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Events News

Reflections on PSA Parliaments Annual Conference 2025


PSA Parliaments Specialist Group continues to go from strength to strength! Our #PSAParl25 Annual Conference on the 27th-28th November was a fantastic gathering of parliamentary scholars throughout the UK and beyond, with four fascinating panels and a highly successful Early Careers Researchers workshop.

Thanks to the efforts of our Events Officer, Grace Cooper, we were generously hosted by the Department of Politics and International Relations at the University of York, with funding support from The White Rose Doctoral Training Partnership.

The King’s Manor in York also provided a spectacular setting for our presentations and discussions.

Please enjoy this selection of photos from our various panels and workshops!

Below, we have also kept the conference schedule and the topics and details of our various panellists.

Our convening committee thanks you for coming to the conference! We were also delighted to announce that Professor Richard Whitaker will be taking over from Professor Diana Stirbu as Co-Convener of the group at the PSA Conference next year. From left to right: Jack Liddall (Comms Officer); Ruxandra Serban (Co-Convener); Rick Whitaker (soon-to-be Co-Convener); Lauren Martin (Membership Officer); Grace Cooper (Events Officer); and Diana Stirbu (Co-Convener).

Pictured: Panellists on gender and representation; Grace Cooper presenting

Pictured: Panellists on knowledge and performance in parliaments; Dr Ewan Robertson presenting

Pictured: Charlie Feldman presenting on the legislative process and scrutiny panel

Pictured: Eliza Sinclair Kidd receiving her prize in the Undergraduate Essay competition, with her supervisor Dr Marc Geddes

Pictured: conference attendees enjoying York’s Thor’s tipi post-conference

CONFERENCE TIMINGS

DateTimeEventLocation
Thursday, 27 November 202511:00 am – 3:00 pmEarly-Career WorkshopUniversity of York, YO10 5DD (specific room TBC)
6:00 – 7:30 pmDrinks ReceptionThe House of the Trembling Madness, 14 Lendal, York, YO1 8AA
7:45 pmInformal, Self-Sponsored DinnerMarzano Italian Grill, Bridge House, Fossgate, York, YO1 9SY
Friday, 28 November 20259:00 am – 4:00 pmConferenceThe Huntingdon Room (K/122), Kings Manor, University of York, YO1 7EP

SCHEDULE FOR 28TH NOVEMBER

TimeActivity
09:00 – 09:10Arrival & Networking
09:10 – 10:30Panel 1
10:30 – 10:45Morning Break
10:45 – 12:05Panel 2
12:05 – 12:15UG Essay Competition Prize Winners Announcement
12:15 – 13:00Lunch Break
13:00 – 14:20Panel 3
14:20 – 14:35Afternoon Break
14:35 – 15:55Panel 4
15:55 – 16:00Closing Remarks

PANEL DETAILS

Panel 1: Gender and representation 9:10 – 10:30

Chair: Diana Stirbu

Erven Lauw: The symbolic effect of women in politics on trust in parliament: A multilevel panel study


Sanwal Hussain: Reserved gender quota in the parliament: Evidence from Pakistan


Grace Cooper: Networked representation: Understanding the processes of political advocacy for refugees in the UK select committee system


Ekaterina Kolpinskaya: Same building, different houses: How environment, practices and expectations shape disability inclusion of MPs and peers

Panel 2: Historical and procedural perspectives 10:45 – 12:05

Chair: Ruxandra Serban


James Strong: Parliaments make war and war makes parliaments: The case of the United Kingdom


Tom Fleming: Understanding procedure committees in the UK House of Commons, 1854–2024


Nimako Kuffour Anning: The use and essence of the dispatch box in parliamentary chambers: Historical and procedural perspectives from Commonwealth legislatures


Hoi Yu Ng: The impact of live broadcast on parliamentary speeches in autocracy: The case of Singapore

Panel 3: Legislative processes and scrutiny 13:00 – 14:20

Chair: Richard Whitaker


Charlie Feldman: Senate public bills in Canada: What goes up must bring something down?


