Since taking up the chair with ANZSOG in 2011, Sturgess has specialised in studying the relationship between policy/funding and delivery, with a particular focus on the discipline of commissioning. As part of that research agenda, he has developed a contestability framework for public services—"benchmarking with consequences"—building on the work of the British health economist Chris Ham. He is actively involved in the application of these principles in the real world, and in 2015, he was appointed by New South Wales Cabinet to chair a Commissioning and Contestability Advisory Board, advising the NSW Minister for Corrections. In 2016, the NSW government established a Commissioning and Contestability Unit in Treasury, based on his work.