Professor John Curtice conducts research into social and political attitudes (widely defined), electoral behaviour, electoral systems and survey research methods in Scotland, Britain and comparatively. Most of his research is undertaken by conducting and analysing sample surveys. He has a long working association with the National Centre for Social Research (formerly Social and Community Planning Research), and since 2001 has been a Research Consultant to the National Centre’s Edinburgh office, known as the Scottish Centre for Social Research. Professor Curtice is currently President of the British Polling Council, a body that maintains standards of disclosure by political polling organisations, vice-chair of the Economic and Social Data Service’s Advisory Committee and is a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Elections, Public Opinion and Parties, the Executive Committee of the British Politics Section of the American Political Science Association, and the Policy Advisory Committee of the Institute for Public Policy Research. He is a frequent broadcaster and contributor to newspapers, and have been a regular member of the BBC’s general and local election night programmes’ production team since 1979.
Dr Robert Ford (@robfordmancs) is Senior Lecturer in Politics at the School of Social Sciences, The University of Manchester. Ford’s research mainly focuses on public opinion and electoral choice, in Britain and elsewhere. He is currently involved in projects examining the impact of diversity and austerity on support for the welfare state, looking at the political impact of anti-prejudice social norms and developing new experimental survey measures to improve understanding of attitudes towards immigrants and Muslims in Europe. His doctoral research focused on evolving British attitudes towards immigrants and ethnic minorities, and their political effects past and present. Ford regularly discusses his research with the media, he has written for The Guardian, The Times, The New Statesman and The Financial Times, among others, and regularly comments on politics on TV and radio. He is a member of the “Polling Observatory” team, providing regular analysis of public opinion trends in Britain, including a general election forecast model and is co-author (with Dr Matthew Goodwin) of Revolt on the Right, which was named Political Book of the Year at the Paddy Power Political Book Awards 2014.
