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BU academics publish report 10 days after the 2024 UK General Election

Knowledge Exchange

We are very pleased to announce the publication of UK Election Analysis 2024: Media, Voters and the Campaign, edited by Daniel Jackson, Katy Parry, Emily Harmer, Darren Lilleker, Julie Firmstone, Scott Wright, and Einar Thorsen.
It features several contributions from BU academics.
Featuring 101 contributions from over 130 leading academics and emerging scholars, this free publication captures the immediate thoughts, reflections and early research insights on the 2024 UK General Election from the cutting edge of media and politics research.
Published just 10 days after the election, these contributions are short and accessible. Authors provide authoritative analysis of the campaign, including research findings or new theoretical insights; to bring readers original ways of understanding the election and its consequences. Contributions also bring a rich range of disciplinary influences, from political science to cultural studies, journalism studies to geography.
The publication is available as a free downloadable PDF, as a website and as a paperback report.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Democracy and representation
1. Public anxiety and the electoral process (Prof Barry Richards)
2. How Nigel Farage opened the door to No. 10 for Keir Starmer (Prof Pippa Norris)
3. The performance of the electoral system (Prof Alan Renwick)
4. Tory downfall is democracy rectifying its mistakes (Prof Stephen Barber)
5. Votes at 16 and decent citizenship education could create a politically aware generation (Dr Ben Kisby, Dr Lee Jerome)
6. “An election about us but not for us”: the lack of communication for young people during GE2024 (Dr James Dennis)
7. Election timing: masterstroke or risky gamble? (Prof Sarah Birch)
8. The dog that didn’t bark? Electoral integrity and administration from voter ID to postal votes (Prof Alistair Clark)
9. A political gamble? How licit and illicit betting permeated the campaign (Dr Matthew Wall)
10. Ethnic diversity in politics is the new normal in Britain (Prof Maria Sobolewska)
11. Bullshit and Lies on the campaign trail: do party campaigns reflect the post-truth age? (Prof Darren Lilleker)
12. Stoking the culture wars: the risks of a more hostile form of polarised politics (Dr Jen Birks)
Voters, polls and results
13. Forecasting a multiparty majoritarian election with a volatile electorate (Dr Hannah Bunting)
14. The emerging infrastructure of public opinion (Dr Nick Anstead)
15. A moving target? Voter segmentation in the 2024 British General Election (Prof Rosie Campbell)
16. Don’t vote, it only encourages them? Turnout in the 2024 Election (Prof Charles Pattie)
17. Cartographic perspectives of the 2024 General Election (Prof Benjamin Hennig)
18. Gender and vote choice: early reflections (Dr Ceri Fowler)
19. Changing Pattern amongst Muslim voters: the Labour Party, Gaza and voter volatility (Dr Parveen Akhtar)
20. Religion and voting behaviour in the 2024 General Election (Dr Ekaterina Kolpinskaya, Dr Stuart Fox)
21. Failure to connect: the Conservative Party and young voters (Dr Stephanie Luke)
22. Youthquake for the progressive left: making sense of the collapse of youth support for the Conservatives (Prof James Sloam, Prof Matt Henn)
23. Values in the valence election (Prof Paula Surridge)
24. Tactical voting: why is it such a big part of British elections? (Thomas Lockwood)
The nations and regions
25. Have voters fallen out of love with the SNP? (Dr Lynn Bennie)
