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Urgent Questions

Dr Gavin Hart

GAVIN HART

Dr Gavin Hart is a lecturer in criminology at Liverpool Hope University. He researches the impact of immigration and diversity on politics and society more broadly, focusing especially on Northern Ireland. Gavin is the outgoing Communications Officer of the PSA Parliaments team.

Please tell us a little bit about how you entered academia and your academic career

It was a little odd really that I ended up doing a PhD. I was always a political junkie, but I had worked as a landscape gardener, then as a logistics manager: nowhere near a university. I studied politics as a mature student and I figured that it would probably lead me down a teaching path. Unfortunately, I was way too disorganised to have applied for the PGCE in time. At the end of the academic year, my dissertation supervisor suggested I apply for a funded PhD at Huddersfield University. I nearly fainted at the thought of it! I then made the doctorate look like really hard-work, but finally got over the line and managed to get a few publications out there. Since then I have been teaching social sciences at Huddersfield and larking about doing some research here and there.

Which five books/articles (written by someone else) have been most important to you in your academic career?

Much of my own work has been about consociational democracy, so I guess I should definitely mention Lijphart’s Politics of Accommodation and his academic sparring partner Donald Horowitz for his work Ethnic Groups in Conflict. These texts really got hooks into me and drew me into a debate. Also, I’m a party politics nerd, so I would have to mention Sartori’s Parties and Party Systems and Anthony Downs’ Economic Theory of Democracy. For teaching purposes, I have been using Exploring Parliament by Christina Leston-Bandeira and Louise Thompson (eds) quite a bit the last year or two. It is a nice tome of all things parliamentary with contributions from loads of great people working in the sub-discipline.

Which person has been most influential and important to you in your academic career?

Catherine McGlynn. My PhD supervisor who stood by me when I was being completely rubbish at academic-ing.

Which of your own pieces of research are you most proud of?

None.

What has been your greatest achievement in academia?

I think helping to organise the PSA Parliaments online conference throughout the last year or so. It has been great working with the PSA Parl crew. It was a real team effort and it produced such great panels. I felt like we turned a difficult situation into a great success and I was super proud to have been a cog in the machine.

What has been your greatest disappointment in academia?

Probably the political science jobs market. It can be a fairly miserable existence trying to find anything, even if you are happy to do short-term, part-time, super flexible work – it is still a challenge.

What is the first or most important thing you tell your students about parliaments?

That once the election is finished, party conflict is left at the door and all representatives begin to work collectively in the pursuit of the national interest…. And if you believe that I have some magic beans you might be interested in buying.

Where were you born, where did you grow up, and where do you live now?

Huddersfield, Huddersfield, Huddersfield…

What was your first job?

I worked as a drystone-waller in my late teens and my early twenties.

What was the toughest job you ever had?

See above.

What are your hobbies?

I play guitar, banjo and ukulele to differing standards of incompetence. I like marching up mountains and general outdoors life too.

What are your favourite novels?

The picture of Dorian Grey really got hold of me. Right now, I’m reading Milkman by Anna Burns which is proving to be pretty awesome. I guess I just like authors that can transport you somewhere. Whether that is somewhere truly fantastic or far too real!

What is your favourite music?

Tough, tough question. I guess Nirvana was the first music I really got into so I would say In-Utero for one. Just lately, I’ve been loving the Dead South. They are like Blue Grass with a rock attitude. I like so much music though, it is hard to say why I like things. I either do or I don’t.

What are your favourite artists?

Lowry’s paintings of the industrial landscape in Northern England. I guess I like them because he depicts the places that I think of as home. I really get what he sees and I admire the way he captures it.

What is your favourite film?

Anything Tarantino because his films are the best and that is the end of the discussion!

What is your favourite building?

The last time I was able to leave the country (some time ago) I went to Rome and I am still in awe of the Colosseum and the various bit of ancient Rome that are still standing. I’m a sucker for ancient history.

What is your favourite tv show?

I’m quite a fan of the more ridiculous end of television. My all-time favourite has to be The Simpsons. I was raised on it and it basically defines my sense of humour to this day. These days I’m big into Rick and Morty. I like both of those shows because they blend plain daft with really clever comedy.

What is your favourite holiday destination?

I love North Wales for the opportunity to climb mountains in utterly ridiculous weather conditions. I just love the landscape in that part of the world.

