Hello! We anticipated a busy year for parliamentary scholars and it is proving to be so. We have lots of exciting news and opportunities for you in this newsletter.
- PSA Parliaments Undergraduate Essay Competition 2025: Now open!
- Members’ Spotlight
- Opportunities
- Call for Papers
- Recent Publications
- On the Blog
- Overview of Parliaments Map
If you have any notices/messages you would like us to circulate to our group, please let us know.
Best wishes,
Caroline, Diana, Ruxandra, Jack and Lauren
1. PSA Parliaments Undergraduate Essay Competition 2025: Now open!
If you have been busy marking assignments during the last few weeks and have come across some excellent student essays, please consider nominating the student for our annual essay prize. This is a great opportunity for them to get their work recognised and read by a broader audience and add an award to their CV. The winner and runner-up will also receive £100 and £50 in prize money respectively.
The nominating academic has to be based at a UK institution and a member of our specialist group. The essay can cover any aspect of parliaments and legislatures and does not have to be written for a parliamentary studies module.
The deadline for nominations is Friday, 11 July 2025, and everything you need to know can be found on our website.
2. Members’ Spotlight
If you are looking for an interesting read, our very own PSA Parliaments co-convenor, Ruxandra Serban, co-authored two very interesting pieces on the UCL Constitution Unit Blog about the French parliament failed experimentation with Prime Minister’s Questions:
Additionally, Professor Meg Russel, the Director of the UCL Constitution Unit published a new piece ‘Should we be worried about the decline of parliamentary scrutiny?’. The article draws attention to a number of concerns (including fast-tracked government bills, government amendments to its own bills and late responses to select committee reports) and makes suggestions for improvements.
3. Opportunities
Share your research with the UK Parliament via POSTnotes
POST, the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology, is calling for research contributions and information relevant to the upcoming briefing below:
The deadline to submit a contribution to the role of public engagement in improving trust in parliamentary systems and scrutiny is 3 March 2025.
LSE Job
The London School of Economics and Political Science is looking for a Fellow in Political Behaviour. This is a 2-year position (with a possible extension for another year). The deadline for application is 7 March 2025, and the full details are available here.
Reminder: Senedd Review of the Public Bill and Member Bill processes
The Business Committee of the Senedd has opened a consultation to gather experiences and views regarding the operation and effectiveness of the Senedd’s scrutiny of Public Bills and Member Bills. You can share your expertise until 28 March 2025. All the information is available here.
4. Call for Papers
EPOP Annual Conference, 4-6 September, University of Exeter
A Call for Papers proposals is currently under way for the 2025 Elections, Public Opinion and Parties Annual Conference, organised by the University of Exeter (4-6 September 2025). Deadline to submit abstracts is 30 April 2025. The submission link is here.
5. Recent Publications
If you would like your published research to be featured in this section, please email Caroline with details.
6. On the Blog
We would love to have more contributions on our blog. If you have an idea for a blog on some aspect of parliamentary study, please get in touch with our communications officer Jack.
7. Overview of Parliaments Map
For anybody who wishes to cover any of the countries not yet covered in our map, contact our communications officer Jack.
