Professor Deborah Blackman

Professor Deborah Blackman is the Associate Dean Lifelong Learning; Acting Head Canberra School of Professional Studies; and Professor in Public Sector Management Strategy at UNSW Canberra at ADFA.

Her research focuses on public service management, in particular strategy development and implementation. Prof Blackman’s academic background is in a range of management and administration related fields: human resource management; organisational learning; knowledge management; training and development;  and managing change and organisational behaviour. 

The common theme of her work is developing effective knowledge development, acquisition and transfer in order to improve organisational effectiveness in a range of applied, real-world contexts.

Before joining UNSW Canberra in 2014, Prof Blackman was the Director of the Graduate Research Office at the University of Canberra, where she managed a small team that undertakes strategic planning, develops policy and delivers the Higher Degree Research research education programme.

Prof Blackman is currently working on a range of projects to improve public sector outcomes. Recent highlights include:

• an evaluation of understanding of Performance Management in the Australian Federal Police, which was unusual as it was a pre-implementation benchmark
  
• working with the Australian Institute of Police management to evaluate a new leadership development intervention
• receiving the ‘Most Innovative Public Sector Research’ award at the Academy of Management related to a paper based upon the ‘Strengthening the Performance Framework’ research, which is being undertaken in collaboration with the Australian Public Service Commission
• an invitation to evaluate the performance management framework being implemented by the Ghana Public Commission
• enhancing Disaster Recovery Models to create more clarity in terms of the redevelopment stage, which is currently under-researched or understood in terms of the roles of both leadership and government.