26. The spectre of Sturgeon still looms large in gendered coverage in Scotland (Melody House, Dr Fiona McKay)
27. The personalisation of Scottish politics in a UK General Election (Dr Michael Higgins, Dr Maike Dinger)
28. Competence, change and continuity: a tale of two nations (Dr Will Kitson)
29. Election success, but problems remain for Labour in Wales (Dr Nye Davies)
30. Four ways in which Northern Ireland’s own seismic results will affect the new Parliament (Prof Katy Hayward)
31. Bringing People together or pulling them apart? What Facebook ads say about the NI campaign (Dr Paul Reilly)
32. A New Dawn For Levelling Up? (Prof Arianna Giovannini)
33. Who defines Britain? National identity at the heart of the 2024 UK General Election (Dr Tabitha Baker)
Parties and the campaign
34. A changed but over-staged Labour Party and the political marketing weaknesses behind Starmer’s win (Prof Jennifer Lees-Marshment)
35. To leaflet or not to leaflet? The question of election leafleting in Sunderland Central (Prof Angela Smith, Dr Mike Pearce)
36. Beyond ‘my dad was a toolmaker’: what it’s really like to be working class in parliament (Dr Vladimir Bortun)
37. The unforced errors of foolish men: gender, race and the calculus of harm (Prof Karen Ross)
38. Election 2024 and rise of Reform UK: the beginning of the end of the Conservatives? (Dr Anthony Ridge-Newman)
39. The Weakening of the Blue Wall (Prof Pete Dorey)
40. The Conservative party, 1832-2024: an obituary (Dr Mark Garnett)
41. Bouncing back: the Liberal Democrat campaign (Prof Peter Sloman)
42. The Greens: riding two horses (Prof Neil Carter, Dr Mitya Pearson)
43. Party organisations and the campaign (Dr Danny Rye)
44. Local campaign messaging at the 2024 General Election (Dr Siim Trumm, Prof Caitlin Milazzo)
45. The value of getting personal: reflecting upon the role of personal branding in the General Election (Dr Jenny Lloyd)
46. Which constituencies were visited by each party leader and what this told us about their campaigns (Dr Hannah Bunting, Joely Santa Cruz)
47. The culture wars and the 2024 General Election campaign (Prof John Steel)
48. “Rishi’s D-Day Disaster”: authority, leadership and British military commemoration (Dr Natalie Jester)
49. Party election broadcasts: the quest for authenticity (Dr Vincent Campbell)
Policy and strategy
50. It’s the cost-of-living-crisis, stupid! (Prof Aeron Davis)
51. The last pre-war vote? Defence and foreign policy in the 2024 Election (Dr Russell Foster)
52. The 2024 UK general election and the absence of foreign policy (Dr Victoria Honeyman)
53. Fractious consensus: defence policy at the 2024 General Election (Dr Ben Jones)
54. The psycho-politics of climate denial in the 2024 UK election (Prof Candida Yates, Dr Jenny Alexander)
55. How will the Labour government fare and what should they do better? (Prof Rick Stafford and team)
56. Finding the environment: climate obstructionism and environmental movements on TikTok (Dr Abi Rhodes)
57. Irregular migration: ‘Stop the boats’ vs ‘Smash the Gangs’ (Prof Alex Balch)
58. The sleeping dog of ‘Europe: UK relations with the EU as a non-issue (Prof Simon Usherwood)
59. Labour: a very conservative housing manifesto (Prof Becky Tunstall)
60. Why the Labour Government must abolish the two-child benefit limit policy (Dr Yekaterina Chzhen)
61. Take the next right: mainstream parties’ positions on gender and LGBTQ+ equality issues (Dr Louise Luxton)
The digital campaign
62. Local news and information on candidates was insufficient (Dr Martin Moore, Dr Gordon Neil Ramsay)
63. The Al election that wasn’t – yet (Prof Helen Margetts)
64. Al-generated images: how citizens depicted politicians and society (Niamh Cashell)
