Categories
News

November 2024 Newsletter

Hello, everyone! Our Annual Conference is fast approaching, so please remember to register. We also have, as per usual, lots of news for you this month.

  1. Reminder: PSA Parliaments Annual Conference, Cardiff
  2. Opportunities
  3. Calls for papers
  4. Events
  5. Recent Publications and Resources
  6. On the Blog
  7. 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. Reminder: PSA Parliaments Annual Conference, Cardiff

Our Annual Conference is fast approaching! We have a great line up of panels and an exciting schedule. If you are planning to attend, please register by 11 November, to help us plan attendance and catering. We look forward to seeing you in Cardiff!

Timetable

Thursday, 21 November 2024

Friday, 22 November 2024

  • 9 am–3.30 pm: Conference in the Pierhead Building
  • 4–4.30 pm: Tour of the Senedd

For more details, updates and the full conference programme, please visit our website.

2. Opportunities

Call by Modernisation Committee

The new Modernisation Committee has launched a call for written submissions to hear from different groups, including academics, about ideas how to:

  • drive up standards; 
  • improve culture and working practices; and 
  • reform Parliamentary procedures to make the House of Commons more effective. 

The deadline is 16 December 2024 and all the details can be found here.

The UCL Public Policy team has provided useful tips about giving written and oral evidence to select committees here.

Call by the Electoral Matters Committee of the Parliament of Victoria (Australia) 

The Electoral Matters Committee of the Parliament of Victoria (Australia) is calling for written submissions on possible changes to the electoral structure for the Victoria’s Upper House. Submissions can address any of the following questions:

  1. Should Victoria be divided into regions to elect members of the Upper House, or should all members be elected by the state as a whole?
  2. If there should be regions, how many regions should there be and how many members should each region elect?
  3. How many members of the Upper House should there be in total?
  4. Are there other changes to the way that members are elected to the Upper House that should be considered?

Submissions are due by 3 February 2025.

For more information or to make a submission, please visit the Committee’s webpage or contact the Secretariat at emc@parliament.vic.gov.au.

3. Call for papers

ECPR Joint Sessions Workshop: Beyond Parliamentary Recruitment: Gender and pathways to Power and Influence”, Charles University, 20-23 may, 2025

The workshop “Beyond Parliamentary Recruitment: Gender and Pathways to Power and Influence” is sponsored by the Standing Group on Parliaments and welcomes submissions that focus the complex interplay between gendered structures and resistances to greater diversity and inclusion. 

Deadline for abstract submissions is November, 21. 

Global Political Marketing and Management Conference 5-7 August 2025

The 2025 conference will be the first event for the Global Political Marketing and Political Management network and will be held at the University of Dundee – see the conference website:  The call for paper/presentation proposals and registrations are now open. Contributions are welcome from academics and practitioners from any discipline, organisation and role as long as it is relevant to Political Marketing and Political Management, including discussion of the parliamentary workplace including MPs staff and HR as well as well being, so will be of interest to your members. 

Please send your proposal to gpmmnetwork@dundee.ac.uk by 1 December to be in the first round of those considered for the conference.

4. Events

The Study of Parliament Group’s 60th Anniversary Conference – Westminster, 5 and 6 December 2024

Registrations are now open for the 60’s Anniversary Conference of the Study of Parliament Group. The Conference programme has been published on the SPG website and is attached to this email. Tickets are £25 for two days or £20 per day for SPG Members. Included in the ticket price is lunch and refreshments (including coffee and tea). All tickets are available through Event Brite.

Save the date! – 9th Conference of the ECPR Standing Group on Parliaments: 2-4 July 2025, University of Barcelona

The conference will bring together senior and junior scholars of the field. The academic program will be complemented by a social program including a visit to the Catalan parliament! The conference conveners will soon be inviting proposals for individual papers and entire panels consisting of preferably four (or five) papers.

5. Recent Publications and Resources

Publications

Book

Other Publications and Resources

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

We do not have any new contributions for our Overview of Parliaments Map this month but we are really looking forward for more.

For anybody who wishes to cover any of the countries not yet covered in our map, contact our communications officer Jack.

Categories
News

October 2024 Newsletter

Hello, everyone, happy beginning of the academic year! Exciting times for us at the PSA Parliaments group as we are finalising arrangements for our Annual Conference in November. We have, as per usual, lots of news for you this month.

  1. Registration is now open for our PSA Parliaments Annual Conference
  2. PSA Annual Conference: Call for papers closing soon
  3. Opportunity: Parliament for Researchers session with the House of Lords
  4. Calls for papers
  5. Events
  6. Recent Publications and Resources
  7. On the Blog
  8. 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. Registration is now open for our PSA Parliaments Annual Conference

We have now opened the registration for our PSA Parliaments Annual Conference, which will take place between 21and 22 of November 2024.

