Mark Considine

Professor Mark Considine is Redmond Barry Distinguished Professor of Political Science in the School of Social and Political Sciences, Faculty of Arts, at the University of Melbourne. He earned a Bachelor of Arts and a PhD from the University of Melbourne. Throughout his distinguished career, he has held key leadership roles, including Dean of the Faculty of Arts from 2007 to 2018, Provost from 2018 to 2020, and Director of the Australian Welfare and Work Lab. Recognized as one of Australia's most respected political scientists, Considine has bridged academic research and applied policy work for government and civil society organizations.

His research focuses on governance, welfare states, public administration, network governance of public programs, street-level bureaucracy, administrative reform, employment services contracting, and welfare-to-work program delivery. Notable publications include 'Making Public Policy: Institutions, Actors, Strategies' (2005), 'Governance at Ground Level: The Frontline Bureaucrat in the Age of Markets and Networks' (2001), 'Getting Welfare to Work: Street-Level Governance in Australia, the UK, and the Netherlands' (2015, with Jenny M. Lewis, Siobhan O'Sullivan, and Els Sol), and 'The Careless State: Reforming Australia's Social Services' (2022). Considine and his collaborators have received major international prizes, such as the Marshall Dimmock Award (2000) and the Jan Kooiman Award (2013), for comparative studies on employment services contracting. He is a Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia (FASSA) since 2001 and was appointed Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in 2023 for significant service to tertiary education and social sciences. In policy roles, he advised the OECD Local Economic and Employment Development Program, assisted the Brumby Government with employment program reviews, was seconded by the Gillard Government to review the jobactive Star Ratings system, and chaired federal working groups developing quality measures for job agencies. His work has profoundly influenced public policy reform and governance practices.

Professional Email: m.considine@unimelb.edu.au