Lisa James: Conservative governments and the House of Lords: Policy conflict and compromise, 2010–24


Kubra Aslan: Legislative duration and opposition obstruction under democratic backsliding: Evidence from Turkey, 2002–2018


Methmini Wijesinghe: Unpacking executive dominance in the legislative process: Exploring the role of legislative scrutiny in upholding democratic governance in Sri Lanka


Jack Liddall: Parliamentary scrutiny of intergovernmental relations: A case study of agriculture and fisheries policy

Panel 4: Knowledge and legislative performance in parliaments 14:35 – 15:55

Chair: Lauren Martin


Marc Geddes: Parliaments and the role of knowledge: A critical review


Ewan Robertson: Who is heard in parliamentary policy debates? A study of stakeholder patterns in the committees of the Spanish and Catalan legislatures


Naomi Gibson: Frontstage and backstage: Theatricality and visibility in the House of Commons


Julien Navarro: Who responds to parliamentary performance? Voter characteristics and the electoral payoff of parliamentary work in France

Categories
Events News

Reflections on PSA Parliaments at #PSA25


We were very busy at the PSA Conference in Birmingham, with lots of interesting new research, a busy AGM and fun social event at Rudy’s Pizza!

Our Panels

PSA25 began with the panel ‘Crisis, conflict and containment in parliamentary settings,’ featuring a rich mix of theory, quantitative work, and cases from multiple continents. Professor Rick Whitaker (Leicester) and Dr Philip Lynch explored ‘consensus and conflict’ in
House of Commons committees, examining divisions over inquiry reports. Dr Nathan Critch (Manchester), with Dr Dillon Wamsley and Dr Joseph Ward (Sheffield), analysed the ‘politics of containment’ in contemporary UK politics. Damilola Olorunshola (Bayreuth) discussed Nigeria’s post-COVID recovery for small businesses, and Kubra Aslan (York) examined Turkey’s ‘authoritarian drift’ and the opposition’s role in democratic backsliding.

We continued with a fascinating panel titled ‘Leadership in parliamentarism and the executive-legislative relationships’. Two of the papers provided a rich UK historical perspective on political leadership, whilst the third one added a very interesting comparative angle with a case study from sub-state legislative level in Mexico. Dr. James Strong from the Queen Mary University London explored leadership in the House of Commons in wartime through a series of insightful examples from history, and Mr. Peter Just, from the Centre for Legislative Studies at the University of Hull, explored the relationship of former Prime Ministers with the UK Parliament. The panel ended with an analysis of the legislative
process in the approval of the budget in the state of Guanajuato in Mexico, which highlighted significant political and institutional dynamics shaping the process.

We ended the first day with a panel on parliamentary reform and public engagement. PSA Parliaments Treasurer and Membership Officer Lauren Martin (Sheffield) presented updates from her research on e-petitions. Dr Louise Thompson (Manchester) and Prof Cristina Leston-Bandeira talked about Westminster Hall, and what its changing roles reveal about parliamentary reform. This was followed by a fascinating presentation on engagement in a
multi-level parliamentary environment in Belgium, by Dr Sofia Serra-Silva (Lisbon). Next, Dr Tom Fleming (UCL) presented a new typology of procedural change in parliaments, drawing
on types of changes in the UK House of Commons procedures.

Our second day of panels began with a fascinating session on  ‘Parliament as a workplace and organisational practices’. It began with a fascinating presentation from Dr James Weinberg at the University of Sheffield with his research on the mental health of MPs and in particular the unique stresses faced by incoming MPs. This was followed by Dr Alex Prior at London South Bank University and Dr Louise Thompson at the University of Manchester who discussed their research on the effectiveness of parliamentary member organisations, namely the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association.  Then Andre Vella of the University of Birmingham, rounded up our morning panel with his fantastic presentation on parliamentary immunity in commonwealth legislative assemblies. This was a very interesting panel, with each of our speakers engaging with the behaviour, speeches and health of parliamentarians across institutions and in differing contexts. 