We are extremely grateful to the Welsh Parliament | Senedd Cymru, who are hosting and co-sponsoring our full day Conference on Friday 22 November at  the iconic  Pierhead Building, and have also kindly provided the Senedd Foyer for our annual Drinks Reception on Thursday 21 November in the evening. We are also very grateful to Cardiff University and WISERD for hosting our Early Career Researchers Workshop at Sbark|Spark – Cardiff University’s state of the art Social Science Research Park. 

Registration

You can now register here until 11 November: Registration form

We are very excited that the Senedd will host our annual conference on 21-22 November in Cardiff.

Timetable

Thursday, 21 November 2024

Friday, 22 November 2024

  • 9 am–3.30 pm: Conference in the Pierhead Building
  • 4–4.30 pm: Tour of the Senedd

More details, updates and the full conference programme, please visit our website.

2. PSA Annual Conference: Call for papers closing soon

The 75th PSA Annual Conference, “What Next?”, convened by the University of Birmingham and Aston University, will take place from 14-16 April 2025. Abstracts should be submitted to the Ex-Ordo website by 18 October. Detailed instructions can be found here.

If you would like to present in one of our panels, please select “Parliaments” in the ‘Topics’ section, when submitting your abstract.

For our PSA Parliaments panels, we are open to papers on any aspect of parliamentary and legislative studies. We particularly encourage papers on the UK Parliament, the 2024 General Election as a critical juncture for the UK Parliament, 25 years of devolved parliaments, comparative parliamentary studies, representation, scrutiny and accountability.

More information can be found on our website.

3. Opportunity: Parliament for Researchers sessions with the House of Lords

Two new Parliament for Researchers training sessions, in collaboration with Members of the House of Lords, will take place in October 2024. Every session will include an introduction to engaging with Parliament for researchers of all academic backgrounds, and a chance to hear from a Member of the House of Lords on the value of academic research in Parliament. Each session will also explore a specific theme related to the participating member’s expertise and may be of particular interest to researchers working in related disciplines. 

These training events are suitable for early career researchers, PhD students, researchers who are new to engaging with the UK Parliament as well as those who would benefit from a refresher.

Register for the next upcoming session:

Details for future sessions will be shared here.

4. Calls for papers

IPSA Annual Conference 2025, Seoul, South Korea

The Call for Papers for the 28th IPSA World Congress of Political Science, to be held in Seoul, South Korea from 12-16 July 2025, is now open! Paper and closed panel proposals on any political science-related subject are welcome.

Please note the Research Committee Track on Legislative Specialist (RC08), which might be highly relevant for parliamentary scholars. View all Tracks Open to Submissions.

Paper and Closed Panel Submission Deadline: 5 November 2024 

Global Political Marketing and Management Conference 5-7 August 2025

The 2025 conference will be the first event for the Global Political Marketing and Political Management network and will be held at the University of Dundee – see the conference website:  The call for paper/presentation proposals and registrations are now open. Contributions are welcome from academics and practitioners from any discipline, organisation and role as long as it is relevant to Political Marketing and Political Management, including discussion of the parliamentary workplace including MPs staff and HR as well as well being, so will be of interest to your members. 

Please send your proposal to gpmmnetwork@dundee.ac.uk by 1 December to be in the first round of those considered for the conference.

5. Events

Please note the following UCL Constitution Unit events:

6. Recent Publications and Resources

Publications

Open access book

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

7. On the Blog

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

8. Overview of Parliaments Map

We do not have any new contributions for our Overview of Parliaments Map this month but we are really looking forward for more. Our last entry was:

For anybody who wishes to cover any of the countries not yet covered in our map, contact our communications officer Jack.

Categories
News

September 2024 Newsletter

Hello, everyone! The newsletter is finally here and we have lots of news for you.

  1. Our PSA Parliaments Annual Conference: Call for papers closing soon!
  2. PSA Annual Conference 2025: Call for papers
  3. Opportunity: UKRI policy internship with POST
  4. UCL Constitution Unit event: Prospects for the House of Commons Modernisation Committee
  5. New open access book: Liber Amicorum: Making Europe Happen
  6. Recent Publications and Resources
  7. On the Blog
  8. 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. Our PSA Parliaments Annual Conference: Call for papers closing soon!

We are very excited that the Senedd will host our annual conference on 21-22 November in Cardiff.

This is our preliminary timetable:

Thursday, 21 November 2024

  • Daytime: Early-career workshop (Time and venue will be confirmed soon)
  • 6–8 pm: Drinks reception in the Senedd foyer

Friday, 22 November 2024

  • 9 am–4 pm: Conference in the Pierhead Building

The calls for papers for the conference and pre-conference early-career workshop are now open, and the deadline is 16 September. We welcome papers on all aspects of parliaments and legislatures around the world and from different disciplines! In light of the Senedd’s 25th anniversary, we are also keen to receive submissions that focus on the devolved parliaments. 

For the main conference, we also encourage papers by researchers working in parliaments and collaborations between practitioners and academics. Please note that we will ask you to write a blog piece for our blog after the conference. The form to propose a paper for the main conference is available here.

