Rate My Professor David Mills

Dr David Mills serves as Adjunct Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Science and Engineering at Southern Cross University. He holds a Master of Public Administration from Griffith University and a PhD from Queensland University of Technology awarded in 2014, with his doctoral thesis investigating the stewardship performance of privatized urban water infrastructure. With more than 20 years of experience in policy, governance, and the delivery of government commercial services—including rail, public works, and trustee services—Dr Mills brings substantial practical knowledge to his academic role.

Dr Mills' research focuses on stewardship in local and state public service delivery, optimal approaches for regional local governments to deliver services, barriers and solutions to service delivery in regional and remote local governments, and governance forms such as hybrid and privatized structures suitable for service delivery across government levels. His work also examines capacities and influences in smart city theory and practice, contributing to United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Key publications encompass 'Evidence-based public policy decision-making in smart cities: Does extant theory support achievement of city sustainability objectives?' (Sustainability, 2021, co-authored with Steven Pudney, Primož Pevcin, and Jaroslav Dvorak), 'NPG and stewardship theory: remedies for NPM privatization prescriptions' (Public Management Review, 2021, with Linda Bradley and Robyn Keast), 'Hybridised public management: Introduction to the special issue' (Australian Journal of Public Administration, 2025, with Jan-Erik Johanson, Jarmo Vakkuri, and Adina Dudau), 'Smart City Capacities: Extant Knowledge and Future Research for Sustainable Practical Applications' (Sustainability, 2024, with Steven Pudney, Rodrigo C. Gomes, and Gabriela Sarturi), and 'Evaluation of artificial intelligence-enhanced critical infrastructure systems: A conceptual framework' (Evaluation, 2025, with Steven Pudney, Ali Reza Alaei, Sam Sellers, Jaroslav Dvorak, and Oto Potluka). These contributions address evidence-based policymaking, stewardship theory, New Public Governance, privatization, hybrid public management, public service logic, and AI in critical infrastructure.