The panel on legislative scrutiny also brought together interesting new research from our members. Dr Marc Geddes (Edinburgh) presented recent work from his project on how
select committees gather evidence, focusing on who gets cited in select committee reports. Dr Tom Caygill (Nottingham Trent) shared new findings on post-legislative scrutiny in the
Scottish Parliament. Zhan Chen (PhD candidate at Edinburgh) presented to our specialist group for the first time, with some initial findings from her PhD on voting alliances in the UK
House of Commons. We ended with research on select committee chairs and their impact in a paper by Dr Stephen Holden Bates (Birmingham), Dr Caroline Bhattacharya (Helsinki) and
Dr Calixte Bloquet (IPPR Berlin).

We finished our time at PSA25 with the panel ‘Representation and gendered patterns of parliamentary behaviour’. We started with Rainbow Murray’s (QMUL) research on gendered participation and conduct in parliamentary debates, which was complemented by Resul Umit’s (Durham) presentation on gendered interactions in the House of Commons. We then heard all about weddings, banquets and funerals from Tao Wang (Manchester), who was presenting his research on constituency relationships in Taiwan. We finished the panel – and our time at PSA25 – by hearing from Naira Al Iawati (Oman) on gender dynamics in the
Omani elected lower house. All four presentations provided interesting insights on representation and gendered parliamentary behaviour, demonstrating important similarities and differences across the world.

Our AGM

Thank you very much for all of you who attended our AGM. It was good to see so many of you there. Our AGM was dominated by four important matters:

  1. Saying good-bye to our co-convenor, Dr. Caroline Battharachya, who stepped down in April after serving the convening team of PSA Specialist group for two terms. We want to thank Caroline again for all the work she has done, congratulate her on her
    passing her VIVA successfully and for the new job, and wish her all the best in the future.
  2. Welcoming Grace Cooper (PhD candidate at the University of York) to our convening team as our Events Officer. Grace has long been a friend of the PSA Parliaments, and we are thrilled to start working with her.
  3. Our PSA Parliaments Annual Conference will continue to happen annually and we are actively looking for hosting partner institutions for this year. So, if you are interested
    in hosting us this year, please let us know by emailing Grace
    (grace.cooper@york.ac.uk) Diana (d.stirbu@lonodnmet.ac.uk) or Ruxandra (ruxandra.serban.13@ucl.ac.uk).
  4. We took a decision (not an easy one) to charge a small fee for the PSA Parliaments Annual Conference from this year. This will add more sustainability to our annual conference and potentially free up some funding to support other activities during the year. We will keep you posted with developments and hopefully announce the location of the November conference soon.

Celebrating the excellence of our members

We want to congratulate once again our PSA Parliaments members Prof. Cristina Leston-Bandeira (University of Leeds) and Dr. Alexandra Meakin (University of Leeds) for their
fantastic and well-deserved academic prizes. Prof. Leston-Bandeira was celebrated by the PSA and awarded the Sir Isaiah Berlin Prize for outstanding professional contributions to political studies, whilst Dr. Meakin was awarded the Sir Bernard Crick Prize outstanding contributions to advancing teaching and learning in political studies by an early career academic.

Categories
Events News

PSA Parliaments at #PSA25

The PSA Annual Conference is around the corner, and we are very excited to share the details of the six panels that we are hosting during the first two days of the conference. We are delighted to have such a diverse group of familiar and new faces to present their work on a range of topics.

Please note all panels will take place in room LOB101 in the Library of Birmingham.

On Monday, 14th April, we kick off with a panel on Crisis, conflict, and containment in parliamentary settings at 9:30am. This will be followed by our Annual General Meeting (in the same room) at 11:30am. After lunch, we continue with two panels, starting with one on Leadership in parliamentarism and the executive–legislative relationship and another one on Parliamentary reform and public engagement.

