This Erasmus+ Jean Monnet Europa Policy Lab is a closed event. If you would like to attend, please email europe@anu.edu.au with your name and affiliation.

Professor Michael Bruter and Dr Sarah Harrison are returning to ANU for a follow-up of their previous Policy Lab entitled ‘Making Elections Work for Citizens: Optimising Electoral Ergonomics and the Electoral Experience of Vulnerable Voters’, which took place in September 2018 at the ANU Centre for European Studies.

This next Europa Policy Lab is practice-oriented and focuses on the interface between elements of electoral organisation and management and the psychology of voters. It aims to improve voters’ electoral experience and satisfaction and ensure effective access, equality of experience and inclusion both for voters in general and specific categories such as first time voters, disabled voters, etc. Our discussions will identify some of the key problems and inefficiencies that Electoral Management Bodies may face both in the run up to an election and on Election Day itself and deal with practical solutions to them one by one.

Program

9am – 10.30am, Session 1: Optimising Electoral Ergonomics
10.30am – 11am, morning tea break
11am – 12.30pm, Session 2: Engaging First Time Voters

Speaker bios

Professor Michael Bruter is Professor of Political Science at LSE and Director of the Electoral Psychology Observatory. He has developed a distinguished research profile in the sub-field of voters’ psychology, political behaviour, and political science research methods. Professor Bruter has been the recipient of over €5 million in research grants for frontier-breaking projects. Recent examples include a new ERC Advanced Grant to study electoral hostility, a ‘Proof of Concept’ grant to improve the satisfaction and turnout of first-time voters through field experiments in collaboration with Electoral Commissions, and a study of electoral psychology in over 20 countries. Professor Bruter has also served as expert witness on cases pertaining to voters’ psychology tried by the Irish High Court and Irish Supreme Court, and advised and worked with multiple Electoral Commissions. Professor Bruter’s latest book, co-authored with Dr Sarah Harrison and entitled Inside the Mind of a Voter, will be published by Princeton University Press in 2019. Professor Bruter has published several other books, and numerous other publications focused on topics within the fields of voters’ psychology, political behaviour, identity, and social science research methods.

Dr Sarah Harrison is an Assistant Professorial Research Fellow in the Department of Government at the LSE and Deputy Director of the Electoral Hostility Observatory (ELHO). She is a leading scholar in the fields of political psychology, extreme right politics and youth political behaviour. Her recent publications include Youth Participation in Democratic Life (2016, with Cammaerts, Bruter, Banaji and Anstead), and articles in Comparative Political Studies, American Behavioural Scientist and Parliamentary Affairs. Dr Harrison’s research has been recognised by prestigious awards and honorable mentions from the Economic and Social Research Council, the Michael Young Award, and the political psychology section of the American Political Science Association. Dr Harrison has advised multiple Electoral Commissions worldwide and worked as an expert and authored reports for multiple prestigious international organisations, including the European Commission, Council of Europe, Committee of the Regions, the European Youth Forum, and All Parties Parliamentary Group on the Vote at 16 in the British Parliament.