Colin Rallings is an Associate Member of Nuffield College and emeritus Professor at the University of Plymouth.  He is a former Honorary Secretary of the Political Studies Association of the UK (PSA); convenor of the PSA’s Elections, Public Opinion and Parties specialist group; and member and Deputy Chair of the ESRC Research Resources Board.

Together with Michael Thrasher he established the Local Election Archive in 1985 attracting a range of both private sector sponsorship and grant income. They have also published widely in the field with their work being ‘flagged’ for quality at successive Research Assessment Exercises.

Rallings has worked as ITV News’ elections analyst for over 30 years.  He has received a Royal Television Society and two PSA awards in acknowledgement of his public facing work on elections.