PanelsDay1

We are hosting a social (self-sponsored) pizza night after the conference drinks reception at 7.45pm. If you would like to join us, please fill in this form:

Our panels on Tuesday, 15th April, begin at 9:30am with one on Parliament as a workplace and organisational practices. At 1.30pm, we host a panel on Legislative scrutiny and parliamentary responsiveness. We finish the second conference day with a panel on the topic of Representation and gendered patterns of parliamentary behaviour.

PanelsDay2

We are really looking forward to seeing you in Birmingham!

Categories
News

March 2025 Newsletter

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.

  1. PSA Parliaments Undergraduate Essay Competition 2025: Now open!
  2. Members’ Spotlight
  3. Opportunities
  4. Call for Papers
  5. Recent Publications
  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. 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.

Categories
News

February 2025 Newsletter

Hello, everyone! 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.

  1. Reminder: PSA General Conference, Birmingham, 14-16 April 2025
  2. Calls for Papers
  3. Opportunities
  4. Upcoming Events
  5. Recent Publications
  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 General Conference, Birmingham, 14–16 April 2025

Key Reminders for PSA25 Delegates

Paper Givers Registration Deadline:

All paper presenters must register by 10 February 2025 to ensure inclusion in the final programme. If you haven’t yet registered, you can do so here.

Panel Sessions Format:

  • Panel sessions are 90 minutes long, with 60 minutes for presentations and at least 30 minutes for discussion and audience questions.
  • Presenters will have 15–20 minutes each, adjusted by the Chair if there are more than four papers in a session.
  • Please ensure you bring your presentation on a USB stick, along with any necessary adapters for HDMI connection, as full papers are not required.

Booking Hotels and Accommodation

The conference is taking place in the heart of the city, being a 10-minute walk away from the main train station (Birmingham New Street) and surrounded by various hotels. We encourage you to secure accommodation sooner than later as the conference is just around the corner!

Early Bird Registration

The early-bird registration for the PSA Annual Conference is still open until 21 February 2025. Daily rates are available for early-career members. All information can be found here and the outline programme has been published.

Late Paper Submissions 

The PSA25 Late Paper Submissions form is now available for those who wish to propose paper abstracts for inclusion in specific panels in the conference programme. To learn more and submit your abstract, please visit the PSA25 event page on our website. The deadline for submissions is 14 February 2025, 12pm GMT.

2. Calls for Papers

Reminder: Conference of the ECPR Standing Group on Parliaments, 2–4 July, Barcelona, University of Barcelona

The ECPR Standing Group on Parliaments is hosting its 9th flagship conference this summer in vibrant Barcelona, offering an invaluable experience for anyone studying or researching in the field. 

  • The Call for Panels and Papers is still open until 12 February 2025.
  • Registration deadline is 19 March 2025.
  • For more information, please click here.

Women in Legislative Studies (WiLS) Virtual Research Workshop, 25 April  2025

WiLS is offering a virtual research workshop for scholars at all levels. The workshop will be divided into morning and afternoon sessions and will run from 10 am to 4 pm EST (with a break for lunch). For more information, please contact:

Proposals are due by the end of Wednesday, February 5. The full conference program will be available in late-February. If you are interested in participating as a presenter or discussant please fill this form.

3. Opportunities

Opportunity to join the PSA Executive Committee

The PSA seeks at least two new trustees for its Executive Committee, including the role of Honorary Secretary. This is a great opportunity to contribute to enhancing the study of Politics and International Relations and build your own profile. Nominations close on 10 March 2025, and you can find out more here.

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.

Scottish Parliament: Research opportunity

The Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body (SPCB) is seeking to award a contract for research that will support the SPCB Supported Bodies Landscape Review Committee’s inquiry. This desk-based research will set out how other countries set up their commissioners (and why) and how their outcomes are measured. It will support the Committee’s understanding of how other models work in the UK and internationally, and whether aspects of these models could be applied to the Scottish landscape.

