Researchers encouraged to engage with UK Parliament

AN audience of academics, keen to engage with Parliament, heard how a University of Huddersfield lecturer gave evidence to a House of Lords committee encouraging it to table the issue of lowering the voting age to 16 throughout the UK.

Dr Andy Mycock, who is Reader in Politics at the University, had an opportunity to discuss his research project on vote-at-16 when the University of Huddersfield was the venue for a training event titled Research, Impact and the UK Parliament, organised in tandem with the UK Parliament Education and Engagement Service.

The event, attended by 40 academics and university support staff from around the region, offered guidance on how academics could feed their research into parliamentary work.

The session was organised by Caitriona Fleming, of the UK Parliament Universities Programme, and the speakers included Dr Sarah Foxen, of the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology, and Danielle Nash, of the House of Commons Committee Office.

Academic researcher Dr Mycock joined the event to offer his experience of engaging with Parliament through his work on the votes-at-16 initiative.

Dr Mycock shares a Leverhulme Trust grant of £119,740 for the project, which has led him to be called to give evidence to peers on the Select Committee on Citizenship and Civic Engagement.  It has now published a wide-ranging report that includes calls for improvements in citizenship education.

The UK Parliament Education and Engagement Service has been tasked with encouraging input from academia and the session at Huddersfield concluded the current round of roadshow-style events to tour the country.

Caitriona Fleming said: “We recognise that there are perceived barriers for academics engaging with Parliament and these regional events are designed to provide researchers and support staff with the confidence and tools to get their research heard in Parliament.  This could be submitting written evidence to a select committee, contributing to a research briefing, or finding an appropriate All Party Parliamentary Group to engage with.  

“We really enjoyed visiting Huddersfield and received a warm welcome by university staff and academics from across the region representing a broad spectrum of research areas.”

UK Parliament Education and Engagement Service has created a ‘one-stop shop’ for researchers which covers how parliament uses research and how to engage with parliament – details can be found at the website.

Engaging with Parliament

Dr Mycock was twice summoned to give oral evidence to the peers and he also submitted written evidence.

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His research enabled him to discuss issues that included youth democratic education, voting age reform, the National Citizen Service, and how to encourage more young people to participate in politics including the question of lowering the voting age.

“There is considerable debate about if and when will be the right time to consider lowering the voting age to 16,” states the 168-page House of Lords report, which cites Dr Mycock on several occasions.  

Dr Mycock was also invited to the inaugural meeting of the newly-formed All-Party Parliamentary Group on Votes-at-16 to discuss the Leverhulme Trust-funded project and he is working with Kirklees Council on a consultation exploring the attitudes of young people aged 14-18 on lowering the voting age to 16 for local elections.

Carried out with politics postgraduate researcher Helen Gleaves, the consultation will contribute to the developing the work of the Kirklees Democracy Commission – which he chaired – on voting age reform.

Academics and youth democratic engagement organisations from across the UK, including Dr Mycock, are part of the Political Literacy Oversight Group (PLOG), which serves the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Democratic Participation.  In July, they will host an event in on The Future of Citizenship Education in Westminster Hall in the Houses of Parliament that will bring together politicians, academics and civic educators to discuss the recent Select Committee on Citizenship and Civic Engagement.