65. The threat to democracy that wasn’t? Four types of Al-generated synthetic media in the General Election (Dr Liam McLoughlin)
66. Shitposting meets Generative Artificial Intelligence and ‘deep fakes’ at the 2024 General Election (Dr Rosalynd Southern)
67. Shitposting the General Election: why this campaign felt like one long meme (SE Harman, Dr Matthew Wall)
68. Winning voters’ hearts and minds… through reels and memes?! How #GE24 unfolded on TikTok (Dr Aljosha Karim Schapals)
69. Debating the election in “Non-political” Third Spaces: the case of Gransnet (Prof Scott Wright et al)
70. Which social networks did political parties use most in 2024? (Dr Richard Fletcher)
71. Facebook’s role in the General Election: still relevant in a more fragmented information environment (Prof Andrea Carson, Dr Felix M. Simon)
72. Farage on TikTok: the perfect populist platform (Prof Karin Wahl-Jorgensen)
News and journalism
73. Why the press still matters (Prof Steven Barnett)
74. When the Star aligned: how the press ‘voted’ (Prof Dominic Wring, Prof David Deacon)
75. Visual depictions of leaders and losers in the (still influential) print press (Prof Erik Bucy and Dr Nathan Ritchie)
76. Towards more assertive impartiality? Fact-checking on BBC television news (Prof Stephen Cushion)
77. The outsize influence of the conservative press in election campaigns (Prof Dan Stevens, Prof Susan Banducci, Dr Ekaterina Kolpinskaya and Dr Laszlo Horvath)
78. GB News – not breaking any rules… (Prof Ivor Gaber)
79. Vogue’s stylish relationship to politics (Dr Chrysi Dagoula)
80. Tiptoeing around immigration has tangible consequences (Dr Maria Kyriakidou, Dr Iñaki Garcia-Blanco)
81. A Taxing Campaign (Prof David Deacon et al)
82. Not the Sun wot won it: what Murdoch’s half-hearted, last-minute endorsements mean for Labour (Dr John Jewell)
83. Is this the first podcast election? (Carl Hartley, Prof Stephen Coleman)
84. A numbers game (Paul Bradshaw)
85. Election 2024 and the remarkable absence of media in a mediated spectacle (Prof Lee Edwards)
86. 2024: the great election turn-off (Prof Des Freedman)
Personality politics and popular culture
87. Ed Davey: Towards a Liberal Populism? (Dr Tom Sharkey, Dr Sophie Quirk)
88. Why Nigel Farage’s anti-media election interference claims are so dangerous (Dr Lone Sorensen)
89. Nigel Farage and the political circus (Dr Neil Ewen)
90. Binface, Beany and Beyond: humorous candidates in the 2024 General Election (Prof Scott Wright)
91. What Corbyn support reveals about how Starmer’s Labour won big (Prof Cornel Sandvoss, Dr Benjamin Litherland, Dr Joseph Andrew Smith)
92. “Well that was dignified, wasn’t it?”: floor apportionment and interaction in the televised debates (Dr Sylvia Shaw)
93. TV debates: beyond winners and losers (Prof Stephen Coleman)
94. Is our television debate coverage finally starting to match up to multi-party politics? (Dr Louise Thompson)
95. Tetchiness meets disenchantment: capturing the contrasting political energies of the campaign (Prof Beth Johnson, Prof Katy Parry)
96. “We’re just normal men”: football and the performance of authentic leadership (Dr Ellen Watts)
97. ‘Make the friendship bracelets’: gendered imagery in candidates’ self-presentations on the campaign trail (Dr Caroline Leicht)
98. Weeping in Wetherspoons: generative Al and the right/left image battle on X (Simon Popple)
99. An entertaining election? Popular culture as politics (Prof John Street)
100. Changing key, but keeping time: the music of Election 2024 (Dr Adam Behr)
101. Truth or dare: the political veracity game (Prof John Corner)

