Dr Mark Shephard is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Strathclyde. He is the Deputy Editor of the Journal of Legislative Studies and the Joint Chair of the Study of Scottish Parliament Group.

Please tell us a little bit about how you entered academia and your academic career

I was one of “The 7” in the first full year (1988-1992) of Professor Lord Norton’s then Politics and Legislative Studies course. I worked in the European Parliament and the House of Commons in my vocational year of study (1990-91). I was going to teach English in Japan, but did really well in my final exams (I actually won a prize!) & ended up in Houston, Texas doing a PhD in Political Science. I then applied for a temporary job at the University of Strathclyde in the heart of Glasgow and I loved it so much – 24 years later – I’m still here!

Which five books/articles (written by someone else) have been most important to you in your academic career?

Richard Fenno – Home Style (I just could not put it down…it really got me hooked on legislatures and academia as a possible career).

Parliamentary Scrutiny of Government Bills by J.A.G. Griffith plus Parliamentary Questions by Mark Franklin and Philip Norton mashed with Robert Packenham’s article on legislative functions – the core theoretical underpinning and developmental basis for my mixed methods PhD on PMQs.

James Sundquist – Dynamics of a Party System (this really helped me start crack US politics at a deeper level of understanding).

Which person has been most influential and important to you in your academic career?

Professor Lord Norton + Professor Ed Page (my crucial formative Hull years) + most of the incredible Political Science Department at the University of Houston in the 1990s (e.g. Mark Franklin; David Judge (1993-94); Susan Scarrow; Kathleen Knight; Bob Erikson; Christopher Wlezien; Donald Lutz; Richard Murray; Ross Lence; James Gibson; Richard Matland; Robert Carp; Jay Greene…)

Which of your own pieces of research are you most proud of?

I’m not very good at liking my own work, but a student once said: “You are to politics what Kate Bush is to music”: my research seems to try out a lot of different methods on a lot of different topics (parliaments to social media to electoral behaviour to election campaigns…) often in quirky and/or pioneering ways (e.g. exploring questions asked by the PM rather than what we might otherwise study, or parliamentary impact over time and not just cross-sectionally…).

What has been your greatest achievement in academia?

Getting a PhD from The University of Houston, Texas (GRE exam + 3 years of relentless coursework + 30 hours of comprehensive exams over 3 days + 3 years on a PhD theory devising and theory testing using mixed methods. If you can do that, and survive without air conditioning in a Texas 108F Summer with 98% humidity, you can do anything…).

What has been your greatest disappointment in academia?

Not having enough time to do everything I want to do properly. If I could repeat it all over again, I’d probably not try and do as much as it takes time to jump around different fields…

What is the first or most important thing you tell your students about parliaments?

That they are multi-functional, and we need different procedures to fulfil very different functions. Beware the trap of evaluating the relevance of procedures just through the lens of legislative impact.

Where were you born, where did you grow up, and where do you live now?

Born in The Royal Canadian Hospital, Taplow, Buckinghamshire. Grew up on Shoreham Beach, West Sussex (and survived the strongest winds ever recorded (until 2022 storms) – 120mph on Shoreham Beach during the Great Storm of 1987 – we hid under the stairs as the roof started to peel). Have lived in Hull; Brussels; London; Houston, Texas; Glasgow; and I now live in Paisley, Scotland.

What was your first job?

A greengrocer in Shoreham.

What was the toughest job you ever had?

Teaching 3 classes during the height of lockdown and working 75 out of 77 days to deliver them properly.

What are your hobbies?

Gardening, photography, and painting.

What are your favourite novels?

One Day by David Nicholls (I still thank academia from saving me from a life of too much excess and fleeting celebrity!).

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkein (the first book I ever got totally immersed in).

Animal Farm by George Orwell (if only the world had more Benjamins and Boxers).

Anything by Milan Kundera (some sentences just capture life experiences like nobody else does).

The first 3 Harry Potter books (the others needed an edit, too much sports and camping…).

What is your favourite music?

Anything by Kate Bush or Richard Hawley. If I had to pick one: Richard Hawley’s ‘Caravan’. It transports you to a sunny island instantly & at 2 minutes 29 seconds long, you can play it twice during a 5 minute break! I recommend it to all my students along with 2 other songs that will help get them through: “I Get Knocked Down, But I Get Up Again” and “Life is a Rollercoaster”.

What is your favourite artwork?

Rothko’s Seagram murals at The Tate Modern, London. If you sit still and watch the lilac oblongs on the mauve backgrounds you are taken to another world. Sometimes into the painting and sometimes out of the painting.

What is your favourite film?

Beautiful Thing by Jonathan Harvey (important piece of social political history and it is very funny and clever at the same time. I like to think it has helped make Britain a more tolerant place more embracing of difference).

What is your favourite building?

Brighton Royal Pavilion (like Brighton it is OTT to the max and I love it!).

What is your favourite tv show?

Victoria Wood as Seen on TV (I still remember most of the lines, for example, “Never touch prawns… Do you know they tread water outside sewage outlet pipes with their mouths open”).

What is your favourite holiday destination?

Lanzarote (warm sun in Winter + lovely architecture & volcano & sea vistas) + Sitges (close to Barcelona, but more chilled out and cosmopolitan).

What is your favourite sport?

Tennis and Badminton (because I used to be good at them).

Hybrid proceedings in Parliament: yes please or no thanks?

I think we will find ways to make this work better, so yes when needs must.

Appointed or elected upper chamber?

Appointed by an independent body representing a myriad of areas of expertise.

Restoration or Renewal?

Bit of both.

Cat or Dog?

Cat while in academia, both when I have more time in retirement.

Trains, planes or automobiles?

Bicycle.

Fish and chips or Curry?

Curry (with lots of salad).

Scones: Devonshire or Cornish Method?

Cream first, then jam (the scone often needs the moisturising ability of the cream that the jam does not have and I like the taste of jam first better than cream).

And, finally, a question asked by Seth, who is 9 and a half: Would you rather be a duck or a horse?

A duck, I adore water and, despite my love of a good party, mainly quite like being away from too many people.