Teaching During Covid-19.

She believes in the importance of linking scientific research and education to practice, and in engaging students in applied and experiential learning. One of her assigned requirements involved an innovative collaboration with the international NGO Oxfam, where students were given timely topics for which they wrote policy briefs. Based on this exercise, their briefs were shared with Oxfam to inform their policy analysis. She also has experience supervising and mentoring student research.

Affiliated study programs

Courses academic year 2024/2025

Courses in the current academic year are added at the moment they are finalised in the Osiris system. Therefore it is possible that the list is not yet complete for the whole academic year.

Courses academic year 2023/2024

SERVICE TO THE FIELD

Dr. El-Taliawi has undertaken peer reviewing for several journals such as the Australian Journal of Public Administration, Policy and Society, Comparative Migration Studies; Cambridge Core Elements, and others. She is also a member of several research networks including the International Research Society on Public Management (IRSPM) Network, the European Consortium for Political Research (ECPR), and others. In 2020, she founded the International Network for Women in Public Policy, for which she is currently serving voluntarily as Interim Executive Director. She is also a founding member of the Association for Middle Eastern Public Policy and Administration (AMEPPA).

PROFESSIONAL EXPERTISE

Dr. El-Taliawi is a firm believer in the importance of knowledge mobilization and bridging theory with practice. Over the course of her career, she has provided professional consultancy for various inter-governmental organizations and international NGOs, including the International Labour Organization (ILO), USAID, Ford Foundation, the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), and the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA). She has also published opinion-editorials based on her scientific research in several outlets, including the World Economic Forum, The Conversation, and The Cairo Review of Global Affairs.

In 2008, she undertook an internship at the Division for Advancement of Women (DAW) at the UN Headquarters in New York (2008), where she conducted policy research on topics related to women in politics, climate change, and development, and drafted speeches for the Under Secretary General of the United Nations.

In the press

The Conversation: Three ways East Asia can avoid a North Korean refugee ‘crisis’

https://theconversation.com/three-ways-east-asia-can-avoid-a-north-korean-refugee-crisis-91284

The Cairo Review of Global Affairs: What the Beirut Blast means for Lebanon’s Refugees

https://www.thecairoreview.com/essays/what-the-beirut-blast-means-for-lebanons-refugees/

Address

Organisations