For more information and how to obtain a ‘Quotation Pack’, please email academia@parliament.scot quoting Reference: 2023-24/02/SSBLR. The deadline for quotes is 23:59 on Sunday 16 February 2025.

4. Upcoming Events

UCL Constitutional Unit: Improving Parliamentary Scrutiny of Legislation, 24 February, 1-2.15pm


The Constitution Unit at the UCL is organising an exciting expert panel on improving parliamentary scrutiny of legislation. Recent years have seen frequent complaints about the quality of legislative scrutiny by parliament, and particularly by the House of Commons. Various commentators and experts have argued that the scrutiny of proposed laws is too often rushed and/or inadequate, leading to worse policy outcomes for citizens. This online seminar will explore a number of important questions. What problems are there with the legislative process? Have they got worse? And what can be done to fix them?

Speakers:

  • Professor Meg Russell – Director of the Constitution Unit
  • Sir David Natzler – former Clerk of the House of Commons
  • Dr Daniel Gover – Senior Lecturer in British Politics, Queen Mary University of London

Chair: Lisa James – Senior Research Fellow, Constitution Unit

For more information please see here.

5. Recent Publications

Other 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

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

Categories
News

January 2025 Newsletter

Hello, everyone! We want to wish you all a very Happy New Year! 2025 looks like a busy year for parliamentary scholars already. We have lots of exciting calls for you in this first newsletter of the year.

  1. PSA General Conference, Birmingham, 14-16 April 2025
  2. PSA Academic Prizes
  3. PSA Parliaments Members Survey
  4. Calls for Papers
  5. Opportunities
  6. Upcoming Events
  7. Urgent Questions
  8. Recent Publications
  9. On the Blog
  10. 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 General Conference, Birmingham, 14–16 April 2025

The outline programme for the PSA 75th Annual International Conference has been released, and we are happy to host six panels. We are looking forward to seeing many of you in Birmingham.

The early-bird registration is open until 21 February 2025. For Early Career Network members, daily rates are available. More information here.

2. PSA Academic Prizes

The PSA awards a number of prizes for dissertations, professional contributions, research and teaching. The deadline for nominations is on 24 January 2025.

More details on the nomination process can be found here.

3. PSA Parliaments Members Survey

Thank you to everyone who has already filled in our members survey. We are gathering your viewpoints to plan our priorities and activities.

We are still looking to hear from our members until 24 January 2025. It should only take a couple of minutes to fill in the form.

4. Call for Papers

Conference of the Standing Group on Parliaments, 2–4 July, Barcelona, University of Barcelona

The ECPR Standing Group on Parliaments is hosting its 9th flagship conference this summer in vibrant Barcelona, offering an invaluable experience for anyone studying or researching in the field.  The Call for Panels and Papers now open and inviting proposals on national, sub-national, or international parliaments. Submissions  focusing on under-researched regions are strongly encouraged.

Panel and paper proposals deadline: 12 February 2025. 

Registration deadline: 19 March 2025.

For more information please click here.

4th Global Conference on Parliamentary Studies, Athens, 13 June 2025

The Hellenic OCR Team and Széchenyi István University, in cooperation with International Journal of Parliamentary Studies and Brill invite thought leaders to address the challenges and opportunities of our time, where technology, media and geopolitical shifts intersect with democratic governance. The conference theme is: “Reinventing Democracy for the 21st Century”.

Submissions are welcome from scholars at all career stages (including PhD students and post-doctoral researchers), as well as practitioners with relevant academic backgrounds such as law, political science, social sciences, informatics and engineering.

Abstract submission deadline: 28 February 2025. Submit your abstract here.  

More information about the event can be found here.

