In this month’s newsletter, we have the following announcements/information:
- Final reminder for our Annual Conference: 12 July deadline
- Fourteenth Workshop of Parliamentary Scholars and Parliamentarians (Wroxton Workshop)
- House of Lords looking for new adviser
- Huddersfield Workshop on Hansard
- News from our members
- Essay competition – thanks for submissions
- New ParliLinc network established
- Mackenzie Prize nomination
- Recently on our blog
If you have any notices / messages you would like us to circulate to the group, please let us know.
Best wishes,
Marc (@marcgeddes), Louise (@LouiseVThompson) Alex (@A_Meakin) and Seán (@S_Haughey)
1. FINAL REMINDER: PSA Parliaments Group Annual Conference – CfP deadline 12 July
A reminder that we are accepting abstracts for our annual conference until 12 July 2019, which will take place on Thursday, 07 November (6pm-8pm) for a welcome drinks reception and Friday, 08 November (9am-5pm) for a full one-day conference at the National Assembly for Wales, Cardiff.
The theme of this year’s conference is ‘Parliaments: Coming of Age?’ – a timely and pertinent question for the National Assembly which marks its twentieth anniversary this year, alongside a number of other anniversaries. So, we are asking this year: are parliaments coming of age? Our conference seeks to highlight the best research into legislatures, shining a light on how parliaments across the UK and beyond have developed, and continue to develop.
Our call for submissions: as in previous years, we ask participants to submit a 150-word abstract which, if accepted, would be turned into a 1,500-word (max.) blog post. We aim to circulate draft blog pieces before the conference, and publish revised versions after the conference on the PSA Parliaments Group website. To submit your abstract, please complete our paper proposal form. We welcome researchers, academics and practitioners from all disciplines and at all levels, and of course promote methodological pluralism.
Key dates
15 May – call for blogs and papers
***12 July – deadline for abstracts*** approaching!
22 July – notification of acceptance/rejection + registration opens
18 October – deadline for registration and first draft of blogs
25 October – circulation of blogs/papers
07-08 November – conference
We look forward to welcoming you to Cardiff in November! In the mean time, please direct any questions to Marc Geddes (marc.geddes@ed.ac.uk) or consult our conference webpage.
2. Fourteenth Workshop of Parliamentary Scholars and Parliamentarians (Wroxton Workshop)
Details of the Fourteenth Workshop of Parliamentary Scholars and Parliamentarians, being held on 27-28 July 2019, at Wroxton College, Oxfordshire, in the UK, may be found on the Workshop website www.wroxtonworkshop.org The site includes papers to be given. Booking a place at the Workshop can also now be done on the website.
As in previous Workshops, more than thirty papers, presenting research findings likely to be of interest to parliamentarians, will be presented. There will also be a plenary session addressing recent IPU studies on sexism, harassment and violence against women parliamentarians.
3. House of Lords looking for new adviser
The House of Lords Select Committee on the Constitution is inviting applications for the vacant post of one of its legal advisers.
The role is part-time, remunerated by daily fee. The successful candidate will demonstrate established expertise in the fields of public law generally and constitutional law in particular. The primary task is to help the Committee fulfil its role examining the constitutional implications of public bills, but the adviser may help the Committee with other aspects of its work.
For more information, please click here.
4. Huddersfield Workshop on Hansard (London)
Hansard – the official, substantially verbatim report of what is said in both Houses of Parliament – is an essential tool for ensuring democratic accountability. Hansard contains a wealth of data yet is not always fully accessible and easy to search.
The Hansard at Huddersfield project aims to improve access to the Hansard records and contribute new ways of searching the data with a website that provides various different search tools.
This workshop will introduce attendees to the website. Various case studies and examples will demonstrate the potential of the site to enhance research into parliamentary proceedings.
For more information on the workshop, please click here.
5. News from our members
PhD Viva success
Congratulations to Daniel Gover, who has successfully defended his PhD thesis at Queen Mary, University of London, entitled: “The strategies and impacts of Christian pressure groups in UK policymaking”. Many congratulations for this achievement and we wish him all the very best for the future.
New book on select committees
On the 40th anniversary of select committees, we are pleased to announce that Marc Geddes’ book, Dramas at Westminster: Select committees and the quest for accountability, has been made available for pre-order. Please find more details here.
Please remember to send us your good news items for us to celebrate in our monthly newsletter – accepted grant proposals, giving evidence to committees or stakeholders, large public events, finally published that book you’ve been working on … we’d love to hear it and share it with our members!
6. Essay competition 2019 – thanks for submissions
Many thanks to those that have submitted essays for our annual essay competition. The judging panel have now received the essays.
We hope to be able to reveal the results by September.
7. New ParliLinc network established
The University of Lincoln has established a new network, the Lincoln Parliamentary Research Group, which will be of interest to all our members.
Please find more information on their website for this exciting initiative, and follow their Twitter account (@ParliLinc) if you are active on social media!
8. Mackenzie Prize nominations
The PSA has announced details of the Mackenzie Book prize for the best book published on political science in the calendar year of 2018.
As a specialist group, we are able to nominate one book from one of our members. If you would like us to consider your book, please familiarise yourself with the entry requirements and then let us know
9. Recently on the blog
Some of our recent blogs include:
- Tory leadership race: research shows top politicians are psychologically different to others James Weinberg (Sheffield)
- The political challenges affecting the functioning of the national parliaments in the Western Balkans countries Blerim Vela (Sussex)
- Representing interest groups: umbrella organisations enjoy preferential access to the legislative arena but not to the media Wiebke Marie Junk (Copenhagen)
- What can confirmation hearings in Ghana tell us about parliamentary oversight? Ernest Plange Kwofie (Birmingham)
- Reducing the size of the House of Lords: two steps forward, two steps back David Beamish (former Clerk of the Parliaments)
If you are interested in publishing a blog, please get in touch with our Communications Officer Alexandra Meakin (a.meakin@sheffield.ac.uk) for a chat about how to get involved.