WEDNESDAY 26th – DISCUSS, COLLABORATE & CONTEMPLATE  TO INNOVATE

Fusion, HEIF, innovation, Knowledge Exchange

NEED SOME TIME & SPACE TO

DISCUSS, COLLABORATE & CONTEMPLATE  TO INNOVATE? 

THE INNOVATION COMMON ROOM

is at Fusion again THIS WEEK – SAME TIME, SAME SPACE

Wednesday 26th June, 12.30 – 3.30, FG04

A RELAXED PLACE FOR RESEARCHERS TO

MEET, DISCUSS & MENTOR

over tea, coffee and biscuits

Academics can invite their Post-Graduate Students

This is the final Innovation Common Room for this academic year.

THE INNOVATION COMMON ROOM

will return in September for the 2024-25 year

Research Knowledge Exchange Culture: Making it Happen

Contact the BU Knowledge Exchange Manager, if you need to know more

wmorrison@bournemouth.ac.uk

BU Research Conference: Powerful Partnerships – Wednesday 26 June

conferences, Knowledge Exchange, Training

A lightbulb created by interlocking pieces of stringThere’s still time to book your place for the BU Research Conference, which takes place on Wednesday (26 June) in the Fusion Building.

The theme for this year’s conference is powerful partnerships, exploring how working with others can enhance your research.

Speakers include Isabella Pereira, Head of the Institute for Community Studies, and a panel of BU academics sharing their experiences of working with partners regionally, nationally and internationally.

You’ll also have chance to take part in practical workshops covering topics including building international partnerships, co-creating research, and working with business.

The conference runs from 9.30am – 1pm and will be followed by a networking lunch to spark further conversations and collaborations.

We’re hoping it will be an inspiring and informative day, and we’d love to see you there.

Find out more and book your place via Eventbrite

BU Research Conference 2024: Powerful Partnerships – practical workshops

Knowledge Exchange

A lightbulb created by interlocking pieces of stringThe BU Research Conference returns on Wednesday 26th June, where we’ll be exploring the power of partnerships and how collaboration can enhance your research.

As well as a keynote talk from Isabella Pereira, Head of the Institute for Community Studies, and a panel discussion around building partnerships, we also have a range of practical workshops to help with developing effective research collaborations and finding partners.

Each workshop will last 45 minutes and attendees will have the opportunity to attend two workshops on the day – click on the links below to book your place.

This workshop will provide practical strategies for engaging with underserved communities and how to build on social capital and lived experience of communities to develop and implement impactful research.

This workshop will be facilitated by Dr Sophia Amenyah, Post Doctoral Research Fellow in the Faculty of Health and Social Sciences

International collaboration can increase the quality, reach and impact of research, as well as provide access to datasets, facilities, and teams of talented researchers. This workshop will feature a lively discussion about the benefits of international research collaboration, opportunities to get involved in BU strategic partnerships overseas, and to meet some of our international partners in person.

This workshop will be facilitated by Dr Gloria Khamkar, Principal Academic in Journalism, Dr Alastair Morrison, Head of International Partnerships, and colleagues from our partners at the University of Saskatchewan, Canada and the Brest National School of Engineering (ENIB), France

This workshop will be an opportunity to hear and discuss opportunities for collaborating with VCSOs to maximise the relevance, quality and impact of our research. Sharing evidence and examples of best practice, the facilitators will share their insights and experiences from both academic and community perspectives, outlining where to start and how to create opportunities where all involved can work together as equal partners for equal benefit.

This workshop will be facilitated by Professor Mel Hughes and Dr Kate Jupp from the BU PIER partnership

Professor Marcin Budka will talk about his experience of working with several businesses on Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTPs), a government-funded initiative that brings universities and businesses together to drive innovation.

He will share his insights into the process – from application to completion – and the long-term strategic impact that can arise from a successful KTP collaboration.

This workshop will be facilitated by Professor Marcin Budka, Professor of Data Science

This workshop offers an opportunity to be inspired by hearing about how to bring research into knowledge exchange collaborations creatively, with impact, and in a funding limited environment. Hear from two of our BU professors about the collaborative work they have been doing in the Ukraine and in Sierra Leone, which has had a significant positive impact on the lives of individuals, and on policy makers, in two socio-politically instable countries.

This workshop will be facilitated by Dr Wendelin Morrison, Knowledge Exchange Manager, Professor Mark Brisbane (the Ukraine Pechersk-Lavra Project) and Professor Lee Miles, Professor of Crisis and Disaster Management

There will also be the chance to find out more about a Smart Leisure and Active Ageing project, led by a team from BU Business School and the Ageing and Dementia Research Centre working in partnership with local tourism and leisure partners to support inclusion and accessibility.

