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Public Leadership and Social Enterprise

The Department for Public Leadership and Social Enterprise (PuLSE) is committed to generating public and social value through the impact of research, policy and practice.

Areas of interest

  • collaborative and co-operative socio-economic governance
  • leadership and management of public and voluntary sector organisations
  • social and sustainable enterprise
  • ethical professional practice

We aim to combine a critical understanding of leadership and management with practical relevance and close collaboration with practitioners. Our reputation and success is manifested in our contribution to the work of three research centres:


Research focus

Much of our research concerns innovative forms of organisation and financing – such as social enterprises, mutual and social investment, and commissioning – which offer new ways of tackling social, economic and environmental problems (and in turn, trigger the need for new sorts of knowledge and skills in public, private and third sector organisations). We carry out rigorous and relevant research designed to understand and address these emerging challenges.


Academic Publications

Full details of our research publications can be found on Open Research Online and via our staff pages.


Teaching

The department contributes to curriculum design and teaching across the Open University Business School’s undergraduate, postgraduate and executive education programmes, to joint programmes with other Open University faculties, and to collaborative projects with other higher education providers in the UK and internationally.

The Business School’s main qualifications, to which the Department contributes, include:

The Department’s interdisciplinary and cross-sectoral perspective on leading, managing and organising is also reflected the work of our postgraduate research students. The Business School has a strong community of research students on its full-time MRes and PhD programmes. We welcome applications from suitably-qualified students wishing to pursue research on PuLSE related topics.

Contact the Department for Public Leadership and Social Enterprise

For all department-related enquiries, please email us.

For all other enquiries, including student and alumni, please visit our contact us page.