Michael Howlett, currently Burnaby Mountain Professor in the Department of Political Science at Canada’s Simon Fraser University, has made an outstanding contribution to the discipline of public policy and public administration over his 35-year career. He has demonstrated exceptional professional service, assumed leadership in building public policy and public administration institutions and networks, published a phenomenal number of important and path-breaking books and articles on public policy and public administration, and mentored numerous graduate students and young scholars who are now making their own contributions to the discipline.

Mike Howlett was one of the founders of the International Public Policy Association when it was created over ten years ago and served as one of its inaugural Vice-Presidents. He has been a perennial organizer of panels and workshops at all of the Association’s conferences and workshops, and was a very active member of IPPA’s Executive Committee until stepping back recently. Mike has also served the public policy and public administration profession as an editor or editorial board member of multiple scholarly presses and journals. He is currently the editor-in-chief of Policy Sciences; co-editor of the Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis, Policy & Society, and Policy Design and Practice; and a general editor of the Cambridge University Press series on Comparative Public Policy. Mike has taken leadership in building public policy networks in Asia Pacific as well as Canada, co-authored with dozens of scholars around the world, and played a crucial role in helping to build IPPA as the international association it aspires to be.

All these contributions come alongside a simply extraordinarily prolific research record both in terms of its quantity and quality. Mike has authored, co-authored, edited, or co-edited over 50 books, almost 300 peer-reviewed journal articles, and over 200 book chapters. Singularly and with his co-authors, Mike has made path-breaking contributions to the conceptualization of the policy making process, including on policy design, policy tools, procedural policy instruments, policy mixes, and policy advisory systems. These contributions have spawned new fields of public policy research of direct relevance to policymakers.

Michael Howlett is one of the world’s leading public policy scholars and truly deserving of IPPA’s Career Award.