The BU Research Conference takes place on Wednesday 26th June in the Fusion Building. To find out more and book your place, visit Eventbrite.

The Missing Persons Indicator Project: Research Collaboration for Knowledge Exchange

HEIF, Industry collaboration, international, Knowledge Exchange, Knowledge Transfer, Research Integritiy, student research

The Missing Persons Indicator Project, initiated several years ago by Professor Melanie Klinkner and Andreas Kleiser from the ICMP, has recently been enhanced by a visit to the ICMP, aimed at optimising knowledge exchange. Its goal is to showcase each state’s relationship with missing persons through comprehensive data analysis. This initiative began as a collaborative effort, with data gathering undertaken by undergraduate students at Bournemouth University, engaging students in real-world research and ensuring the project’s sustainability by welcoming new students each September.

Since its inception, the project has been fortunate to work with many enthusiastic students who have completed the first round of Structural Indicator 1. This indicator demonstrates the commitment of states to international legal instruments. The table below outlines the current indicators involved in our data collection process:

Context Indicator A qualitative assessment as to whether the state has experienced extraordinary events that may be correlated to a rise in missing persons cases.
Structural Indicator 1 The commitment shown by states to international legal instruments is an indicator of their duties and obligation in relation to missing persons.
Structural Indicator 2 Domestic legislation by states as an indicator of their duties and obligation in relation to missing persons.
Structural Indicator 3 Institutional framework(s) established by states as an indicator of their duties, obligation, and enactment of legislation in relation to missing persons.

Thanks to HEIF funding, the Missing Persons Indicator Project recently had the opportunity to employ four student volunteers over the past two weeks. Their task was to accelerate the data collation for these indicators. By working through each indicator on a state-by-state basis, they developed a comprehensive understanding of each state’s unique situation. This method also allowed them to recognise and utilise specific details that might recur across the different indicators.

Every day, a designated “data-checker” reviewed previously inputted data to identify and correct any anomalies. This rigorous review process ensures the data’s accuracy, ethical integrity, and suitability for international dissemination.

Throughout this process, the students have been deeply engaged, asking insightful questions that challenged our perspectives and prompted us to consider aspects we might have overlooked. The atmosphere has been a hub of activity and intellectual growth.

We are extremely grateful for the hard work and dedication of our student researchers. Their contributions have demonstrated that a student ‘data-lab’ is an excellent model for conducting research and achieving meaningful results.

As this term draws to a close, we are keen to alert teaching staff to the potential for their students to join the Missing Person Indicator project in September as we recruit a new cohort for the new academic year. To learn more about the project please visit our website!

BU Research Conference 2024: Powerful partnerships – book your place

Knowledge Exchange

Collaboration is at the heart of excellent research – whether it’s building relationships with international partners, co-creating research with communities, or working across disciplines to find fresh perspectives.

The BU Research Conference is back for 2024 and this year’s event will explore the power of partnerships, showcasing how working with others can enhance your research.

It will take place in the Fusion Building (Talbot Campus) on Wednesday 26th June, with a mix of speakers, panel sessions, and practical workshops.

The conference will run from 9.30am to 1.15pm, with refreshments included. It will be followed by a networking lunch to help start conversations and build new connections.

The keynote speaker for the conference will be Isabella Pereira, Head of the Institute for Community Studies – a research institute with people at its heart. Engaging with people across the UK, they work to influence societal change, bridging the gap between communities, evidence, and policymaking.

Following this will be the Building partnerships panel, with academics from across BU talking about their experiences of working with partners regionally, nationally, and internationally – as well as across different sectors and disciplines – and sharing their insights and advice on effective research collaboration.

We’ll also have a range of practical workshops, covering topics including working with business, building international partnerships, and public involvement in research.

The conference is open to all researchers and those involved in research across BU and other universities in Dorset.

Book your place via Eventbrite