Assoc. Professor Darren Halpin, Reader in Policy Studies in the School of Sociology, has been awarded a grant from the Scandinavian Centre for Organizational Research (SCANCOR) at Stanford University. The project titled ‘Explaining Interest Group Organizational Design in Nascent Policy Fields’ will investigate the emergence of interest groups in a nascent policy field across two countries (US and Australia). These ‘nascent’ policy fields may include areas such as immigration, drug reform, gene technology regulation, and organic food/farming. The SCANCOR Alumni Grant provides resources for research teams, led by a former fellow at SCANCOR, in this case Associate Professor Halpin, to address innovative research questions at the intersection of organizational studies and related fields, such as sociology, political science and business. The research team, led by Associate Professor Halpin, also includes, Kurt Sandholtz (PhD Student, Stanford University/ Faculty, Brigham Young, USA) and Professor Anthony Nownes (University of Tennessee, USA). They will meet in the US late in 2013 and continue their work thereafter.