The SIG held its inaugural meeting and hosted a panel session at the recent IPSERA conference – both were very well attended, leading to lively discussions and a commitment to arrange more before too long!

What’s in the name?  The scope of the SIG is to cover strategic procurement for organizations whose primary aim is to serve citizens, patients etc, rather than shareholders – hence the title to reflect working for the public good, not necessarily public sector based.

Shared interests and priorities We brainstormed ideas for SIG goals and activities around 3 themes: knowledge, profile and community building. Suggestions include discussions on data collection, debating possible research outlets and the impact of our research, and building synergies within different disciplines interacting in the public domain. Our thanks to Klaas Stek for capturing the discussion and voting:

At the end of the meeting, participants completed a small survey on their preferred goals and activities. As a first output we now have a (GDPR compliant ) list of SIG members for the members, to help networking. If you want to sign up, please email Louise Knight at l.a.knight@utwente.nl.

Covid-19 and Public Procurement Panel Session Colleagues exchanged views on  the longer-term implications of the pandemic on public/healthcare procurement research. From Canada to Germany, and from the US to England and Italy, reflections were sometimes very similar and other times divergent, but above all thought-provoking. A thank you to Tara Hartley, Michael Essig, Robert Handfield, Joanne Meehan and Gian Luigi Albano for your insightful perspectives.

A Network of PhD students A top priority for the SIG is to facilitate networking among PhD students. Please encourage students who are committed to, or contemplating, doctoral studies in SP-PD to get in contact (email esmee.peters@pprc.eu). They don’t have to be members of IPSERA yet – the Association is committed to student access and often provides free/discounted places/membership – we can work out a suitable arrangement.  We’ll be in contact soon with PhD students on the mailing list.

What’s next? A webinar end of May - all are welcome!