If you are a PhD student, postdoctoral researcher or an early-career academic not in a permanent position, please consider applying for our early-career workshop where you get the opportunity to receive more in-depth feedback on a draft paper. You can find the form here.

More details and updates on our website.

2. PSA Annual Conference 2025: Call for papers

The 75th PSA Annual Conference, “What Next?”, convened by the University of Birmingham and Aston University, will take place from 14-16 April 2025. Abstracts should be submitted to the Ex-Ordo website by 18 October. Detailed instructions can be found here.

If you would like to present in one of our panels, please select our Specialist Group’s name in the ‘Topics’ section, when submitting your abstract.

For our PSA Parliaments panels, we are open to papers on any aspect of parliamentary and legislative studies. We particularly encourage papers on the UK Parliament, the 2024 General Election as a critical juncture for the UK Parliament, 25 years of devolved parliaments, comparative parliamentary studies, representation, scrutiny and accountability.

More information can be found on our website.

3. Opportunity: UKRI Policy Internship with UK Parliament POST

The UK Parliament POST has restructured its individual Fellowship schemes and substituted them with an overarching opportunity called the Policy Internships Scheme. The scheme provides the opportunity for doctoral students funded by the research councils of UKRI to work for three months in a policy organisation.

This scheme is open to doctoral students funded by the Research Councils of UK Research and Innovation (AHRC, BBSRC, ESRC, EPSRC, MRC, NERC and STFC). Internships will take place during 2024 and students must be able to start their internship before the end of their funded period of study.

More information, including on how to apply, is available on POST’s website. Applications are open until 2 October 2024, 4:00 pm.

4. UCL Constitution Unit event: Prospects for the House of Commons Modernisation Committee

The UCL Constitution Unit is hosting a free, online event on 13 September at 1 pm about the prospects for the House of Commons Modernisation Committee.

As the Committee gets up and running this autumn, it faces a number of important questions. How should it approach its work, what issues might it address and what lessons can it learn from past efforts to reform the Commons?

Greg Power (former special adviser to two Leaders of the House of Commons), Dr Sue Griffiths (former Clerk to the House of Commons Modernisation Committee) and Dr Tom Fleming (Lecturer in British and Comparative Politics at UCL), with Prof Meg Russell (Director of the Constitution Unit) as chair, will discuss these questions and more.

Register here.

5. New open access book: Liber Amicorum: Making Europe Happen

Klaus Welle was Secretary-General of the European Parliament from March 2009 to December 2022. In this set of essays in Klaus’s honour, published to mark his 60th birthday, friends and former colleagues in the EU institutions write about the impact he made on the Brussels scene, and notably on the development of the European Parliament, during his tenure at the administrative helm of the Union’s only directly-elected institution.

You can access this open pdf book here.

6. Recent Publications and Resources

Publications

New resources

  • The Institute for Government has made publicly available its Ministers Database, which holds information about all government ministers since 1979 – who served as a minister, in which roles, and their dates in office. The database might be a useful resource for academics and other researchers interested in exploring ministerial churn, gender balance and plenty of other topics. There is also a webinar recording explaining what information the database holds and answering some questions about how to use it.

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

7. On the Blog

We would love to have more contributions ib 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.

Here is a previous blog entry that we thought interesting and relevant in the context of a new parliament:

8. Overview of Parliaments Map

We do not have any new contributions for our Overview of Parliaments Map this month but we are really looking forward for more. Our last entry was:

For anybody who wishes to cover any of the countries not yet covered in our map, contact our communications officer Jack.

Categories
Events News

#PSA25: Call for Papers

The 75th PSA Annual Conference, “What Next?”, co-convened by the University of Birmingham and Aston University, will take place from 14–16 April 2025. The call for papers has opened!

Call for Papers

After careful deliberation, the PSA team have agreed a more streamlined approach to the call for papers, and panels formation for PSA25, which means we are doing things a little differently this year! As opposed to submitting your abstracts directly to our Specialist Group, please log-in to Ex-Ordo via this link and upload your abstract which you intend for review by our Specialist Group by 18 October.

If you don’t already have an Ex-Ordo account, you can create one via the link above. 

  • Once you are logged into the PSA25 Ex Ordo website, click the ‘Dashboard’ link in the top bar. On the dashboard home page, you will see a card that says, ‘SUBMIT ABSTRACT’ and a button labelled ‘Submit Your Abstract Now’ which will take you to the My Submission Portal. 
  • In the My Submission portal, you will find an easy step-by-step process to follow and successfully submit your abstract.
  • When submitting your abstract, please select our Specialist Group’s name in the ‘Topics’ section, which will identify us as the intended recipient and ensure your abstract is sent to us by the PSA team. 

Please note that where there is more than one author per paper, you should also ensure that the ‘Lead Author’ includes the details of the co-authors.

