Category: News

Workshop on Quantitative Statistics for Dabblers

Post author By psaparliaments
Post date September 23, 2016

The PSA Parliaments & Legislatures Specialist Group, in conjunction with the British Politics Research Group at the University of Birmingham, held a methods workshop on the statistical analysis of parliaments and legislatures on the 16^th September 2016. Aimed at ‘dabblers’, the workshop was organized by Stephen Bates (Birmingham), Mark Goodwin (Birmingham) and Steve McKay (Lincoln) and, using their British Academy-funded project on Select Committees as a focal point, guided participants through the research process from initial ideas through data collection, management, modelling and analysis to completed paper.

The workshop was attended by 12 post-doctoral students and researchers from across academia and the third sector and was generally well received with one participant saying “Many thanks to Stephen, Mark and Steve for an excellent workshop. I’ll be recommending it, should you decide to hold another in the future”.

Tags quantitative methods

Events News

One-Day Conference: “Making Parliaments Work: What Makes For an Effective Parliament?”

Post author By psaparliaments
Post date September 19, 2016

Politicians, the public, think-tanks, journalists and academics alike have increasingly focused in recent times on how parliaments and legislatures work and how to make them work better in terms of policy-making, representation, scrutiny and accountability. Yet, despite this focus, the evidence base for making judgments about the effectiveness of parliaments and legislatures is arguably not as extensive as it could be, perhaps partly because of methodological difficulties in assessing the influence, impact and power of these institutions.

Tags conference, legislative studies, parliaments, PSA

Events News

PSA Annual Conference 2017: Call for Papers!

Post author By psaparliaments
Post date August 22, 2016

The 2017 PSA Annual Conference will be held in Glasgow on 10^th – 12^th April 2017 and we hope to be able to put forward some specialist group panels for this.

If you would be interested in presenting an individual paper as part of our specialist group panel, please complete a Paper Proposal Form with an abstract of no more than 250 words by Friday 7^th October 2016. If you would be interested in putting together a panel for the conference please complete a Panel Proposal Form by the same date. We will be in touch during the week of 10^th October to let you know if your paper has been successful.

This call is open to all members of the group. There are, as yet, no panel themes so all pape and panel proposals are welcome. Postgraduate students are also encouraged to apply (particularly as there is no early career conference this year). Those who wish to present would be eligible to apply to the PSA Postgraduate Access Fund for financial support to attend the conference.

We had a really successful 2016 conference, with more papers and panels than we’ve ever had before. So we look forward to hearing from you!

For our Panel Proposal Form, please click here (opens Word Document).

For our Paper Proposal Form, please click here (opens Word Document).

Tags #psa17, PSA Conference 2017

News

Essay competition 2016 – result

Post author By psaparliaments
Post date July 14, 2016

This spring, the Parliaments and Legislatures SG held the first essay competition open to all undergraduate students. This essay competition was open, where students were asked to write about a parliament, legislature, or a specific matter concerning legislative studies.

The members of the judging panel were Michael Rush (Exeter), Lynn Gardner (House of Commons) and Richard Whitaker (Leicester). They judged the essays on four criteria (originality, rigour, strength of analysis and quality of presentation/style). The essays were anonymised and so the panel did not know which university each essay represented.

We are very pleased to announce that the winning essay was by UCL University student Sam Holcroft (nominated by Meg Russell), for the essay on “How much control should political parties have over their members in parliament? And how much do they have in practice?”. Sam will receive a prize of £150. You can read his essay here.

The runner-up was Matthew Robinson (Surrey University, nominated by Louise Thompson) for an essay on “Does the Liaison Committee scrutinise the Prime Minister more effectively than MPs at Prime Minister’s Question Time?”. You can read his essay here.

Thank you to all that took part in the competition. We very much hope to continue the competition in future years to help promote our knowledge of parliaments and legislatures and encourage people to learn more about them.

Tags essay competition, Liaison Committee, political parties, UK Parliament

News

House of Commons Academic Fellows

Post author By psaparliaments
Post date June 15, 2016

Following several months of working on this idea on behalf of the group, we’re very pleased to announce the House of Commons, in partnership with the Political Studies Association (PSA), are implementing the House of Commons Academic Fellowship Scheme.

Events News

Call for Papers: “Making Parliaments Work: What Makes For an Effective Parliament?”

Post author By psaparliaments
Post date June 9, 2016

Politicians, the public, think tanks, journalists and academics alike have increasingly focused in recent times on how parliaments and legislatures work and how to make them work better in terms of policy-making, representation, scrutiny and accountability. Yet, despite this focus, the evidence base for making judgments about the effectiveness of parliaments and legislatures is arguably not as extensive as it could be, perhaps partly because of methodological difficulties in assessing the influence, impact and power of these institutions.

This one-day conference of the PSA Parliaments & Legislatures Specialist Group, co-hosted by the University of Birmingham, seeks to concentrate on the evidence – whether qualitative and/or quantitative and from a range of theoretical and analytical traditions – of parliamentary and legislative effectiveness and the effectiveness of parliamentary and legislative reform.

The conference, to be held at the Institute for Government in central London on 28^th October 2016, will be followed by the PSA Parliaments & Legislatures Annual Lecture.

To register an interest in presenting a paper, please contact Stephen Bates (s[dot]r[dot]bates[at]bham[dot]ac[dot]uk) with initial ideas before August 31^st 2016. We welcome contributions beyond the UK Parliament, namely on the devolved legislatures and/or with a comparative dimension. Registration will open in early September.

Events News

Statistical Analysis of Parliaments and Legislatures for Dabblers

Post author By psaparliaments
Post date May 16, 2016

Time: 11.00-15.00 (with lunch provided)
Date: Friday, 16 September 2016
Venue: University of Birmingham (Room TBC)

This workshop is aimed at those with little or no previous experience of quantitative statistics but who believe it may be useful for them in their current or future research.

The workshop will be based around the conveners’ current British Academy-funded research project on select committees. Each stage of the project – from initial inspiration through data collection and analysis to finished article – will be outlined and discussed in terms of both methodological and practical considerations so that participants have an idea of what the research process entails and what hazards and opportunities to look out for along the way. It will cover such things as finding out about available data, the different software that may be useful, and working with external stakeholders and experts.

The workshop will be run by Stephen Bates and Mark Goodwin (who are relative novices when it comes to quantitative statistics) and Steve McKay (who is an old-hand at this kind of thing).

Attendance and lunch are free but participants will have to cover their travel costs.

To register for the workshop, please email Stephen Bates (s.r.bates[at]bham[dot]ac[dot]uk).

Tags methods workshop, parliamentary research, quantitative methods

News

Job Opening: Lecturer/Senior Lecturer at the University of Edinburgh

Post author By psaparliaments
Post date April 26, 2016

The following job advertisement may be relevant to our members:

Politics and International Relations at the University of Edinburgh invites applications for a Lecturer or Senior Lecturer in British Politics. While all sub-fields of British Politics will be considered, preference may be given to those with research and teaching specialisms in institutions, policy making and legislative studies. You will have a research record with publications of international significance appropriate to the stage of their careers and must have a demonstrated commitment to excellence in teaching. With a research profile at the cutting edge of British Politics, you will further the School’s international reputation for research and its commitment to excellence in teaching, and administration.

Do feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

All good wishes,
Ailsa

Ailsa Henderson, PhD
Professor of Political Science
Head, Politics & International Relations
University of Edinburgh

For more information related to this lectureship, please click here.

Tags academia, job, lectureship, parliamentary studies