5. Opportunities

Updated guidance: contributing your research to POSTnotes and briefings

The Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology (POST) have simplified and updated its guidance for researchers to share their expertise and provide contributions to POST’s work, such as POSTnotes and briefings for parliamentarians.
Researchers can feed into POST research projects by following the instructions on the contributing to POST research as an expert webpage. Contributions can be emailed to post@parliament.uk within specified deadlines. 

Call for evidence: The Speaker’s Conference on the security of candidates, MPs and elections (UK Parliament)

On 14 October 2024 the House of Commons agreed a motion to establish a committee, to be known as the Speaker’s Conference, to consider: the factors influencing the threat levels against candidates and MPs, and the effectiveness of the response to such threats. 

The committee is currently accepting written evidence from anyone with answers to the questions in the call for evidence. You can submit evidence until Friday 7 February 2025.

6. Upcoming Events

ECPR General Conference 2025, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 26–29 August 2025 

The ECPR Standing Group on Parliaments endorsed Section S08 on Advancing the Study of Parliaments: Structures, Actors and Processes at a Crossroads.

This section seeks to advance our study of parliaments as critical institutions in representative democracies, and to examine how the role and importance of parliaments has evolved over time. It focuses on the structures and organisational aspects of parliaments, as well as key actors and their relationships within and outwith these institutions (such as individual parliamentarians, parliamentary party groups, administrative staff or external stakeholders), and the processes and practices inside these political arenas. 

For more information please see here.

7. Urgent Questions with Richard Whitaker

For those of you who have missed our latest Urgent Questions with Prof. Richard in the December newsletter, worry not! You can still read it here.

8. Recent Publications

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

9. 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.

  • Westminster Hall: Parliament’s Best Kept Secret?, by Cristina Leston-Bandeira and Louise Thompson. This blog is based on a paper presented by the authors to the Annual Conference of the PSA Parliaments group in November 2024 at the Senedd Cymru in Cardiff.

10. 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

December 2024 Newsletter

Hello, everyone! The end of the year is nearly here – how time flies!!! We held our Annual Conference in November and we are now wrapping up 2024 with our last newsletter of the year. We have some nice conference highlights for you and the usual interesting news.

  1. PSA Parliaments Annual Conference: Highlights
  2. Our UG Essay Competition Winners
  3. PSA Parliaments Membership and Survey
  4. Opportunities
  5. Calls for papers
  6. Urgent Questions
  7. Recent Publications
  8. On the Blog
  9. 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 Annual Conference: Highlights

Last month, we held our Annual Conference and were absolutely delighted to welcome close to 50 participants for the main event. It was great to see so many familiar faces as well as new ones.

On Thursday, 21 November, WISERD hosted us at Cardiff University for our early-career workshop. We then gathered at the Senedd for our traditional drinks reception with a special keynote by the Deputy Presiding Officer David Rees MS. This was followed by an informal dinner on the other side of the bay.

On Friday, 22 November, the main conference took place in the beautiful Pierhead Building, featuring three exciting panels with very high-quality presentations throughout (as we were told by several attendees afterwards). We heard about a wide range of topics and had engaging discussions with many great questions form the audience. Massive thanks to the Senedd Cymru and their research unit for hosting us and sponsoring the lunch.

Please see here for all the highlights!

2. Our UG Essay Competition Winners

At the conference, we also announced the winners of our annual undergraduate essay competition. We received many excellent submissions and the winning essays displayed an outstanding level of analysis. We thank Stephen Holden Bates (University of Birmingham) for being our external judge this year!

The winner is Colin Wilson who was nominated by Philip Cowley of Queen Mary University of London. He wrote a “Parliamentary Studies Research Portfolio” with three mini-studies.

The runner-up is Lola Clugston, nominated by Stephen Elstub of Newcastle University, for her essay on “Enhancing the Impact of Select Committees in the UK Parliament: A Focus on MP Engagement”.

We are thrilled to award both students their well-deserved prizes of £100 and £50 and wish them best of luck for their postgraduate studies! Thank you and congratulations also to the nominating academics!