For our Specialist Group panels, we are open to any papers on national, sub-national and supra-national parliaments and legislatures. We particularly encourage papers on the UK Parliament, the 2024 General Election as a critical juncture for the UK Parliament, 25 years of devolved parliaments, comparative parliamentary studies, representation, scrutiny and accountability.

What happens next?

#PSA25 timeline

Please note that you will find out about the status of your abstract in November.

As this is a different approach to submitting your abstract to us, the PSA team has created these step-by-step guidelines to help. If you have any queries regarding this, please don’t hesitate to contact the PSA team via email.

We hope to see many of you in Birmingham next year!

Categories
Events News

Annual Conference 2024: Call for Papers

Save the Date

We are very excited to share that our conference will be held 21-22 November 2024 in Cardiff, Wales.

25 years ago, the Senedd Cymru was first created as the National Assembly for Wales as part of the devolution process. The red-brick Pierhead Building of 1897 in Cardiff Bay is now at the doorstep of the modern glass-fronted Senedd building and has served as the Senedd’s visitor and education centre since 2010. We are very grateful to be able to hold our Annual Conference in this setting, especially since we have such fond memories from our 2019 conference at the Senedd.

After positive feedback from last year, we will again organise a workshop for early-career researchers on Thursday, 21 November 2024. Our traditional pre-conference drinks reception will be on Thursday evening. The venues for the workshop and drinks reception will be confirmed soon.

Calls for Papers

Main conference (22 November)

We invite you to propose papers featuring original research on any parliaments or legislatures around the world. In light of the Senedd’s anniversary, we are keen to receive submissions that focus on the devolved parliaments. We also encourage papers by researchers working in parliaments and collaborations between practitioners and academics.

The deadline for proposing abstracts is 16 September 2024. Please fill in this form. Please note that if accepted, we will ask you to submit a blog post to be published on our blog in the aftermath of the conference.

ECR workshop (21 November)

If you are a PhD student, postdoctoral researcher or an early-career academic not in a permanent position, please consider applying for our pre-conference early-career workshop where you get the opportunity to receive in-depth feedback on a draft paper. We welcome papers on any aspect of parliamentary and legislative studies that you seek to get published. (If you are collaborating with senior colleagues, you should be the main author of the paper.)

The deadline for the workshop proposals is also 16 September 2024, and the application form can be found here. If accepted, we will ask you to share your paper with the other participants and expert discussants two weeks before the event.

If you would like to volunteer to act as a discussant, please let Caroline know. We would be very grateful.

Further details can be found here.

We hope to see you in the Welsh capital in November!

Categories
News

July 2024 Newsletter

Hello, everyone! We are a bit late with the newsletter this month, but all for good reasons! A lot of us will have been busy following the 4th of July General Election and will still be busy with post-election analysis. Our next newsletter will be out on the 2nd of September. Meanwhile, we have lots of news for you this month.

  1. Our Annual Conference: Save the Date!
  2. Our Annual Conference: Call for Papers!
  3. PSA Parliaments Undergraduate Essay Competition: Last call
  4. 25th Anniversary of the Devolved Legislatures in Scotland and Wales
  5. General Election Insights
  6. Recent Publications
  7. Recently on the Blog
  8. 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. Our Annual Conference: Save the Date!

We are very excited to share that we have a date and location for our Annual Conference. The conference will be held 21-22 November 2024 in Cardiff, Wales.

25 years ago, the Senedd Cymru was first created as the National Assembly for Wales as part of the devolution process. The red-brick Pierhead Building of 1897 in Cardiff Bay is now at the doorstep of the modern glass-fronted Senedd building and has served as the Senedd’s visitor and education centre since 2010. We are very grateful to be able to hold our Annual Conference in this setting, especially since we have such fond memories from our 2019 conference at the Senedd.

After positive feedback from last year, we will again organise a workshop for early-career researchers on Thursday, 21 November 2024. Our traditional pre-conference drinks reception will be on Thursday evening. The venues for the workshop and drinks reception will be confirmed soon.

Further details and the call for papers can be found on our website.

2. Our Annual Conference: Call for Papers!

Main conference (22 November) – We invite you to propose papers featuring original research on any parliaments or legislatures around the world. In light of the Senedd’s anniversary, we are keen to receive submissions that focus on the devolved parliaments. We also encourage papers by researchers working in parliaments and collaborations between practitioners and academics.

The deadline for proposing abstracts is 16 September 2024. Please fill in this form. Please note that if accepted, we will ask you to submit a blog post to be published on our blog in the aftermath of the conference.

ECR workshop (21 November) – If you are a PhD student, postdoctoral researcher or an early-career academic not in a permanent position, please consider applying for our pre-conference early-career workshop where you get the opportunity to receive in-depth feedback on a draft paper. We welcome papers on any aspect of parliamentary and legislative studies that you seek to get published. (If you are collaborating with senior colleagues, you should be the main author of the paper.)

The deadline for the workshop proposals is also 16 September 2024, and the application form can be found here. If accepted, we will ask you to share your paper with the other participants and expert discussants two weeks before the event.

