Colin Ronald Talbot (born 1952) is a British political scientist. He was until August 2017 a professor at the

University of Manchester The University of Manchester is a public university, public research university in Manchester, England. The main campus is south of Manchester city centre, Manchester City Centre on Wilmslow Road, Oxford Road. The University of Manchester is c ...

and held the Chair of Government in the School of Social Sciences. He is now Professor Emeritus at Manchester and a research associate at the University of Cambridge. He has also been an adviser to UK Parliamentary Committees on

HM Treasury His Majesty's Treasury (HM Treasury or HMT), and informally referred to as the Treasury, is the Government of the United Kingdom’s economic and finance ministry. The Treasury is responsible for public spending, financial services policy, Tax ...

and on

Public Administration Public administration, or public policy and administration refers to "the management of public programs", or the "translation of politics into the reality that citizens see every day",Kettl, Donald and James Fessler. 2009. ''The Politics of the ...

Life and career

Colin Talbot has had an unconventional career, leaving school at 16 and working in various jobs before enrolling for an economics and social sciences degree course at Manchester University at the age of 21. He did not obtain a degree, instead becoming involved in student politics at Manchester University at the time. He subsequently obtained an MSc from

London South Bank University London South Bank University (LSBU) is a public university in Elephant and Castle, London. It is based in the London Borough of Southwark, near the South Bank of the River Thames, from which it takes its name. Founded in 1892 as the Borough Po ...

and a PhD from the London School of Economics and Political Science. His doctoral thesis, awarded in 1995, was o
Developing strategic managers for UK public services---a competing values and competences approach
Talbot held posts at

British Telecom BT Group plc (formerly British Telecom) is a British Multinational corporation, multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered in London, England. It has operations in around 180 countries and is the largest provider of fixed-li ...

and in local government in London. In 1990 he joined London South Bank University as a senior lecturer. In 1995, he was appointed as Chair in Public Policy and Management at

University of Glamorgan The University of Glamorgan () was a public university based in South Wales, that merged with University of Wales, Newport to form the University of South Wales in April 2013. The university was based in Pontypridd, in Rhondda Cynon Taf, with ...

, followed by appointments at

University of Nottingham The University of Nottingham is a public research university in Nottingham, England. It was founded as University College Nottingham in 1881, and was granted a royal charter in 1948. Nottingham's main campus (University Park Campus, Nottingh ...

and

. He is one of the founders of the Herbert Simon Institute, named after

Herbert A. Simon Herbert Alexander Simon (June 15, 1916 – February 9, 2001) was an American scholar whose work influenced the fields of computer science, economics, and cognitive psychology. His primary research interest was decision-making within organi ...

. Colin Talbot was the founding director of Policy@Manchester and in September 2013 he founde
Manchester Policy Blogs
at The

. His personal blog is called "Public Investigations" https://colinrtalbot.wordpress.com/ and he also edits the Cambridge Policy Lab blogsite https://cambridgepolicylab.org/

Parliamentary advisor

Talbot has acted as advisor and consultant to public organisations in the UK and internationally. He has given evidence to parliamentary committees on performance and public spending issues for the Treasury, on Public Administration and Welsh Affairs committees in the House of Commons, the Constitution Committee in the House of Lords, the Finance Committees of the Scottish Parliament and Northern Ireland Assembly. He has been a Specialist Adviser to the Treasury and Public Administration Select Committees (HoC). Colin Talbot is particularly critical of the power of

, as a government department, in contrast to other departments including the Cabinet Office, or the Prime Minister's Office. He also criticises the lack of a legal or constitutional basis of UK government departments.

Work

* ''Colin Talbot's most recent book is titled'
Whitehall Watching: - reflections on innovation, inertia and ineptitude in British government (2003-2008).
*
'Theories of Performance: organizational and service improvement in the public domain'
published with

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...

in 2010.'' * ''The Paradoxical Primate'' (2004) * ''Agencies: how governments do things through semi-autonomous organizations'' (2004, with Pollitt, C; Caulfield, J & Smullen, A) * ''Unbundled Government: A critical analysis of the global trend to agencies, quangos and contractualisation'' (2003, editor with Pollitt, C) * ''The Alternative Comprehensive Spending Review'' (2007, editor with Baker, M)

Personal life

Talbot lives in Bedford, with his wife, Dr Carole Talbot, and son Alex. He is an amateur Go player, and was a practitioner of

Aikido Aikido ( , , , ) is a gendai budō, modern Japanese martial art which is split into many different styles including Iwama Ryu, Iwama Shin Shin Aiki Shuren Kai, Shodokan Aikido, Yoshinkan, Renshinkai, Aikikai, and Ki Aikido. Aikido is now practic ...

References

External links