Alistair Clark joins PDY Editorial team

ECPR is delighted to announce that Alistair Clark of Newcastle University has been appointed as co-editor of the Political Data Yearbook.

Published in association with ECPR’s flagship journal, the European Journal of Political Research (EJPR), PDY contains comprehensive, authoritative data and analysis of electoral results, national referenda, changes in government, and institutional reforms for a range of countries, within and beyond the EU.

The online PDY:Interactive (PDYi) is a unique, freely available data source which builds on PDY content. It provides data in a fully searchable and downloadable format, making it an invaluable tool for those working in this area of the profession.

Alistair replaces Liam Weeks, whose editorial term has come to an end, although it's not goodbye altogether, as Liam becomes the latest addition to our team of Editors on our in-house imprint, ECPR Press.

Alistair joins existing co-editors Andreas Bågenholm (second from left), University of Gothenburg, and Thomas Mustillo (far left), Purdue College of Liberal Arts. The new PDY team is pictured here for its annual meeting at ECPR headquarters in Colchester, along with Rachel Smith from publisher Wiley-Blackwell.

About Alistair

Alistair's research interests revolve around political parties, party organisation, electoral integrity and administration, political participation and urban/local politics.

Related interests include comparative party systems and small party challenges; devolved and British party politics; voting behaviour and electoral systems; and quantitative survey research.

Alistair’s doctoral thesis, ‘Local Parties, Participation and Campaigning in Post-Devolution Scotland’, won the 2006 Political Studies Association Arthur McDougall Prize for Elections, Electoral Systems and Representation. His research has been funded by the ESRC, the British Academy, the Nuffield Foundation and the Leverhulme Trust.

In 2016, he published Political Parties in the UK (Palgrave), a systematic and comprehensive introduction to party politics throughout the UK.

In his own words

'I’m delighted to join the Political Data Yearbook team. In an era of fake news and big data, there’s a real need for a reliable and considered source for information and commentary on political developments. The Political Data Yearbook provides this and we will work with our publishers at Wiley to investigate ways to develop and improve our service to the political science community and beyond.'