Dr Mary Lee Rhodes
Associate Professor in Public ManagementRoom 408
rhodesml@tcd.ie
01 896 2703
Mary Lee Rhodes (BA, MSc, MBA, PhD) is an Associate Professor of Public Management at Trinity College, Dublin. Her research is focused on complex public service systems and the dynamics of performance, value and impact. She is the co-Director of the Trinity Centre for Social Innovation and has expertise in research, consulting and management in the public and non-profit sectors along with extensive private sector experience in banking and ICT management.
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Dr. Rhodes has published numerous articles, chapters and books on complexity and public management – largely related to housing and homelessness. She is currently on the editorial boards of Public Management Review and Complexity, Governance and Networks.
Her current research is on social investment and impact and she is developing research on social innovation, social finance and measures of well-being. Her PhD students are exploring topics related to urban resilience and social innovation and she will be developing new projects in social value creation by firms.
Over the last decade, Dr. Rhodes has served on several government and non-profit Boards in the housing sector. She has recently been appointed Chair of the interim Regulatory Committee for Social Housing in Ireland and sits on the Dublin Docklands Oversight Committee. Going forward, she will be developing relationships with firms in the UK and Ireland interested in expanding their social impact profile.
I am interested in how the ‘wicked’ problems of public policy an practice may be untangled and addressed through the use of complex systems perspectives. Within this context, I am currently exploring how the measurement of well-being, resilience, sustainability and/or social impact may provide useful feedback for policy makers and organisations within public service systems.
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Public Administration and Complexity - or how to teach things we can't predict?Dr Mary Lee Rhodes and Dr Elizabeth Anne Eppel begin this editorial with the story of how one of the editor’s public policy experience and research led her to teaching complexity to practitioners and how respondents to our call for inputs came to a similar conclusion, albeit via different paths. The main body of this editorial is a reflection on the key points from the articles -
Lack of Innovation and Courage to take risks laid the foundation for crisis that affects so manyDr Mary Lee Rhodes, wrote an article in the Irish Independent newspaper which analysed the failure of successive governments to take advantage of the financial crisis. -
The Accomodation Shortage and the Future of Business in IrelandIt is forecast that Ireland will need to build 20,000 – 25,000 new dwellings a year, excluding the 90,000 plus households waiting on housing lists. There is plenty of capacity but little building is underway. So why the delay? What is wrong with the market? And what impact will this continued undersupply have? Professor Mary Lee Rhodes led a panel at the Trinity Global Business Forum in 2017.
- Connecting Nature (H2020): defining measures of impact and sustainability at the firm and city levels for nature based solutions (NBS) in urban development.
- Social Impact Bonds: Case studies and role in complex public service systems
- ‘Socialising’ the Private Sector: Exploring the role that firms currently and potential could play in social value creation and the well-being of communities.
1. Managing the Entanglement: Complexity Leadership in Public Sector Systems
Murphy, Joanne, Rhodes, ML, Meek, Jack, Denyer, David (2016), “Managing the Entanglement: Complexity Leadership in Public Sector Systems”, Public Administration Review
2. Hybridity and Social Entrepreneurship in Social Housing in Ireland
Rhodes, ML and Gemma Donnelly-Cox (2014), “Hybridity and Social Entrepreneurship in Social Housing in Ireland”, Voluntas, (January)
3.Progress & Pitfalls in public service reform and performance management in Ireland
Rhodes, ML and Boyle, Richard (2012), “Progress & Pitfalls in public service reform and performance management in Ireland”, Administration, vol.1, pp. 31 - 59
1. Complexity Theory, Networks and Systems Analysis.
Koliba, C., Gerrts, L., Rhodes, ML, and Meek, J. (2016). Complexity Theory, Networks and Systems Analysis. Chap 30 in Ansell, C. and Torfing, J. (eds.) Handbook on Theories of Governance. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing. 364-379.
2. Innovation in Complex Public Service Systems
Rhodes, ML (2012) "Innovation in Complex Public Service Systems" Chapter 22 in Stephen P. Osborne & Louise Brown (eds), Handbook of Innovation in Public Services, UK, Edward Elgar, 2012
3.Advancing Public Service Governance Theory
Rhodes, ML (2012) "Advancing Public Service Governance Theory" in editor(s) P.K. Marks, Frank Boon & Lasse Gerrits , COMPACT I: Public Administration in Complexity, Arizona, NM, Emergent Publications, pp 251 – 275