Dr Stephen Bates

Dr Stephen Bates

Department of Political Science and International Studies
Senior Lecturer in Political Science

Contact details

Address
POLSIS - School of Government
Muirhead Tower
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
UK

Stephen is a senior lecturer in political science. Before re-joining POLSIS in 2007, he was a research fellow  in the ESRC Centre for Social and Economic Research on Innovation in Genomics (Innogen) at the University of Edinburgh.

Qualifications

PhD Political Science (Birmingham)

Biography

I co-convene the second year course Analysing Political Worlds and convene the third year course Parliamentary Studies.

My research is in the area of parliamentary studies, focusing mainly on parliamentary roles and parliamentary committees. For the academic year 2021-22, I will be a Parliamentary Academic Fellow in the UK Parliament, undertaking a research project on the impact of gendered and raced membership patterns of House of Commons Select Committees.

I am the co-convenor of the Parliaments specialist group of the UK Political Studies Association.

Teaching

  • Parliamentary Studies (POLS 372)

Postgraduate supervision

I am interested in supervising postgraduate research in parliamentary and legislative studies and/or British politics.

Research

  • Parliamentary committees
  • Parliamentary roles
  • Power and political agency
  • The status of women in academia

Other activities

He is the co-convenor of the 75th Political Studies Association Annual Conference, to be held in Birmingham in April 2025. He is also a board member of the International Political Science Association's Research Committee of Legislative Specialists.

Publications

Recent publications

Article

Bates, S, McKay, S, Horncastle, W & Bhattacharya, C 2024, 'Which MPs get elevated to the UK House of Lords?', Parliamentary Affairs.

Bhattacharya, C, Hart, G, Haughey, S, Bates, S & Meakin, A 2022, 'The state of the sub-discipline: mapping parliamentary and legislative studies using a survey and bibliometric analysis of three of its journals', Parliamentary Affairs. https://doi.org/10.1093/pa/gsac011

Bates, S 2021, 'Re-structuring parliamentary roles', International Journal of Parliamentary Studies, vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 22–46. https://doi.org/10.1163/26668912-bja10017

Goodwin, M, Bates, S & McKay, S 2020, 'Electing to do women’s work? Gendered divisions of labour in UK Select Committees, 1979-2016', Politics & Gender. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1743923X19000874

Bates, S, Amery, F, McKay, S, Miller, C & Pflaeger Young, Z 2020, 'Response to Women in the Profession? Assuming Gender in the Analysis of the Composition of UK Politics Departments', Politics, pp. 1. https://doi.org/10.1177/1478929920920796

Pflaeger Young, Z, Amery, F, Bates, S, McKay, S, Miller, C, Billings, T, Hayton, R, Holt, M, Khatri, J, Marvin, M, Ogunsanya, L, Ramdehal, A & Sullivan, R 2020, 'Women in the profession: an update on the gendered composition of the discipline and political science departments in the UK', Political Studies Review. https://doi.org/10.1177/1478929920905503

Gaines, B, Goodwin, M, Bates, S & Sin, G 2019, 'A bouncy house? UK Select Committee newsworthiness, 2005-18', The Journal of Legislative Studies, vol. 25, no. 3, pp. 409-433. https://doi.org/10.1080/13572334.2019.1662612

McKay, S, Goodwin, M & Bates, S 2019, 'A means to an end and an end in itself: select committee membership, parliamentary roles and parliamentary careers, 1979-present', Parliamentary Affairs, vol. 72, no. 4, pp. 799-820. https://doi.org/10.1093/pa/gsz038

Gaines, B, Goodwin, M, Bates, S & Sin, G 2019, 'Conclusion: prospects for analysing committees in comparative perspective', The Journal of Legislative Studies, vol. 25, no. 3, pp. 434-441. https://doi.org/10.1080/13572334.2019.1662613

Bates, S & Sealey, A 2019, 'Representing women, women representing: backbenchers' questions during Prime Minister's questions, 1979-2010', European Journal of Politics & Gender, vol. 2, no. 2, pp. 237–256 . https://doi.org/10.1332/251510819X15490283059237

Gaines, B, Goodwin, M, Bates, S & Sin, G 2019, 'The study of legislative committees', The Journal of Legislative Studies, vol. 25, no. 3, pp. 331-339. https://doi.org/10.1080/13572334.2019.1662614

Bates, S, Goodwin, M & McKay, S 2017, 'Do UK MPs engage more with Select Committees since the Wright reforms?: An interrupted time series analysis, 1979-2016', Parliamentary Affairs, vol. 70, no. 4, pp. 780–800. https://doi.org/10.1093/pa/gsx007

Chapter

Bates, S, Thompson, L, Goodwin, M & McKay, S 2021, Still deviant? The development and reform of the UK House of Commons committee system (1979 to present). in S Siefken & H Rommetvedt (eds), Parliamentary Committees in the Policy Process. Library of Legislative Studies, Routledge, London, pp. 302-319. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003106579-17

Bates, S, Kerr, P & Serban, R 2018, Questioning the Government. in C Leston-Bandiera & L Thompson (eds), Exploring Parliament. Oxford University Press, pp. 174-186.

Editorial

Bhattacharya, C, Hart, G, Haughey, S, Bates, S & Meakin, A 2022, 'The past, present and future of parliamentary and legislative studies', Parliamentary Affairs. https://doi.org/10.1093/pa/gsac007

View all publications in research portal

Expertise

  • Prime Minister's Questions
  • UK Parliament

Media experience