Mapping the EU referendum debate

The aim of this Fellowship is to improve the quality of understanding and debate about the European Union (EU) and the UK's relationship with it. With the coming referendum on British membership of the EU, there is an excellent opportunity to capture the full scope and depth of the debate and to present it back to a wide range of users as a supplement to their debates.

While there has been a lot of interest in these questions, there has also been insufficient consideration of how academic research might help to facilitate the debate and enable people to make more informed decisions. Through a combination of original research and a wide range of outputs, the Fellow will work to achieve these aims.

In particular, the Fellowship will provide original research in a timely manner on the content and structure of the campaigning surrounding the referendum, with a range of outputs designed to meet the needs of a full range of audiences. In so doing, it will offer a rich source of insight into the potential paths that the UK might follow after the vote itself and so have lasting value to a core debate in British politics.

Thus, the main part of the Fellowship will concern itself with engaging in, and contributing to, the public and academic debate on the EU, through its work in collecting and analysing new material. This will be done through a series of activities, each designed to connect with different audiences.

The centrepiece of the Fellowship will be a web-based resource that provides weekly summaries and analysis of the official and unofficial campaign materials, throughout the formal 10-week campaign period and the period of the Fellowship preceding that. This analysis will consist: of quantitative analysis of rhetorical frames, core themes and channels of communication used; and of qualitative reviews of the pattern of debate. The resource will progressively develop a data set that will then be turned towards more academic purposes after the campaign concludes, to review all of the points already mentioned, as well as a mapping of the activists in both campaigns.

This work is complemented by the production of a series of extended thought pieces throughout the Fellowship. This pieces will be published online, in a variety of locations, to synthesise the key findings of existing research and the original research into key questions relating to the referendum campaign. This work will be directed mainly at practitioners in politics and the media, although written in a manner that the wider public can access them. A key channel for this work will be the already existing work being undertaken by the proposer with his regular "A Diet of Brussels" podcasts that have been discussed such points since the May 2015 general election.

There is also a more narrowly academic strand to the work, with the organisation of two colloquia during the year, to bring together practitioners and academics to discuss the key themes of the Fellowship's theme. This will contribute towards the production of several articles for academic journals, as well as the thought pieces,

Finally, all of these activities will be mirrored by an active presence in both social media and in the mass media. Capitalising of existing strengths in both areas as a trusted commentator and contributor, the Fellow will use his presence on Twitter, Facebook, blogging and podcasting to produce concise, rapid-response and high-frequency contributions to debates as they emerge. Similarly, media contacts will be extended by working to produce more substantial contributions to print and broadcast outlets.

The work of the Fellowship is primarily directed towards engagement with the public debate about the UK's relationship with the EU, in the context of the referendum. There are four main groups that will benefit from the Fellowship. The work and outputs of the Fellowship will be tailored to meet their differing requirements.

The first key audience is that of the mass media. In the context of the referendum, the media are a vital actor in the construction and development of public debate, and thus in need of research-informed contributions. The summarising work of the web resource will be central in meeting this need, supplemented by the thought pieces and outputs of the colloquia, all of which will represent excellent opportunities for engagement with local, national and international media outlets. In addition, there will be an active use of social media and blogging to provide high-tempo contributions, further increasing the attractiveness of engaging with the material produced by the Fellowship.

Related to this work will be that with practitioners, in the fields of party politics, civil society organisations and public administration (both national and European). The same mechanisms as for journalists will be used to build deeper connections with practitioners and generate useful outputs. With an active and pressing public debate, the value of this work will be made clear to such users, grounded as it will be in an impartial, research-grounded approach.

Ultimately, the wider British public will be a beneficiary from this work and activity. Particularly in the context of the renegotiation-and-referendum, the availability of concise, informed research-driven materials, presented in clear and simple-to-understand terms will be of use in supporting and stimulating that debate. The availability of the Fellow through the web resource, social media (and mass media, to a lesser extent) will encourage members of the public to engage with this material, especially that produced in response to more localised developments in the public debate.

Most narrowly, there is a benefit to academics working on British European policy, political rhetoric and political activism. A combination of peer-reviewed journal articles and presentations at academic conferences will be the avenues for dissemination primarily directed at this audience, supplemented by participation in colloquia, citizens' jury and the extended thought pieces. This work will form the basis for on-going discussion and debate within the community, with its combination of original research and of summarising existing work.
Overall, the work relies on its ability to engage with this range of users, not simply to valorise the activity, but also to ensure that it is properly grounded and directed in its support of public debate.