Professor William Webster

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Management, Work and Organisation University of Stirling, Stirling, FK9 4LA

Professor William Webster

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About me

William Webster is Professor of Public Policy and Management at the Stirling Management School, University of Stirling. He is a Director of CRISP (the Centre for Research into Information Surveillance and Privacy), a research centre dedicated to the responsible use of new digital technologies and understanding the social impacts and consequences of technologically mediated surveillance. Professor Webster has research expertise in the policy processes, regulation and governance of CCTV, surveillance in everyday life, privacy and surveillance ethics, as well as public policy and service delivery relating to data protection, eGovernment, and electronic public services. He is currently co-Editor-in-Chief of the journal Information Polity, co-chair of the Scottish Privacy Forum and co-chair of the EGPA (European Group of Public Administration) Permanent Study Group on eGovernment, and between 2009 and 2014 he led the Living in Surveillance Societies (LiSS) COST Action. He is also involved in a number of international research projects, including the ESRC SmartGov (Smart Governance of Sustainable Cities) project and the European Commission funded Increasing Resilience in Surveillance Societies (IRISS) and ASSERT projects. Professor Webster has recently completed commissioned research for Police Scotland and the Scottish Government examining the use of Body-worn Video cameras in policing contexts and on the oversight mechanisms for emerging technologies in law enforcement. Professor Webster has been a member of the strategy group of the UK Biometrics and Surveillance Camera Commissioner and has recently joined the Advisory Board of the Scottish Biometrics Commissioner. At the University of Stirling, Professor Webster has held a number of leadership roles, including Head of the Division of Management, Work and Organization for five years (2014-9), and at other times the Divisional Research Coordinator, the Research Post-graduate Coordinator and Director of the Public Service Management MBA and Masters of Business and Management Research (MRes) Programmes.

Research Interests: Professor Webster’s research interests are broadly in the area of contemporary public policy and management, and the policy processes and governance structures associated with governing in the information age. In particular, innovations in processes of governance, public policy and management which are facilitating the adoption and diffusion of new Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in government, democratic relations and the delivery of public services and citizenship. Professor Webster is an internationally recognised expert on the emergence of new surveillance technologies in public service and policy settings and a leading authority on the policies and practices surrounding the provision of closed-circuit television/video surveillance cameras and systems in public places. His research interests also include the normality of technologically mediated surveillance practices in society, the governance and regulation of privacy and data protection, surveillance ethics and the exploration of the defining characteristics of emerging surveillance societies. Other areas of research expertise include eGovernment, Body-worn Video and mechanisms to delivery democratic oversight.

Academic History: Professor Webster graduated in 1994 with a First Class Honours degree in Public Administration and was also awarded a Certificate in Public Service Practice following a year long placement as a civil service Fast Stream Administrative Trainee, at the Information Technology Office of the Inland Revenue. Between 1994 and 2000 he was a researcher based at the Centre for the Study of Telematics and Governance (CSTAG), Caledonian Business School, undertaking research into new innovative electronic public services. In 2000 he was appointed as a Lecturer in Public Management at the University of Stirling and in 2007 was promoted to Senior Lecturer. He was promoted to professorial status, as a Professor of Public Policy and Management, in 2012.

Teaching Portfolio: Professor Webster has taught across a wide range of programmes and modules within the Management School. His teaching portfolio includes public management leadership and teaching relating to his disciplinary expertise and more generic business and management subjects. In terms of programme leadership, Professor Webster has been the Programme Director for the BA (Hons) Public Administration and Management (2000-2012) and MBA (Public Services Management (2007-2014) programmes. More recently, he has been the MRes Business and Management Programme Director (2021-2023). Professor Webster has deigned and delivered a number of public management modules at undergraduate and postgraduate levels in a wide variety of areas, including: Introduction to Public Services Management, New Public Management, Partnership Working, Strategic Management in the Public Services and Electronic Public Services, etc. Across the business and management portfolio he has also delivered teaching on International Business, Entrepreneurship and Strategic Management. Professor Webster currently teaches research philosophy amd methods to taught and postgraduate students on the MRes Business and Management and DMan Doctor of Management programmes. Professor Webster has also delivered a number of ad hoc research workshops for early career scholars on topics like research funding, impact and engagement, building research careers and the role of reviews in academia.

Academic Leadership: Professor Webster has held a variety of leadership positions during his tenue at the University of Stirling. Between 2014 and 2019 he was Head of the Division of Management, Work and Organisation (MWO) and a member of the Management School Faculty Executive. The MWO Division is the generalist management Division within the faculty and covers subjects like business studies, human resource management, management science, business informatics and public management. During this period, he had responsibilities around workload allocation, new appointments, appraisals, promotions, Divisional and Faculty strategy, staffing and disciplinary matters, research culture and the development of taught programmes. This period included: a restructuring of organisational units within the Faculty, including the integration of the Centre for Advanced Management and Education (CAME) Studies into the division; a growth in staffing numbers to approximately 35 academics; a redesign of all teaching programmes; and excellent performance in REF 2014. Other leadership roles undertaken by Professor Webster include: Faculty Research Director (as cover in 2016), MWO Divisional Research Coordinator (2013), and MWO Research Postgraduate Coordinator, 2019-23.

Academic Research Leadership: Professor Webster is one of the founding Directors of the Centre for Research into Information, Surveillance and Privacy (CRISP). The intellectual focus of the centre is the sustainable and responsible use of digital technologies and data in contemporary organisational settings, this includes impacts and consequences relating to surveillance and privacy. CRISP is a multidisciplinary centre networked across five British Universities. Professor Webster has played a leading role in establishing CRISP and its activities, including: an annual lecture, stakeholder workshops, an online seminar series and a doctoral training school, as well as research project management and impact and engagement mechanisms. Professor Webster is also co-Chair of the Scottish Privacy Forum, co-Chair of the Permanent Study Group 1 eGovernance, of the European Group of Public Administration (EGPA) and co-Editor-in-Chief of the journal Information Polity. Professor Webster has also designed and delivered research projects funded by the ESRC, EU Horizon 2020, the Scottish Government and Police Scotland.

Research Networks: Professor Webster takes part in a number of research networks including: the European Group of Public Administration (EGPA), the International Research Society for Public Management (IRSPM), the Surveillance Studies Network (SSN), and the Society of Public Information Networks (SPIN). Professor Webster was grant holder and Chair of the Living in Surveillance Societies (LiSS) COST Action IS0807 (2009-13). LiSS is the first international multi-disciplinary social science research programme exploring the everyday implications of living in societies where technologically mediated surveillance practices are pervasive. The programme involved over 150 researchers from 26 different countries.

Research Engagement and Impact: Professor Webster has built close networks with policy-makers and practitioners to facilitate research engagement and impact, both for himself and other researchers. This culminated in a top-rated REF impact case study in 2020. As co-Chair of the Scottish Privacy Forum, Professor Webster, designs and facilitates interaction between academics and data protection experts. Since 2014, he has also been a member of the Strategy Group of the UK’s Biometrics and Surveillance Camera Commissioner and in 2024 was appointed to the Advisory Board of the Scottish Biometrics Commissioner. In 2023 he was a member of the Research Advisory Group of a Scottish Government research project assessing the use of surveillance cameras in Scotland. Professor Webster is regularly commissioned to undertake research activities for public agencies, including recently: the Scottish Government, Police Scotland and the Home Office.

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