Whistleblowing Impact

Research in Action

Dr Taymi Milán presents research on whistleblowing and public integrity at COPPR in Bern

Dr Taymi Milán Paradela (University of Galway) presented new research on whistleblowing governance and public integrity at the third edition of the Conference on Public Policy Research (COPPR), held in Bern, Switzerland, on 21 January 2026. The presentation, delivered as part of a QCA panel and co-authored with Dr Alejandro Hernández Luis (FLACSO Ecuador), was titled “From Protection to Integrity: How Whistleblowing Reforms Activate Public Integrity in the European Union”. It examined why formally similar whistleblowing reforms across EU Member States lead to very different levels of institutional response and public integrity outcomes.

Drawing on fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA) and comparative data from across the EU, the study analysed three core governance conditions: institutional design, cultural environment, and enforcement capacity. The findings show that no single factor is sufficient on its own to activate integrity. Instead, public integrity emerges through specific configurations of conditions, confirming that whistleblowing effectiveness is a relational and institutional process rather than a purely legal one. The analysis identified two main pathways to integrity activation: one based on strong institutional design combined with supportive cultural environments, and another relying on enforcement capacity in contexts with weaker formal frameworks. Case-based refinement further highlighted the role of time and sequencing, showing how institutional pathways shape whether disclosures translate into observable accountability outcomes.

The presentation forms part of Dr Milán’s Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellowship and contributes to the international dissemination of the Whistle-Time Project, which investigates the temporal and institutional dynamics of whistleblowing systems across Europe.