If you would like to volunteer to act as a discussant, please let Caroline know. We would be very grateful.

Further details and the call for papers can be found on our website.

We hope to see you in the Welsh capital in November!

3. PSA Parliaments Undergraduate Essay Competition: Last call

The deadline for our undergraduate essay competition is approaching fast. If you are teaching at a UK university and have marked an excellent piece of work by a student, please consider nominating them.

The deadline is 12 July at 5pm BST. You can find all the details here.

4. The 25th Anniversary of the Devolved Legislatures in Scotland and Wales

The Festival of Politics (Monday 19 August to Friday 23 August 2024)

The Scottish Parliament’s Festival of Politics (In partnership with Scotland’s Futures Forum) is happening in August, with a five-day programme of over 30 events, in the home of Scottish politics at Holyrood. More info

25 years of Welsh law-making

To mark the Senedd’s 25th anniversary, Senedd Research has published a special series on 25 years of Welsh law-making. Welsh law-making is still young and has adapted to its changing context, whether initiated from within Wales or externally. The series looks at how the legislative process in the Senedd has changed, the role external bodies and events have played in its evolution and considers the impact of Senedd reforms.

5. General Election Insights

PSA website General Election resources

The PSA has set up a special section on their website to feature resources about the General Election. There is also information about how you can contribute and share your insights. Please see here.

Call for contributions on the PSA Parliaments blog

Over the next few months we are welcoming timely contributions discussing the implications of the General Election for the UK Parliament and the devolved legislatures so please get in touch with our communications officer, Jack.

6. Recent Publications

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

7. Recently on the Blog

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

8. Overview of Parliaments Map

We have one new contribution to our 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.

Categories
News

June 2024 Newsletter

Hello, everyone! We  hope you all enjoyed the late May Bank holiday and that you are as excited as we are about the forthcoming General Election! We have plenty of updates for you this month!

  1. New Book: Reimagining Parliament
  2. PSA Parliaments Undergraduate Essay Competition
  3. Events
  4. Job Opportunities
  5. Call for Papers
  6. Recent Publications
  7. Recently on the Blog
  8. 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. New Book: Reimagining Parliament

David Judge and Cristina Leston-Bandeira have edited a book which does exactly what the title says: Reimagining Parliament. As luck would have it, it was officially published on the day the next general election was announced. This is the ideal literature to distract you from the latest election coverage and rethink the future of the UK parliament.

The main objective of the book is to discuss how the guiding principles of openness, engagement/connectedness, accessibility, inclusion, equality, fairness, responsiveness, and accountability can be reimagined in terms of space, connectivity, and interaction. See our blog for a teaser.

In addition to Cristina and David, the book includes contributions by our friends and colleagues Alexandra MeakinEmma CreweDidier CaluwaertsDaan VermassenHannah WhiteBen YongLucinda Maer, and Paul Evans.

The book has been published by Bristol University Press and is available in paperback, hardback and as an e-book. See here.

2. PSA Parliaments Undergraduate Essay Competition

We are seeking nominations for our Undergraduate Essay Competition. If you are teaching undergraduates in the UK, please consider nominating a student for their excellent written work on any topic related to parliaments and legislatures. In addition to academic recognition, the winning student will get a £100 prize and the runner-up a £50 prize.

The submission deadline is 12 July. For more details, check our website or feel free to contact Caroline.

3. Events

The UCL Constitution Unit vitual panel on: Priorities for new MPs’ induction in the next parliament

The UCL Constitution Unit is hosting a virtual panel on “Priorities for New MPs’ Induction in the Next Parliament”. The experts are Ruth Fox (Director of the Hansard Society), Hannah White (Director of the Institute for Government), Daniel Greenberg (Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards) and Alistair Burt (former Conservative MP), and Meg Russell (Director of the Constitution Unit) will be chairing. The event takes place on 5 June, 1:00-2:15pm. You can sign up here.

The UCL Constitution Unit Conference: New Constitutional priorities for the Next Government 24- 25 June 2024

This two-day conference will bring together a range of senior speakers, including parliamentarians, academics and commentators, to discuss the constitutional priorities for the next government. For more information, see here.

4. Job Opportunities

The University of Edinburgh is offering a three-year fully funded PhD scholarship to work on “Patterns, Practices and Interpretations of Knowledge Use in Parliaments”. The position sits within the Studying Parliaments and the Role of Knowledge (SPARK) led by Marc Geddes. The application deadline is 6 June. More information can be found here.

5. Call for Papers

Parliamentary Affairs call for papers: Special section on the state of British politics in 2024/5

This call for papers, from the editors of Parliamentary Affairs, is for a special section of the journal on the state of British politics in 2024/5. The deadline for proposal submissions is 30 September 2023, with first drafts due at the end of January 2024. 

