The Third Sector in Public Services: Developments, Innovations and Challenges (Third Sector Research)

This important book is the first edited collection to provide an up to date and comprehensive overview of the third sector’s role in public service delivery. Exploring areas such as social enterprise, capacity building, volunteering and social value, the authors provide a platform for academic and policy debates on the topic. Drawing on research carried out at the ESRC funded Third Sector Research Centre, the book charts the historical development of the state-third sector relationship, and reviews the major debates and controversies accompanying recent shifts in that relationship. It is a valuable resource for social science academics and postgraduate students as well as policymakers and practitioners in the public and third sectors in fields such as criminal justice, health, housing and social care.

Warwick Medical School

Christopher Damm is Research Fellow at the Centre for Regional Economic and Social Research (CRESR), Sheffield Hallam University.

Editor of the Creative Research Methods in Practice book series Helen Kara is a leading independent researcher, author, teacher and speaker specialising in research methods, particularly creative methods, and research ethics. With over twenty years’ experience as an independent researcher Helen now teaches doctoral students and staff at higher education institutions worldwide. She is a prolific academic author with over 25 titles and 3000 citations; notably Creative Research Methods: A Practical Guide in its second edition and Research and Evaluation for Busy Students and Practitioners in its third. Besides her regular blogs and videos, she also writes comics and fiction. Helen is an Affiliate at Swansea University, a Visiting Fellow at the Australian National University, and a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences. In 2021, at the age of 56, she was diagnosed autistic. Her neurodivergence explains her lifelong fascination with, and ability to focus on, words, language and writing.

Angela Ellis Paine is a research fellow at the Third Sector Research Centre at the University of Birmingham.

John Mohan is Professor of Social Policy, University of Birmingham, and Director of the Third Sector Research Centre. He has published extensively on contemporary and historical aspects of the third sector, with a particular recent focus on analyses of volunteering and the resources and characteristics of voluntary organisations.