What is your favourite sport?

Rugby League has always been a favourite. I used to play it as a kid, but I was pretty rubbish. I’m also a fan of martial arts. I have studied karate and kick-boxing quite a bit.

Boothroyd or Bercow?

Bercow.

Restoration or Renewal?

Renewal.

Cat or Dog?

Dog.

Fish and chips or Curry?

Aww man, how are you supposed to choose?

Trains, planes or automobiles?

Bikes.

Scones: Devonshire or Cornish Method?

Couldn’t care less really, but I have quite a few friends from Cornwall so I will say Cornish.

And, finally, a question asked by Seth, who has recently turned 9: If you could be a superhero, who would you be and why?

Spiderman. He looks to be having the most fun out of all the superheroes. I’m quite a fan of Deadpool too. He doesn’t take things too seriously!

Categories
News

July 2021 Newsletter

We hope that you are safe and well. We have some updates for you:

  1. PSA Parliaments 2021 Conference
  2. End-of-Year Survey
  3. Recording Available of Our PSA Parliaments Roundtable
  4. Call for Papers: Questions of Accountability Conference
  5. PSA Report on Career Trajectories in Political Science & International Studies
  6. Recent Publications that have Caught Our Eye
  7. Recently on the Blog

If you have any notices/messages you would like us to circulate to the group, please let us know.

1. PSA Parliaments 2021 Conference

We are pleased to announce details about our 2021 Annual Conference: Parliament at a Critical Juncture.

If circumstances allow, we will be holding a hybrid conference at the University of Birmingham on the 11th and 12th of November 2021.

If circumstances do not allow (and, at the time of writing, we’re still awaiting an update from central PSA), we will be holding a virtual conference on 12th November 2021 only.

For full details of the conference, including how to submit a paper proposal, please see our website.

2. End-of-Year Survey

At the end of a very long, tiring but successful year for PSA Parliaments, please could you take this end-of-year survey about the group and our potential plans for next year.

The survey is very short and should take no longer than 5 minutes to complete. All responses will be anonymous.

3. Recording Available of Our PSA Parliaments Roundtable

The recording of our roundtable on the past, present and future of parliamentary and legislative studies is now available on YouTube.

If you missed it, the roundtable featured talks by Emma Crewe, Shane Martin and Michelle Taylor-Robinson, as well as a presentation by Caroline Bhattacharya on the results of our recent survey of the sub-discipline.

Recordings of all other presentations made as part of our online conference can also be found on the PSA Parliaments YouTube Channel.

4. Call for Papers: Questions of Accountability Conference

The University of Worcester and the University of Sheffield are organising a conference/exhibition entitled Questions of Accountability between 1-5 November 2021, full details of which can be found here.

If you would like to propose a paper, event or panel for the conference, perhaps under the auspices of the PSA Parliaments specialist group, then please get in contact with Stephen in the first instance.

5. PSA Report on Career Trajectories in Political Science & International Studiesbs

In case you missed it at the time of release a couple of weeks ago, the PSA and the British International Studies Association co-published a report by Chris Hanretty on career trajectories in UK departments of politics and international relations.

The report brings together data relating to the gender, ethnicity, and other characteristics of those working in Higher Education departments and draws the following conclusions:

  • Senior positions in politics and international relations continue to be heavily dominated by white men;
  • There is a particular paucity of BAME staff at senior levels in Politics and International Relations departments. The likelihood of BAME staff occupying senior academic ranks is shown to be lower in Politics and International Relations than other social science disciplines;
  • Staff from ethnic minorities have a higher risk than their white counterparts of exiting UK Higher education;
  • At the current rate of progression, we will not reach gender equality in senior ranks within Politics and International Relations departments until 2045/46.

You can read the PSA’s statement on the report here.

6. Recent Publications that have Caught Our Eye

Mihail Chiru and Lieven De Winter have published an article, The Allocation of Committee Chairs and the Oversight of Coalition Cabinets in Belgiumin Government & Opposition.

The Westminster Foundation for Democracy has recently published three reports:

And, finally, new issues the Journal of Legislative Studies and Legislative Studies Quarterly have been published.

If you would like your published research to be featured in this section, please email Stephen with details.

7. Recently on the Blog

We’ve recently published one great blog:

If you have an idea for a blog on some aspect of parliamentary study please get in touch with our communications officer, Gavin Hart.