Research output per year
Research output per year
Personal profile
Biography
Professor of Public Policy and Democratic Innovation, Politics and International Relations subject area of the School of Social and Political Science.
Full academic profile is available here.
Other positions
(2019- ) Academic Lead for Democratic Innovation at Edinburgh Futures Institute
(2017-2020) UK Principal Investigator for Smart Urban Intermediaries: Trans-European Research, Learning and Action
(2017-2020) Co-Investigator of Distant Voices: Coming Home
(2015-2019) Co-Director of What Works Scotland
Research interests:
- Commons
- Governance of the future
- Policy making and policy workers
- Participation and deliberation in policy making
- Participatory and deliberative democracy
- Collaborative governance (e.g. partnerships)
- Public service reform
- Democratic innovations (i.e. mini-publics, participatory budgeting)
- Political communication (i.e. dialogue and deliberation)
- Facilitation, mediation and consensus building
- Community/Public engagement practice and practitioners
- Knowledge brokering
- Science & society
- Emotions in politics and policy
Research Themes and Networks
- Governance & Democracy
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Collaborations and top research areas from the last five years
Recent external collaboration on country/territory level. Dive into details by clicking on the dots or
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Blueprints for Democratic Wellbeing: Strengthening UK Parliaments with Citizen Deliberation
Escobar, O. & Elstub, S., 28 May 2026, Carnegie UK. 56 p.Research output: Book/Report › Commissioned report
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Making light of imprisonment: Humour, connection and resistance
McNeil, F., Frödén, L. C., Crockett Thomas, P., Escobar, O., Urie, A. & Scott, J. C., 26 May 2026, (E-pub ahead of print) In: International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology. p. 1-22 22 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open AccessFile -
Democratic innovations in the United Kingdom: Reflections on historical trajectories across space and time
Elstub, S. & Escobar, O., 4 Feb 2026, (E-pub ahead of print) In: European Political Science. p. 1-14 14 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open AccessFile -
Democratic innovation for change: A participatory corrective to deliberative hegemony
Escobar, O. & Bua, A., Feb 2026, In: Politics. 46, 1, p. 15-36 22 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open AccessFile -
Democratic innovation beyond the deliberative paradigm? Introduction to the special issue
Frick, V., Westphal, M. & Escobar, O., 9 Dec 2025, (E-pub ahead of print) In: Politics. p. 1-12 12 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open AccessFile
Activities
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Interpretive Policy Analysis Conference 2021
Henderson, J. (Presenter), Revell, P. (Presenter) & Escobar, O. (Presenter)
30 Jun 2021Activity: Participating in or organising an event types › Participation in conference
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'Innovations in democratic governance', keynote speech at International Conference of Municipal Clerks
Escobar, O. (Keynote speaker)
7 Jun 2019Activity: Academic talk or presentation types › Invited talk
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Navigating the boundaries of methodological innovation and public service reform: Learning from the What Works Scotland programme (2014-2018)
Bennett, H. (Invited speaker) & Escobar, O. (Invited speaker)
13 Mar 2019Activity: Academic talk or presentation types › Invited talk
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Webinar - Beyond dissemination: dialogue in science public engagement
Escobar, O. (Speaker)
10 Apr 2018Activity: Academic talk or presentation types › Oral presentation
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'Improving decision making: Delivering better outcomes through public participation and deliberation', keynote speech at EXCEL Annual Conference
Escobar, O. (Keynote speaker)
20 Feb 2018Activity: Academic talk or presentation types › Invited talk
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INSPIRE: Intersectional Spaces of Participation: Inclusive, Resilient, Embedded
Escobar, O. (Principal Investigator)
1/04/24 → 31/03/27
Project: Research
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BR-UK: Behavioural Research UK Leadership Hub
Bauld, L. (Principal Investigator), Escobar, O. (Co-investigator) & Fry, D. (Co-investigator)
Economic and Social Research Council
1/11/23 → 31/10/28
Project: Research
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Supporting local acceleration in Granton through Inclusive, data driven and participatory engagement
Mcfall, L. (Principal Investigator) & Escobar, O. (Co-investigator)
5/01/22 → 30/09/22
Project: Research
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Supporting local acceleration in Granton through Inclusive, data driven and participatory engagement
McAra, L. (Principal Investigator), Escobar, O. (Co-investigator) & Mcfall, L. (Co-investigator)
Economic and Social Research Council
5/01/22 → 30/09/22
Project: Research
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Datasets
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Citizens' Juries on Windfarms in Scotland
Escobar, O. (Creator), Edinburgh DataShare, 20 Aug 2021
DOI: 10.7488/ds/3117
Dataset
Press/Media
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Former Obama advisor to speak at Edinburgh University
14/05/26
1 Media contribution
Press/Media: Research
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JOE MATHEWS: California's democracy needs bureaucracy
21/02/26
1 Media contribution
Press/Media: Research
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Cobeaga's latest film opens the Edinburgh Spanish Film Festival, with 17 films
30/09/25
1 Media contribution
Press/Media: Research
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'Cleansed and hollowed out': Edinburgh's Old Town faces losing its community council
16/03/25
1 Media contribution
Press/Media: Research