You can read the judging panel’s feedback and both essays here.

3. PSA Parliaments Membership and Survey

PSA Parliaments membership

If you like what we do and want to support our activities, please consider becoming a member of the UK Political Studies Association (PSA) if you have not already, and join us officially there. Or, if you think one of your colleagues would benefit from a PSA membership or from just receiving our newsletter, please spread the word (all information available here). Our membership figures (PSA members and newsletter subscribers) determine our budget and, thus, the activities we can offer.

The PSA is currently looking into revising its membership structure and assessing the potential of introducing a new affiliate category. We, as a Specialist Group, are supportive of this idea and believe it may allow more of our non-PSA members, especially practitioners, to get involved. We will keep you updated.

Members Survey

We are conducting this survey to gather more viewpoints and wishes regarding our activities and events. This will help us to align our work closely with the expectations of our members while considering our limited resources. The results will be used to inform our planning process and guide us in setting our priorities for the next couple of years.

Thank you for taking the time to fill this in!

4. Opportunities

Call by Modernisation Committee: Reminder

We want to remind you that the new Modernisation Committee has launched a call for written submissions to hear from different groups, including academics. This is a great opportunity to feed your research findings into parliamentary reform.

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

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

PSA Women & Politics Specialist Groups Mid-Career Researcher Mentoring Programme 

Are you a mid-career member of the PSA? The PSA Women & Politics SG is hosting a Mid-Career Researcher (MCR) Mentoring Programme tailored specifically to the needs of women in academia following a research track. This initiative responds to a critical need to address the career development of scholars beyond their first promotion, offering tailored support to navigate the challenges unique to mid-career professionals. 10 places are available, with bursary support provided towards travel and accommodation for each participant 

Location: PSA office, Camden, London  | Dates: Thursday 23 January and Friday 24 January 2025 

Apply to register by 5pm Monday 2nd December. 

Find out more, including how to apply, here.

5. Call for Papers

4th Global Conference on Parliamentary Studies, Athens, Greece, Friday, 13 June 2025

This is an opportunity  for academics, researchers and practitioners to explore “Reinventing Democracy for the 21st Century”. Set in the birthplace of democracy, this unique gathering invites thought leaders to address the challenges and opportunities of our time, where technology, media and geopolitical shifts intersect with democratic governance. 

The conference is jointly organized by the Hellenic OCR Team and Széchenyi István University.

Submit your abstract by 28 February 2025, and learn more about the event here. 

6. Urgent Questions with Richard Whitaker

Our popular Urgent Questions feature is back! Richard Whitaker, Professor of Politics at the University of Leicester and currently a Parliamentary Academic Fellow, has told us why the NHS is responsible for him choosing an academic career, about his passion for working in Parliament and – a familiar theme to our loyal readers – music.

Watch out for the yellow jumper! You can read all of Rick’s answers here.

7. Recent Publications

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

8. 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.

9. 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

Annual Conference: Highlights

Our 2024 annual conference kicked off on Thursday, 21 November in Cardiff University’s sbarc|spark building, a state-of-the-art facility that provided an inspiring backdrop for our early-career workshop. Our gratitude to WISERD for hosting us. Jack Liddall (University of Cambridge / University of Edinburgh) presented a paper on parliamentary oversight of intergovernmental relations in the UK. Lauren Martin (University of Sheffield) shared her research on the interactions between citizens and the UK Parliament during e-petitioning campaigns. Both papers offered novel insights based on primary interview data and document analysis. We are extremely grateful to the discussants, Jo Hunt (Cardiff University), Larissa Peixoto Vale Gomes (University of Edinburgh), Stephen Holden Bates (University of Birmingham) and Richard Whitaker (University of Leicester), who devoted time to providing thoughtful and encouraging feedback.

