School of Social and Political Science

Background

Education

PhD Politics (University of Strathclyde)

MSc Public Policy (University of Strathclyde)

MA Politics and French (University of Glasgow)

Biographical statement

Alan Convery completed his PhD at Strathclyde University in 2013. He joined the School of Social and Political Science in September 2013 and was promoted to Senior Lecturer in Politics in 2019.

He teaches courses on British Government, Parliament, and Conservatism.

He was Deputy Editor (2015-2018) and Lead Editor (2018-2021) of the British Journal of Politics and International Relations and co-convener of the Political Studies Association's Conservatism Studies Specialist Group (2016-2020).

Publications

Alan Convery and James Mitchell (2022) ‘Unionism’ in Peter Cane and Harshan Kumarasingham (eds.) The Cambridge Constitutional History of the United Kingdom (Cambridge University Press).

Alan Convery, David C W Parker, Pavielle E Haines, Sheridan Johnson and Rachel Schmidt (2021) 'Do Constitutional Preferences Affect Citizens’ Representational Choices? Evidence from the Devolved UK?' Parliamentary Affairs

Alan Convery, Pavielle Haines, James Mitchell & David C. W. Parker (2021) 'Questioning scrutiny: the effect of Prime Minister’s Questions on citizen efficacy and trust in parliament', The Journal of Legislative Studies, 27:2, 207-226,

Alan Convery (2020) ‘The Scottish Conservative Party’ in Michael Keating (ed.) The Oxford Handbook of Scottish Politics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Alan Convery (2020) ‘The Development of the Scottish Conservative Party since Devolution’ in Gerry Hassan (ed.) The Scottish Parliament: 20 Years On (Edinburgh University Press).

Alan Convery (2020) ‘The Scottish Conservative Party and the Three Unionisms’ in Gerry Hassan and David Torrance (eds.) Fightback: The Revival of the Scottish Conservative Party (Edinburgh University Press).

Convery, A. and Lundberg, T. (2020) 'Rational Choice Meets the New Politics: Choosing the Scottish Parliament's Electoral System', Government and Opposition 55(1): 114-129.

Alan Convery and David Parker (2019) ‘The Role of the MSP’ in James Mitchell and James Johnston (eds.) The Scottish Parliament at 20 (Edinburgh University Press).

Convery, A. (2017) '"There Is No Alternative": Scotland's Curriculum for Excellence and Its Relationship with High Culture', Scottish Affairs 26(2): 176-193.

Convery, A. and Lundberg, T. (2017) 'Decentralization and the Centre Right in the UK and Spain: Central Power and Regional Responsibility', Territory, Politics, Governance 5(4): 388-405.

Convery, A. (2016) The Territorial Conservative Party: Devolution and Party Change in Scotland and Wales. Manchester: Manchester University Press.

Convery, A. (2014) 'The 2011 Scottish Conservative Party Leadership Election: Dilemmas for Statewide Parties in Regional Contexts', Parliamentary Affairs 67(2): 306-327.

Convery, A. (2014) 'Devolution and the Limits of Tory Statecraft: The Conservatives in Coalition and Scotland and Wales', Parliamentary Affairs 67(1): 25-44.

Mitchell, J. and Convery, A. (2012) 'Conservative Unionism: Prisoned in Marble' in Torrance, D. (ed.) Whatever Happened to Tory Scotland? Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.

Other publications

Convery, A. (ed.) (2015) Light Blue: Policy Adventures for Scottish Conservatives.

Teaching

I convene two honours courses: Parliamentary Studies (a unique course taught in association with the Houses of Parliament) and British Government. I also convene the pre-honours Introduction to British Politics course. I was co-Director of Undergraduate Teaching in PIR in 2019-2021.

I have also convened three Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs): 'Towards Independence? Understanding Scotland's Referendum' (September 2014); 'Understanding the UK's 2015 General Election' (May 2015); and 'Understanding the 2016 Scottish Parliament Elections' (May 2016).

Public engagement

I am always happy to present my research to wider audiences. I have given talks to parliamentary staff, government officials and school groups. In addition, I have been interviewed in the UK by the BBC (Newsnight, Scotland 2014) and STV (Representing Border), and from the US by CNN during their coverage of the Scottish independence referendum.

Recent blog posts

Future of the UK and Scotland Blog Post 'A New Direction for the Scottish Conservatives on Devolution?' July 2014

LSE British Politics and Policy Blog Post 'Four Reasons a Scottsh Conservative Might Vote 'Yes'' February 2014

YouTube Interview about the future of the Scottish Conservative Party with Dr Richard Hayton at PSA Conservatives and Conservatism Specialist Group Conference, June 2012.

LSE British Politics and Policy Blog Post, 'The Prime Minister has no Scottish strategy and is at the mercy of events', July 2012.