Hi Jason! I think is environment issues, specially climate change, because is transnational and it`s a problem that requires complex solutions, is transdisciplinary and there is a huge community of researches no only restricted to policy area. I think we need more people involved and a cohesion between policy research, and biology, ecology and sociology, and other areas thinking together.

Of course, you have to analyze what issue is more prominent in you faculty and lab of researchers you are inserted. This makes too much difference in the quality of your research.

Good luck!

Thank you very much Lia Almeida - I think what you said very much aligns with my thinking at the moment, I'm very interested in the area of energy policy and innovation policy - specifically the adaption of new technologies. I absolutely agree with what you've said.

Thank you for your answer!

Well, it depends where we are in the world of course. If I live up country with little consumerisation my policy concerns will be quite different than urban Ireland. Let's not universalise from our own experience.

Here in the UK a key emerging area will continue to be private v public sector, especially on the issue of efficiency. Especially so if Labour move towards an election victory. But even if the Tories keep going. Even some of them now see failures in private provisions of public goods.

NOCK

Thank you for your answer Christopher - no attempt to universalize from our own experiences, more of an interest as to which areas folks believe are interesting policy areas that they themselves are working on or have an interest in and an attempt to broaden one's horizons away from urban Ireland - the question was intentionally vague to try have a discussion around interesting policy areas I may have overlooked.

Efficiency in the delivery of service provision is indeed an interesting area, and yes I believe we're beginning to see the tories splinter a little on this issue (as well as a number of other issues it appears). I think it would also be fair to say that even if labour were to have an electoral victory that they may well face the same problem, as there is hardly consensus in their party on this issue either, will be interesting to see.

Yea, it's quite germane in many places, developed or not. My eyes are peeled. But I do sleep a lot!

NOCK

There's certainly overlap in policy areas under inspection around the world - so I thought why not experiment with this platform and see what comes back.

If you're lucky you'll get some good responses. I'll recommend your question. It may help, or not!

NOCK

An important trend to consider would be the rise of China, and its potential to be a regional hegemon and a peer competitor to the United States and the EU.

More than a specific area I think it could be interesting to focus policies in which national policy makers have to cope with international actors. The impact of large corporations (especially those in the digital market) on policy making is to me a crucial issue per se nowadays.

Hi Marco, I absolutely agree, coming from and studying in Ireland it's impossible to ignore the impact such multinational firms have even just on getting accurate economic statistics in Ireland - a basic building block one would assume of any attempt at economic redistribution or planning for example, let alone the evaluation of their impact on other aspects of policymaking. We've seen a significant campaign being ran by Airbnb to influence housing policy and I think analysing the role of these external actors is so very crucial.

Thank you for your insight.

Hi Jason, I think it depends on the context of each country, either internally or in their external relations. Therefore, in relation to Brazil, fundamentally in what concerns tourism, a subject in public policies is happiness. What is the impact of happiness (well-being and satisfaction with life) in the economy? In order to have a solid and happy environment, do we need to listen to people in their needs? What is the effect of inequality, unemployment, inflation on happiness in tourism? What is the predominant decision-making process in public policies?

Well, I think these are some issues to consider when thinking about public policy. However, as I have already mentioned, it depends on the context of each country and the area that you wish to develop your reflections and studies.

I hope I have helped you a little.

Congratulations and good study!

Thank you very much Vincente for a thorough answer, I would agree with you with regards to context being very important.

Sorry, just teaching this one semester. I'm an adjunct and not really qualified to answer the query. Thanks for asking!

Some of the trends I find most interesting are the intersections of climate policy (mitigation and adaptation) with energy, water, and food policy. These can be further intersected with environmental justice. There are many unknowns here and uncovering these unknowns will be crucial to safeguarding life and property.

One future public policy issue, in my opinion, is the question involving the autonomous vehicles.

In case of an accident with an autonomous vehicle how to input judicial responsabilities?? It is one of the questions which need answer in the near future.

I think with autonomous vehicles there are serious ethical considerations which need to be factored into their design - and this is an incredibly interesting area, especially with expectations of their rise.

A public policy issue to look at is the attraction and retention of the much needed skills in South Africa to power the economy – without triggering brain drain in its neighbouring countries. Furthermore, monitoring the transfer of skills to locals by those who have been admitted into the country as highly skilled individuals will also be important.

Whether computer code is a form of protected free speech

From the international relations' point of view I see some kind of trend in respect to public policy towards the preservation and sustainability of the oceans. The UN is much focused on that and countries are working on local and regional projects for marine spatial planning.

Thank you very much for your contribution Rita.

There is a trend to apply the established theoretical perspectives (ACF, MSF, PET, IAD) to regions apart from North America, especially to China and other Asian countries and regions. Another trend is towards a better understanding of the micro foundations of public policy theories. Some of the "older" frameworks refer to psychological research of the 1950s and 1960s, so we have to rethink these foundations allowing for the state of the art in Psychology and Social Psychology. There are also trends towards merging policy perspectives with policy process perspectives, and to combine the public policy perspectives with Comparative Politics.

Feminism.

Jason Deegan, initially the most important will be the review of the recognition of the types of public policies, perceiving them in categories such as distributive, redistributive, affirmative, etc. For even today in many countries, especially in South America, they develop their policies to solve specific problems, forgetting the systemic character that the problems have. Another point to think about as a tendency is to look at the Human Being, as for example what proposes the "Human Development" in Chilean Max Neef. But nothing will escape the new methodologies that take advantage of big data and the internet of things. As I said at the beginning, we need to start reviewing the recognition of public policy types.