For more information see here

WFD and AFRODAD call for papers and experts on the role of African parliaments in public debt oversight

The Westminster Foundation for Democracy (WFD) and the African Forum and Network for Debt and Development (AFRODAD) intend to examine the role of African parliaments in public debt oversight. The intention is to  compile a research publication featuring 8 to 10 peer-reviewed articles, each authored by different contributors who will submit full papers after abstract review. The paper abstract deadline is 10 June 2024

For more details and a timeline please see here or contact: Franklin De Vrieze (WFD) or Shem Joshua Otieno (AFRODAD).

6. Recent Publications

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

7. Recently on the Blog

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

8. Overview of Parliaments Map

We have one new contribution to our 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.

Categories
News

May 2024 Newsletter

Hello, everyone! We are two days late from our usual schedule, but we hope you all enjoyed the first May Bank holiday! We have plenty of updates for you this month!

  1. PSA (Parliaments) News
  2. Urgent Questions with Sean Haughey
  3. Undergraduate Essay Competition
  4. Opportunities
  5. Special Issue: Call for Articles
  6. Recent Publications
  7. Recently on the Blog
  8. 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) News

Welcome to Lauren Martin

We are delighted that Lauren Martin is joining our team as our new Treasurer and Membership Officer. Lauren is a PhD student at the University of Sheffield. Her research focuses on the use of the House of Commons e-petition system as a way for citizens to engage with Parliament and explores how they are featured in both individuals’ and organisations’ campaigning activities.

Call for and to Members 

If you have colleagues who are interested in parliaments, consider recommending them to join our specialist group! We are open to members who study legislatures from anywhere around the world, with any theoretical or methodological approaches, from an academic or from a practitioner perspective. Even if parliaments are just a small part of your broader research agenda (for example you are using parliamentary debates to try out a new text analysis technique), we want to hear from you and learn more about your work!

If you supervise or work with PhD students or Early Career Researchers, please forward our details to them, and we’ll be happy to chat if they have any questions. We hold regular events where they can get feedback on papers, like the ECR workshop we held at the LSE in November 2023, and we are keen to plan more ECR events (such as workshops and methods training) in the future.

If you are not a member of the Political Studies Association, consider joining in order to benefit from the full range of PSA events.

Worrying developments at the University of Lincoln and other universities

We are all aware that the UK higher education sector has come under significant financial pressure. More than 50 universities have already opened voluntary severance schemes or announced compulsory redundancies. (The UCU branch at Queen Mary University of London has compiled an overview here.) We also know that the social sciences, arts and humanities tend to be particularly vulnerable to budget cuts.

The PSA, BISA and UACES have recently issued a joint letter regarding the redundancies faced by the Department of Politics & International Relations at Goldsmiths. The University of Huddersfield just announced that around 12% of staff are at risk and at least 12 courses (including sociology) will be axed. Unfortunately, these are just some of the examples highlighting the precarious state of many universities.

As representatives of the community of academics in the subfield of parliamentary studies, we are also very concerned about the news we hear from the University of Lincoln, where one in ten academic staff is facing redundancy. The university is known for excellent parliamentary research and teaching (see e.g. the Lincoln Parliamentary Research Centre), and we stand in solidarity with our colleagues who are affected.

Help Shape the PSA 2025+ Strategy

The PSA’s Trustees want to devise a new strategy to ensure the PSA is clear on its direction and role, and is sustainably resourced, from 2025 to best serve our community in the future. More information can be found here. You can share your thoughts HERE! For further questions please email: strategy@psa.ac.uk

2. Urgent Questions with Sean Haughey

Our outgoing Co-Convenor Sean left us a special present and answered our Urgent Questions. Whether you want to read about an Irishman in Seoul, join in the dream of being a farmer with dogs (many dogs) or need a restaurant recommendation for Wales, you should read Sean’s answers here.

3. Undergraduate Essay Competition

It is that time of the year again! The call for our 2024 undergraduate essay competition has officially opened.

If you are teaching undergraduates in the UK, we are asking you to nominate a student for their excellent written piece on parliaments and legislatures. It is a fantastic opportunity for them to get recognition for their work and even win prize money. More details can be found here.

4. Opportunities

Full-Time and Permanent Job Opportunity at University of Edinburgh 

The School of Social and Political Science at the University of Edinburgh is looking for a Lecturer in (British) Politics. Applicants with expertise in any area of Scottish, British or UK politics (i.e., research on political behaviour and elections/parties; parliaments and other political institutions; and representation and participation) are welcome. This post is open ended, available from September 2024. You can find the job advert here. The deadline for applications is 14 May 2024.

Lectureship in Politics and Gender at Queen Mary University

Queen Mary University of London is seeking a permanent Lecturer in Politics and Gender at the School of Politics and International Relations. The closing date for applications is 26th May 2024. Find more information here.

Commons Library website

The House of Commons Library provides politically impartial research, analysis, statistics and information to help MPs to scrutinise legislation, prepare for debates, develop policies and support their constituents. They want to hear more about how you use the Library website and would be very interested to have a 30-40 minute call with you to discuss your views. Please contact Ed Knight (knightec@parliament.uk) if you would like to participate and we will organise a call.

