The 26th Public Management Research Conference (PMRC) will take place at Corvinus University of Budapest on 3–5 June 2027, preceded by pre-conference workshops on 2 June. The conference will be co-chaired by Professor György Hajnal and Associate Professor Sabina Schnell of Corvinus University’s Department of Public Policy. 

“We are honoured that Corvinus University has been selected to host PMRC 2027. We look forward to welcoming colleagues from around the world to Budapest,” said Professor György Hajnal, Head of the Department of Public Policy. 

Hosting PMRC for the first time in Central and Eastern Europe marks an important milestone for the international public management research community and highlights the growing international visibility of public management scholarship at Corvinus and in the region. 

The Public Management Research Association (PMRA) is a leading international association for public management research and is associated with two of the field’s leading academic journals: the Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory (JPART – C2) and Perspectives on Public Management and Governance (PPMG – D1), 

The 2027 conference, entitled “Public Management and Democratic Repair: Possibilities, Limits, and Trade-offs,” will examine the relationship between public management and democracy during periods of political and institutional change. 

Restoring trust, strengthening institutional capacity, avoiding the (re)capture of state institutions, and ensuring accountable and effective government are paramount in periods of change, and all depend in important ways on how public organizations are designed, led, and managed. Against this background, PMRC 2027 will provide an international forum for discussing how public management reforms may contribute to democratic repair — or hinder it — and the possibilities, limits and trade-offs involved.

The Call for Proposals is now open. While the conference particularly encourages research engaging with this theme, submissions are welcome across the full breadth of public management research. Comparative contributions and submissions bringing together diverse perspectives and methodological approaches are especially encouraged.

Researchers can submit proposals in four formats: individual papers, pre-formed panels, roundtables, and pre-conference workshops. Individual paper submissions will undergo double-blind peer review by at least two reviewers. 

The submission deadline is 30 October 2026, with decisions expected in January 2027. The preliminary programme will be published in February, followed by the final schedule in April. 

The full Call for Proposals and further information are available on the PMRC 2027 website and on the page of the Department of Public Policy. Proposals can be submitted through the PMRC 2027 online submission platform. 

Questions regarding PMRC 2027 can be sent to pmrc2027@uni-corvinus.hu.