Professor Justin Fisher
Director of Policy Unit / Professor of Political Science

Membership and affiliation

External Roles

• Founding Fellow, Political Studies Association (2025-)
• Academician, Academy of Social Sciences (2008 - )
• Member (2025-) and Chair (2026-) of the ESRC Expert Advisory Group on Data and infrastructure, skills and methods
• Fellow of the Constitution Unit, UCL (2015-Present)
• Visiting Professor in Political Science, Université Paris Ouest Nanterre La Défense (2009)
• Member of the British Election Study Advisory Panel (2021 – Present)
• President, British Politics Group of the American Political Science Association (2008 - 2010)
• Elected Member of Executive Committee, British Politics Group of the American Political Science Association (2011-13) (2023-Present)
• Lead Editor of Political Studies Review 2018-2024
• Editor of Journal of Elections, Parties & Public Opinion, (2004 - 2011)
• Member of Editorial Advisory Board, Parliamentary Affairs (2012 - Present)
• Member of the Editorial Board, Journal of Elections, Public Opinion & Parties (2012 - Present)
• Academic Advisor, Commonwealth Scholarship and Fellowship Plan, Commonwealth Scholarship Commission in the United Kingdom (2010 - 2016)
• Member of Magna Carta 800th Anniversary Committee and Chair of the Academic Sub-Committee

Policy Impact

• Invited advice to the Rycroft inquiry into foreign financial interference in UK politics, January 2026
• Invite advice to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government work reforms of political finance (2024-2026)
• Appointed member of the Register of Specialists, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, September 2025
• Invited advice to the Dutch Ministry of the Interior on political finance regulation, October 2022
• Witness to the Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Select Committee, The Draft Strategy and Policy Statement for the Electoral Commission, October 2022
• Member of expert working group within the Government Office for Science ‘Resilience to long-term trends and transitions’ Foresight project – Governance Theme, April – June 2022
• Witness to the Elections Bill Committee, September 2021
• Witness to the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Select Committee, Elections Bill, September 2021
• Invited presentation from the National Democratic Institute and British Embassy in Tirana to a delegation of Albania MPs, regulators, and journalists, February 2020
• Invited advice to the Ethiopian Electoral Board on campaign and party funding regulation, December 2019
• Witness to the Scottish Parliament Finance and Constitution Committee, Referendums (Scotland) Bill, September 2019
• Invited advice to the Central Electoral Commission of Albania on party funding regulation, February 2018
• Invited presentation to delegation of officials and civil society groups from the Ukraine on party funding regulation, November 2017
• Invited advice to the Central Electoral Commission of Kosovo on party funding regulation, September 2017
• Invited advice to the Ukrainian Electoral Commission on party funding regulation, May 2017
• Witness to the House of Lords Select Committee on Trade Union Political Funds and Political Party Funding, February 2016
• Invited advice to the Tunisian Court of Accounts on party funding regulation, December 2013
• Review of Party Finance Legislation in Georgia, Project Commissioned by the Council of Europe, March – June 2013
• Invited advice to the Japanese Ministry of the Interior and Diet on party funding regulation, November 2012 & September 2013
• Witness to the Scottish Affairs Select Committee hearing on the referendum on separation for Scotland, July 2012
• Advisor the Committee on Standards in Public Life’s in its response to the government’s proposals on a statutory register of lobbyists, February 2012
• Witness to the Political and Constitutional Reform Select Committee hearing on the government’s proposals on a statutory register of lobbyists, February 2012
• Advisor the Committee on Standards in Public Life’s inquiry into Party Political Funding, (2010 - 11)
• Witness to the Political and Constitutional Reform Select Committee hearing on the government’s proposals for voting and parliamentary reform, July 2010
• Witness to the Committee on Standards in Public Life’s hearing on Party Political Funding, July 2010
• Witness to the Speaker’s Conference on Parliamentary Representation, July 2009
• Member of the Public Affairs Council Working Party (2009)
• Witness to the Political Parties and Election Bill Committee, November, 2008
• Scientific Expert, 3rd Evaluation Round of the Council of Europe Group of States against Corruption (GRECO) on the transparency of party funding (2008 - 2011)
• Senior Policy Advisor to the Electoral Commission (2008)
• Specialist Advisor to the Public Administration Select Committee for its inquiry into Lobbying (2007 - 2008)

Work with Other Universities

• External Examiner (Undergraduate), Department of Politics, Lancaster University (2016-2020)
• External Examiner (Undergraduate), Department of Political Science, University College London (2010-2012)
• External Examiner (Undergraduate), Department of International Politics, University of Wales, Aberystwyth (2004-2007)
• External Examiner (Undergraduate), Department of Politics & Contemporary History, University of Salford (2001-2004)
• External Examiner (Postgraduate), Department of Politics & International Relations, University of Kent (2004)
• External Examiner (MRes), School of Politics & International Relations, University of Nottingham (2015)
• External Examiner (MRes) School of Humanities, York St. John University (2022)
• External Examiner (PhD), Department of Politics, University of York (2022)
• External Examiner (PhD), Department of Political Science. Trinity College Dublin (2020)
• External Examiner (PhD), Department of Politics, University of Sussex (2017 & 2018)
• External Examiner (PhD), Department of Political Science, University College London (2015)
• External Examiner (PhD), Department of Government, University of Essex (2008, 2010 & 2015)
• External Examiner (PhD), School of Law & Social Science, University of Plymouth (2008)