5. Special Issue: Call for Articles

Please note the following Call for Articles for a special issue of the International Journal of Parliamentary Studies, “Political impartiality in a parliamentary context” (to be published in 2025) edited by Ben Yong (Durham) and Christoph Konrath (Austrian Parliament).

There is a growing interest in the administration of parliaments, and the work of parliamentary officials. This special issue aims to examine a core aspect of parliamentary administration: political impartiality. 

We invite applications with titles, abstracts (maximum 300 words) and short CVs, which should be sent by 31 August 2024 to benjamin.y.yong@durham.ac.uk. Selected candidates will then have to send their articles by 31 March 2025. More details can be found here.

6. Recent Publications

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

7. Recently on the Blog

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

8. Overview of Parliaments Map

We have one new contribution to our 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.

Categories
News

April 2024 Newsletter

Hello, everyone! We hope you all enjoyed the Annual PSA Conference in Glasgow! Here are some highlights for April 2024!

  1. PSA Parliaments at #PSA24 Highlights
  2. Upcoming Parliamentary Studies Conferences and Workshops
  3. Opportunities to Get Involved
  4. Funding Opportunities
  5. Recent Publications
  6. Recently on the Blog
  7. 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,

Seán, Caroline, Diana, Ruxandra, and Jack.

1. PSA Parliaments at #PSA24 Highlights

We were happy to see so many of you attending our panels at the 74th Annual Conference of the Political Studies Association, which took place at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow from 25-27 March 2024. A big thumbs up for the local organisers and big thank you for those attending our panels and AGM. Here are some of the highlights from the conference.

Knowledge and specialisation in parliaments

We had one panel on the first day of the conference. This was focused on knowledge and specialisation in parliaments. The first paper, by Stephen Bates (Birmingham), Caroline Bhattacharya (Helsinki), and Stephen McKay (Lincoln) looked at patterns of MPs taking specialist or generalist career pathways in the UK House of Commons between 2001-2019. The second presentation outlined results from research done by Marc Geddes (Edinburgh) and Jack Liddall (Cambridge) on how Select Committees in the UK House of Commons gather evidence, and from whom. The third paper, by Vicky Ward (St Andrews) and Mark Monaghan (Loughborough niversity), unpacked how parliamentary officials understand and practice ‘impartiality’ in parliamentary research services. Concluding the panel, Cherry Miller (Helsinki) explored how parliamentary diplomacy is interpreted and practiced by the UK and EU member states.

Speech and Presence in Parliaments

We kicked off day two of the conference with a panel on speech and presence in parliaments. Kiwi Ting (Reading) began by presenting his latest research on House of Commons debates during the Covid-19 pandemic, comparing whether virtual speeches are more or less ‘influential’ than speeches made in person. This led to some excellent questions about what actually constitutes ‘influence’ in a speech, and the different ways in which parliamentary scholars could measure this. Next up we had Coree Brown Swan (Stirling) who used maiden speeches to analyse how Scottish National Party MPs rhetorically construct and define their (outsider) role in the House of Commons. For linguists this was an especially fascinating paper, but unfortunately Corree could not be persuaded into donning her best Scottish accent when discussing an array of Scottish colloquialisms! Paul Lam (National Tsinghua University) presented a very timely paper, which used social network analysis to explore the role of clientelism and brokerage in Hong Kong’s ‘reformed’ electoral system. Paul’s paper received lots of questions, particularly about the potential for comparison between Hong Kong and other regimes experiencing democratic backsliding. The panel ended with a paper from Sebastian Ludwicki-Ziegler (Sterling), who compared the role of Parliamentary Assistants (PAs) in the Scottish and Finnish parliaments, and left us in no doubt that PAs do a lot for their MPs – in person and via WhatsApp(!) – and, by extension, make a crucial contribution to wider parliamentary systems.

Exploring Participation and Public Engagement

Our third panel focused on participation and public engagement in parliaments. We had two great methodological contributions, one from Prof. Cristina Leston-Bandeira and Dr. Blagovesta Tacheva (Leeds) providing extremely useful insights on how to engage seldom-heard groups in political research, and  the other one from Dr. Alex Prior and Dr. Samuel Johnson-Schlee (London Southbank)  and Dr. Ryan Swift (IPPR) exploring go-along research in the UK Parliament.  The other two papers explored parliamentary public engagement in Latin America, by Dr. Khemvirg Puente from the National Autonomous University of Mexico), and the added value of citizen engagement in the EU, by Mr. Paul Kindermann from the London School of Economics.

Accountability and Scrutiny

Our final panel of the conference included research on accountability and scrutiny. Kento Ohara (Oxford) presented the theoretical framework of his PhD research, looking at how parliamentary reform referring to executive accountability could be measured. Next, Nathaniel Sablan and Matthew Flinders (Sheffield) outlined the main themes of a new research project investigating the work of Select Committees in the UK House of Lords. The final paper, by Steven Barnett (Westminster) and Judith Townsend (Sussex), explored patterns of legacy publisher influence on UK media policy.

