The British Election Study
Principal Investigators: Jane Green and Geoffrey Evans
Nuffield College has a long tradition of studying electoral behaviour and with the British Election Study.
Nuffield Professors Jane Green and Geoffrey Evans have been awarded continued leadership of the British Election Study (2019-2024) by the Economic and Social Research Council, as part of the consortium between the University of Manchester and the University of Oxford.
The British Election Study (BES) is one of the longest running election studies worldwide and the longest running social science survey in the UK. It has made a major contribution to the understanding of political attitudes and behaviour over nearly sixty years. Surveys have taken place immediately after every general election since 1964.
The 2019-2024 British Election Study is led by Professor Edward Fieldhouse (University of Manchester), Jane Green (Nuffield College, Oxford), Geoffrey Evans (Nuffield College, Oxford), Dr Jonathan Mellon (University of Manchester and Non-Stipendiary Research Fellow, Nuffield College) and Dr Christopher Prosser (University of Manchester and Non-Stipendiary Research Fellow, Nuffield College). This is a continuation of the British Election Study led by the Universities of Manchester and Oxford between 2014 and 2019.
The first study was conducted by Nuffield Emeritus Fellow David Butler with Donald Stokes and transformed the study of electoral behaviour in the UK. Since then the BES has provided data to help researchers understand changing patterns of party support and election outcomes.
As well as David Butler, Nuffield Fellows Anthony Heath and Geoffrey Evans, and Nuffield alumnus John Curtice have all been responsible for the British Election Study during its history.
More information about the British Election Study.