Our Co-convenor Diana Stirbu welcomed many of our conference participants at the evening drinks reception, where old acquaintances were reconnected and new ones made. We were in for a treat, as our guest speaker the Deputy Presiding Officer David Rees MS delivered an engaging keynote address on the evolution of the Senedd with first-hand insights into the decision-making processes that led to the reforms for the 2026 elections. He encouraged us to examine the developments in the Senedd closely and feed into future discussions, reminding us that a full review is due to be conducted after the elections. After the drinks reception, we headed to the other side of Cardiff Bay to the Duchess of Delhi for an informal dinner, providing an opportunity for further catching up over delicious Indian food.

On Friday, 22 November, the setting of the Senedd’s Pierhead Building was more than fitting for our first panel of the conference which explored ‘25 years of devolved parliaments and current developments in the UK Parliament’. The panel, which was moderated by Jack Liddall, our Communications Officer, gave us a tour around the UK’s legislatures as panellists presented on a wide variety of issues facing parliaments and parliamentarians. Josh Hayman presented research which he has worked on alongside Sara Moran (both from Senedd Research). Their work on ‘25 years of Welsh law-making’ has also been collated into a comprehensive report. This report was available in hard copy for our members at the conference at the stall set up by the Study of Parliament Group Wales. Richard Whitaker (University of Leicester) spoke to his recent research on skeleton bills in the Scottish Parliament, UK Parliament and Senedd (and also touched on the legislative process in Northern Ireland). Ekaterina Kolpinskaya (University of Exeter) then rounded off our panel with a discussion on disability inclusion practices in the House of Commons (on behalf of herself and Mike Winter from PACAC). We are delighted that Ekaterina’s work, which is available here, also features in our latest PSA Parliaments blog.

Following a delicious platter of Welsh cakes and other assorted pastries we kicked off with our second panel of the day, ‘Parliamentary procedures and reform’ (chaired by our Treasurer and Membership Officer Lauren Martin), which saw us transported back to Westminster (not actually). Louise Thompson (University of Manchester) and Cristina Leston-Bandeira (University of Leeds) presented their pilot research on Westminster Hall as an alternative to the House of Commons Chamber. Ruxandra Serban (University College London) then presented co-authored research with Meg Russell (UCL Constitution Unit) about Urgent Questions in the UK House of Commons between 1992 and 2024. We finished up by hearing from Tom Fleming who presented research conducted with Hannah Kelly (both of UCL Constitution Unit) on the extent to which the House of Commons has enough control over its own procedures.

The first two panels gave us plenty to discuss during the lunch break. We enjoyed a lovely buffet, which was kindly sponsored by the Senedd Research unit. After this, we held an annual general meeting. We announced the winners of our undergraduate essay competition: The winner is Colin Wilson who was nominated by Philip Cowley of Queen Mary University of London, and the runner-up is Lola Clugston, nominated by Stephen Elstub of Newcastle University. The judging panel’s laudatory feedback and the essays can now be accessed here. We then also used the opportunity to gather some feedback and ideas on future activities of PSA Parliaments.

The third panel explored different aspects of effectiveness and influence in parliaments and was chaired by our Co-convenor Ruxandra Serban. Greg Power (Global Partners Governance) discussed research on the impact of legislative turnover, particularly in terms of loss of parliamentary expertise and its potential effects on how parliaments work. Alex Prior (London Southbank University) and Louise Thompson (University of Manchester) presented new research on the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association — its objectives, strategies, and impact. Our last presenter was Kiwi Ting (University of Reading), who looked in detail at the effects of virtual participation on MPs’ influence in parliamentary debates at Westminster during Covid-19.

For those not ready to bid farewell yet, we headed over to the Senedd for a private tour of the building, getting fascinating behind-the-scenes glimpses into the work of Welsh parliamentarians. The Heart of Wales in the Senedd chamber has cracked recently but we are not suspicious and are curious to follow how Welsh parliamentarism will develop pre- and post-2026.

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.