AGM

We also held our AGM on the second day and we were delighted with the excellent turnout and the useful discussions and feedback. We said farewell to Seán, who stepped back from his co-convenor role, and we welcomed Ruxandra as co-covenor, who stepped up from her Treasurer and Membership Officer role. We wished Seán all the best in his new research endeavors and called out for any interest in the treasurer and membership officer role.

There is a lot we took away from our discussions and feedback. As a team we will consider and further deliberate on some of the issues raised (future of our Annual Conference, social events at the PSA Conference etc) and we will let everyone know what decisions we come at.

2. Upcoming Parliamentary Studies Conferences and Workshops

Women in Legislative Studies Conference

The 2024 Women in Legislative Studies Annual Conference will be held 20-21 September 2024 at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in Madison, WI. All women and non-binary scholars studying legislative politics or legislative-adjacent topics are welcome.

The application deadline is 30 April. You can apply to attend, present, chair and/or act as a discussant here.

Westminster Foundation for Democracy: Post-legislative scrutiny (PLS) clinic on public consultation and participation

On the 19th of April (9:00 – 10:15am UK time) the Westminster Foundation for Democracy is organising an online event on the topic of public consultation and participation in the context of post-legislative scrutiny in parliaments.  

You can find all info on the content, speakers and the registration link here.

3. Opportunities to Get Involved

Call for written submissions for the Welsh Parliament / Senedd Reform Bill Committee

The Reform Bill Committee would like to hear diverse views on the Senedd Cymru (Electoral Candidate Lists) Bill. If passed, the Bill will introduce an integrated statutory gender quota to the Closed List Proportional Representation electoral system expected to be introduced by the Senedd Cymru (Members and Elections) Bill.

Further information, including the terms of reference for our work and how you can share your views, can be found on the consultation webpage. The closing date for written evidence is Friday 12 April 2024.

Scottish Parliament Fellowship Scheme

This Academic Fellowship Scheme, which is managed and hosted by the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (SPICe), enables academics to work on projects with the Parliament in support of this purpose. They are  are now inviting bids via this application form for the following topics: 

There is also an Open Call whereby requests for fellowship proposals are considered from academics on any topic relevant to parliamentary business, in particular original, analytical or primary research. Applicants for the open call  should email a one-page document outlining their proposed project, and also send a cv to academia@parliament.scot

Deadlines:

  • Topic Areas (see above): Friday 3 May 2024 at 5.00pm.
  • Open Call: Friday 26 April 2024 at 5.00pm.

For further information including eligibility requirements, application process and answers to some frequently asked questions see:

Guide to the Scottish Parliament Academic Fellowship Scheme

4. Funding Opportunities

UKICE small grant fund: Apply now

UK in a Changing Europe (UKICE) is offering support for small-scale projects (max. 6 months) that explore the topics of political behaviour and public opinion in the context of party politics (e.g. voter responses to campaigns, Brexit and electoral choice, immigration and vote choice, polling methods and accuracy). ESRC will fund 80% of the full economic cost, which should not exceed £30,000. The deadline for application is 30 April. You can find out the eligibility criteria and details of the call here.

5. Recent Publications

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

6. Recently on the Blog

If you have an idea for a blog on some aspect of parliamentary study, please get in touch with our new communications officer, Jack. We will be posting more blogs from those who presented at our Annual Conference last November, so watch this space!

7. Overview of Parliaments Map

We have one new contribution to our Overview of Parliaments Map:

  • Ecuador by Pablo Valdivieso Carrillo – PhD candidate at University of Oxford has written on the Ecuadorian Parliament

For anybody who wishes to cover any of the countries not yet covered in our map, contact our communications officer Jack.

Categories
News

PSA Parliaments at #PSA24

We are excited to present you four panels at the 74th Annual Conference of the Political Studies Association , which will be held at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow from 25-27 March 2024 (more information here).

Our first panel on Knowledge and Specialisation in Parliaments (chaired by Ruxandra Serban) is scheduled for the afternoon session on the first day, Monday 25th March.

On Tuesday, the 26th March, we are convening three more panels, so you can stay with us the entire day. Firstly, we will have presentations on the theme of Speech and Presence in Parliaments (chaired by Sean Haughey) in the morning.

We will also hold an Annual General Meeting at 11am to make a few announcements and gather input from our members. Please join us in the same room (Conference Room 1) as our panels.

After lunch, we continue with a panel on Exploring Participation and Public Engagement (chaired by Diana Stirbu).

Our final panel features work on Accountability and Scrutiny (chaired by Ruxandra Serban) from parliaments across the globe.

We would be very delighted if you could join us for these panels and engage in the discussions on the latest research in parliamentary studies.

Follow our Twitter/X account for the latest updates closer to the conference and on the days of the panels.

See you in Glasgow!