The environment’s research on the management and organisation of welfare innovation centers around three sub-themes:

Communities have increasingly come into focus as an important resource in public-sector reforms. As demands for higher quality and greater efficiency grow—and public budgets remain under pressure—communities are being highlighted as a way to strengthen professional practice. This can be seen, for example, in schools’ pedagogical learning communities, and in local citizen groups that support health and well-being.

These developments are changing how organisations work together and how responsibilities are shared. They also raise new questions for public leaders: How should they guide and support these community-based efforts? How can they manage public resources in ways that create real value and meaningful results?

Decades of general management thinking inspired by New Public Management (NPM) now need to be complemented by a stronger focus on leadership within professional practice—on professional quality and on creating value for citizens. In many organisations, professional resource persons or “beacons” are appointed to guide their colleagues toward specific professional goals, even though they do not hold formal leadership authority.

This shift changes what it means to be a leader and how leadership is carried out in everyday practice. It also raises important questions: How can leaders keep professional quality at the centre when daily tasks pile up? And how do they navigate a landscape where new, informal professional leaders emerge alongside the formal leadership structure?

Complex tasks require insights from several professional fields, which in turn demands an understanding of the conditions that shape collaboration across professions. This includes how purpose statements, documentation tools, and dialogue frameworks influence the ways in which knowledge from different professions—and from citizens—can be brought together in solving tasks.