Welcome!

My name is Dr Lotte Hargrave and I am a Lecturer in Quantitative Political Science in the Department of Politics at the University of Manchester. In my award-winning research, I use innovative quantitative designs to study what voters want, how politicians act, and the sources and consequences of bias in our political systems. I work primarily on questions relating to gender and stereotyping, political behaviour, political communication, legislative studies, and public opinion. I welcome prospective PhD students interested in any of these areas, so please do feel free to reach out if this sounds like you.

I currently work as a contracted psephologist for the BBC Elections Programme, having worked on the 2024 General Election, 2025 and 2026 local elections, and the upcoming Scottish Parliament and Welsh Senedd elections in 2026. My role centres mostly around tracking down data and building datasets that provide a base for all analysis and predictions made by the psephological team on election night. I also design and run scripts on statistical programmes to analyse results, patterns, and trends alongside my colleagues on the election night itself.

Before joining Manchester, I was the Head of Data Science at the public opinion consultancy Deltapoll. My work at Deltapoll involved managing and fielding surveys for clients, carrying out research into British politics and public opinion, delivering quantitative presentations and reports, and data analysis and visualisations of political trackers including Westminster vote intention, economic competence, and leadership approach ratings. If you are interested in exploring careers outside of the realms of academia, then I am always happy to speak about my experiences. Feel free to send me an email.