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Dear reader,
Happy 2019! As Chair of the Political Studies Association, I’m delighted to share with you some fantastic news of activities for those with a wide-ranging interest in politics.
The PSA had an eventful 2018! We have purchased new offices in Camden, London. It has meeting rooms for up to 25 people that can be rented by members (at a low rate) or non-members (at competitive London prices) – see website for details of how to rent! In addition, with a couple of extra desks, we welcome any members travelling through London and in need of free wifi and a coffee for a couple hours.
At our Annual Awards Dinner in November, we launched the ‘Diverse Voices PSA Doctoral Scholarship Fund’. We will spend the next year raising money to enable us to support PhD students from diverse backgrounds to embark on political studies doctoral research. We are excited about the potential impact this will have in facilitating inclusion and diversity across the profession. Please consider supporting our efforts – whether you can give £5k or run 5k – you can help us increase the diverse voices teaching and researching political studies.
The scholarship fund is just one of our recent efforts to reach out to a wider community of scholars and students of politics. Our recent changes to the membership structure enable us to offer membership to schools for only £25. This allows 10 teachers to be PSA members and access benefits such as teacher training events, A-level student events, and a large range of teaching and learning resources. As part of our education outreach programme this will help the PSA provide better support to state schools and teachers – reaching a range of students who we hope will go on to study politics at university.
In addition, the PSA has also launched our new website, with the second phase of development due to be rolled out in early spring. This will enable members of our research specialist groups to have their own revamped websites and an easier method to collaborate with one another. The website will also have easily accessible resources for students, teachers, and for the general public – helping us connect the expertise of our academic members with others outside the academy interested in politics, including media and policy makers.
Politics touches the lives of every citizen. We at the Political Studies Association believe that it is our duty to support academics researching and teaching politics and, alongside this, to facilitate the knowledge transfer of that expertise to the wider community. Our commitment to engagement and to diversity is manifest in our structural changes, our outreach programmes, and our strategic priorities for 2019.
We have achieved good things in 2018, but we have more in store for the coming year. Keep an eye out for developments; please join us in planning and participating in our activities; and please support our efforts for inclusion by donating to our new Diverse Voices Scholarship Fund (details on our website).
Happy New Year from the PSA!