Eleanor Hill
My research is about the role of networks
in politics. I am interested in how networks help candidates to be selected and
elected and I focus on the role of trade unions and biraderi kinship networks
in the Labour Party. Both of these networks have been credited with helping
under-represented groups to gain access to parliament in the face of
discrimination and exclusion but have also faced criticisms for the role that they
play in getting candidates selected and elected. My research aims to understand
where the line falls between acceptable and unacceptable influence in the
selection and election processes.
Frensis Bras
My research aims to shed better light on
the ethnic density effect through the use of Agent-Based Models. The
ethnic-density effect entails that ethnic minorities living in areas with a
higher proportion of ethnic minorities have better health-outcomes compared to
their peers living in areas that are predominantly white, when taking into
account levels of deprivation. This is
likely the case because these areas offer a platform for beneficial social
conditions, such as a reduction in racism and higher levels of social support.
These social conditions could improve coping mechanisms and reduce stress and
thereby improve both mental and physical health in the long run.
Previous research in this area has mainly
relied on the use of cross-sectional data, which has not been able to properly
capture some of the complex associations underlying the ethnic density effect.
Agent Based modelling is specifically useful for this type of research due to
its ability to uncover underlying complexities and use of spatio-temporal
information.
Rebecca McKee
My research looks at whether there is
evidence of a link between the descriptive and substantive representation of
ethnic minorities in the UK Parliament. I question whether BME MPs are
substantively representing ethnic minorities in the UK, those that they
descriptively represent, and whether MPs are equally responsive to their
constituents, or whether there is ethnic bias in the communication channel
between constituents and their MP.
In order to empirically test some the
existing theoretical assumptions I am employing several methods to answer this
question including Corpus Linguistic methods and Critical Discourse Analysis to
analyse the Hansard records of Parliamentary speech. I am also using survey
research, using the online wave of the British Election Study and experimental
methods involving emailing analysing responses from Members of Parliament to
constituents, testing for differences in the responsiveness towards white and
BME constituents.
The main puzzle of my research has been how
to effectively test the existing theories of representation, and issues around
how to “get at” the substantive representation of ethnic minorities, many of
whom are already poltiically marginalised and specifically finding innovative
data to help to answer these questions.
Twitter: @beckymckee90
www.socialsciences.manchester.ac.uk/politics/research/postgraduate-research/current-phd-students/rebecca-mckee/
Anthony Chambers
My thesis, provisionally titled Beyond
numbers: do immigrant-origin MPs speak for immigrant-origin citizens? will be a
study into the substantive representation of immigrant-origin citizens (CIOs)
by immigrant-origin Members of the UK House of Commons. In particular, I am
interested in surrogate representation and the theory of group/collective
consciousness and how MPs’ party, personal ideology and their visible/invisible
minority status affect how, and the extent to which they substantively
represent CIOs.
In carrying out my research, I plan to
employ corpus linguistics methods and discourse analysis to analyse
parliamentary speeches and questions. To measure legislators’ responsiveness to
CIOs, I will be using a variety survey data to determine how they respond to
concerns, views and policy preferences favoured by immigrant-origin citizens.
In addition, I will conduct semi-structured interviews with current and former
parliamentarians to further explore those issues relating to representation
mentioned above.
Away from my current research, I have
written a report for the think-tank Civitas into lobbying and corruption in the
European Union that outlines steps that could be taken to improving
transparency in EU institutions.
http://www.academia.edu/23007645/The_Lobbying_of_the_EU_How_to_achieve_greater_transparency
https://www.linkedin.com/in/anthony-chambers-1b49ba115?trk=seokp-title_posts_secondary_cluster_res_author_name
Magda Borkowska
My PhD project, entitled ‘Political and
social integration of ethnic minorities in the UK’, is a collection of three
papers that focus on interrelated aspects of the integration of ethnic
minorities in Britain. In the first paper, I compare the roles of ethnic group
consciousness and assimilation in the political mobilisation of ethnic
minorities. I apply regression and structural equation modelling to the 2010
Ethnic Minority British Election Study to investigate the effects of group
consciousness and assimilation predictors on ethnic minorities’ political participation
and attitudes. In the second paper, I explore the relationship between
Britishness, ethnicity, and integration. Using multilevel models and evidence
from three UK data sets (Ethnic Minority British Election Study, Citizenship
Survey, and Understanding Society), I demonstrate that it is mainly group-level
factors, related to immigrant country of origin, rather than individual levels
of integration, that determine attachment to Britishness. In my third,
qualitative paper, I explore the role of Caribbean and Bangladeshi
organisations in promoting the political participation of ethnic communities.
Through semantic analysis of in-depth interviews with leaders and members of
ethnic organisations, I explore why South Asians are more involved in mainstream
British politics compared to Black Caribbeans, who are primarily focused on
non-electoral forms of political engagement.
Patrick English
My PhD research is focused around the ORA
PATHWAYS project, assessing the descriptive representation of Citizens of
Immigrant Origin in the UK and anti-immigrant public opinion toward immigration
in the United Kingdom. I am currently publishing on elite and party political
reactions to the recent financial crisis, which I studied as part of my MA. I received my BA in Politics and
Philosophy and MA in Politics with Research Methods at the Department of
Politics, University of Sheffield. I sit as a research associate on the FP7:
LIVEWHAT research project, and has been a Visiting Research Fellow at the
CEVIPOF, Sciences Po. Furthermore, I am also a psephologist for the BBC and a
freelance data consultant.
Leah Culhane
My research uses a feminist
institutionalist perspective to examine the gendered dynamics of institutional
change and continuity. Using the Republic of Ireland as an illustrative case
study, it looks at the impact of legislative gender quotas on candidate
recruitment and selection processes. Conceptualising quotas as a ‘layered’
institution, it is concerned with examining the possibilities and limits for
change by focusing on how existing formal and informal rules, norms and
narratives impact (both positively and negatively) on attempts to create and
design new institutions and change existing ones. More specifically it seeks to
identify and scrutinize the institutional and discursive mechanisms through
which privilege is both maintained and reimagined in the face of official
attempts at gendered change. The research uses data obtained from
semi-structured interviews with affiliates of the four main parties in the
Republic of Ireland.
The research is part of a broader European
Research Council (ERC) funded project entitled 'Understanding Institutional
Change: A Gender Perspective', which uses five different case studies from
around the globe to explore the dynamics of political reform and explain the
introduction, implementation and outcomes of public policy interventions (for
further details of the project as a whole see www.manchester.ac.uk/uic).
Nick Loynes
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