Call for inaugural Blog Editor

We are recruiting an Editor for our Blog – launching autumn 2020

Working with the Publications Subcommittee and staff at Harbour House, the Editor will take the blueprint approved by the Executive Committee in March and play a lead role in the set up and launch of this brand-new addition to the ECPR’s high profile publishing programme.

Their leadership, energy and enthusiasm for the blog concept will be critical to ensuring the launch of the blog by the late summer. Once up and running, they will shape the format and profile of this brand new ECPR activity through the solicitation and acceptance of copy for publication.

We are therefore looking for an established scholar working in the field of politics and international relations with extensive experience of writing for scholarly and public-facing blogs and the mainstream media. Ideal candidates may also have some experience of journal editing processes and will also be experienced and skilled in the use of social media to support the promotion of research output and stimulus of discussion and debate.

The role

The Editor will be responsible for identifying and soliciting content for the blog that clearly represents its mission, aims and scope and aspiration for quality. The blog will draw content from a number of sources across the ECPR community.

Firstly, it will provide a platform for more easily digestible shorter form, impact pieces based on accepted articles across our publishing programme. The Editor will work closely with the journal editorial teams (EJPR, PDY, EPSR, PRX, EPS and EJIR) to identify suitable articles and then work with the authors to shape them into a blog format.

Since we envisage the blog also providing a platform for content from our 50+ Standing Groups and Research Networks, the Editor will work closely with the Chairs of the SG and RN Steering Committees to solicit and shape material coming from their groups and activities also.

Once established, the blog will generate a steady stream of non-commissioned content; the Editor will review all content submitted and liaise with all authors over potential revisions. In all cases, the Editor will have responsibility for final acceptance of all content. Finally, the Editor will, in consultation with the Production Editor and author, undertake any ‘academic’ copy-editing considered necessary.

As submissions to the blog grow, the Editor will likely need to build a small team of other academic editors representing different areas of the discipline, so applicants should consider this, and their plans for consolidation and growth over time, in their application letter and proposal.

The Editor will work closely with a full time Production Editor (PE) appointed within the Communications Department at Harbour House who will oversee all stages of the production process from receipt of a submission accepted by the Editor through to publication.

Blogging in academe

Over the past decade, blogs such as The Conversation, Monkey Cage and LSE Blogs have created popular and powerful platforms for sharing scholarly thought beyond traditional academic boundaries.

Quite distinct from academic journal articles, the shorter-form pieces are either direct products of academic research designed to appeal to and be more digestible for a potentially wider audience than just the academic community, thus making research more accessible and impactful, or newly created products which use academic subject expertise to provide insightful analysis of topical issues.

Also distinct from online news sites or newspapers, the authors of these pieces are academics and not journalists and blog publishing itself is becoming an important part of academic careers, providing authors with greater visibility for their research and in turn stronger profiles.

The ECPR blog

The ECPR blog will provide short articles (600 – 1,200 words) on politics, policy programmes, societal and political issues authored by academics which display the work of the discipline at its best to its fellow practitioners and to a more general audience including policy-makers, journalists, business people and the general public.

These might be articles which summarise a piece of research (which might be presented in full form in a political science journal) or they might be analyses of very topical political news stories but from the perspective of a political scientist who can provide insights which might escape journalists.

The angle and tone of the published pieces would be such that they are as accessible to both academics potentially working in a different field as they would be to an informed member of the general public.

Provision for ‘Comments’ after each article, moreover, will help to engage readers and promote a debate and exchange of views.

‘What’s in a name…?’

We aim to bring together multiple and potentially complex threads of ideas, research and content from all reaches of political science and indeed the world, and then process them into accessible and engaging (almost) bite size chunks that can inform, educate and entertain the reader.

The name of the blog should reflect this process of bringing people and ideas together, unravelling or translating complex themes and serving them up to be digested.

A competition to find a name has been launched, but candidates may wish to make suggestions also as part of their application.

How to apply

Along with your CV, please send the following:

• a covering letter setting out relevant experience and interests and your own vision for how you would see an ECPR blog developing over time; and
• links to examples of your own contributions to blogs, mainstream media and other ‘non-traditional’ academic platforms made over the past 1-2 years.

Applications should be sent to Communications Manager, Rebecca Gethen by the extended deadline of 22 May 2020

We would normally expect succesful candidates to be from an ECPR member institution.