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Mile End Institute joins new British Election Study

The Mile End Institute will provide academic expertise and support to the UK’s longest running record of electoral behaviour and political change 

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The School of Society and Environment’s (SSE) Mile End Institute (MEI) will take part in a newly awarded British Election Study (BES), contributing academic expertise in candidate studies, a new component of the study. 

BES has tracked the attitudes and behaviour of British voters at every general election since 1964. It is the UK’s longest running and most authoritative study of electoral behaviour and political change.  

The new study, themed ‘Representing Voters’, places the representation of different groups of voters at the heart of its design, analysis and dissemination.    

Dr Sofia Collignon, Director of the MEI, and co-director of the BES Candidate Study, has been involved in running Candidate Studies for more than ten years said: 

“These studies are one of the best ways to understand who represents us, including candidates’ motivations, experiences and backgrounds. Bringing the Candidate Study into BES creates a unique opportunity to compare the behaviour and experiences of political elites with those of voters, giving us a fuller picture of representation and electoral politics and safeguarding the future of the Candidate Study” 

Royal Holloway, King’s College London, and the University of Manchester will lead the project, which is supported by the Electoral Commission.  

Professor Maria Sobolewska, BES Co-Investigator at the University of Manchester, said: 

“The British Election Study has always been about representation, understanding how different communities across Britain engage with democracy.  

"This new award lets us go further: to study the candidates who stand before them, enabling BES to capture a fuller picture of the electoral process, both voters and those who seek to represent them.” 

MEI is Queen Mary University of London's leading institute for the study and public discussion of the major challenges facing British politics, political history and policymaking.  

Find out more about MEI’s work, research and events programme 

 

 

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