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  • April 2023 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.

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