Co-convened the EGPA-Study Group on Local Governance and Democracy annual meeting at the EGPA Annual Conference, Bucharest, September 2011.
Co-Convened an EGPA, Local Governance and Democracy Study Group workshop on reforms in local government at Frankfurt University 15- 18 June 2011.
Convened five panels of the Local Politics Specialist Group of the PSA at the 2011 Annual Conference in London.
Convened a workshop at De Montfort University, entitled: Small Parties and Independents in Local Government, funded by the Political Studies Association, 10th November 2010.
Co-Convened a workshop at the Dutch Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations at The Hague to explore the policy implications and impacts of council amalgamations, July 2010.
Co-convened six panels of the Local Politics Specialist Group of the PSA at the 2010 Annual Conference in Edinburgh.
Co-convened a workshop at the ECPR joint-Sessions, entitled: ‘The Developing Role of the Councillor in a Comparative European Context: Attitudes, Assumptions and Perceptions towards Aspects of Local Democracy’, in Munster, March 2010.
Co-convened workshop of the Local Governance and Democracy Study Group: entitled: Changing municipalities in the Information Age, at the EGPA Annual Conference in Malta, September 2009.
Co-convened four panels at the Political Studies Association Conference: Democracy, Governance and Conflict: Dilemmas of Theory and Practice, 1 - 3 April 2008, Swansea University: 1. Campaigning and Local Elections: The Case of Post-Devolution Scotland; 2. Councillors Performance and Politics: Issues in British Local Governance; 3. Elites and Institutions in Local Politics beyond Britain: European, International and Multi-Level Perspectives; and, 4. Institutions and European Local Politics: Perspectives from Eastern and Western Europe.
Conference convenor and organiser for the First Annual International Conference on Minor Parties, Independent Politicians, Voter Associations and Political Associations in Politics. ‘Politics beyond the mainstream’ 29, 30 November and 1 December 2007: Venue - University of Birmingham. Jointly organised with Ghent University, Belgium and Queens University, Belfast.
Co-convenor of an International Workshop: The Direct Election of the Mayor: International Trends, Issues and Developments, 16 November 2007, Centre d'étude de la vie politique - Cevipol Université libre de Bruxelles (Cevipol), Brussells. Attended by 25 invited, internationally based, academics with a special focus and interest on the direct election of the local political leader.
Workshop Director: European Consortium for Political Research, Joint Sessions, Helsinki, 7 - 12 May, 2007: Workshop 6. Comparative Perspectives on Local Party Politics; co-director: Professor Henk van der Kolk, University of Twente.
Co-Convenor: British Liberal Political Studies Group/ Liberal History Group Winter Conference 19-21 January 2007, INLOGOV, Birmingham University. Jointly organised with the University of Wales, Institute, Cardiff.
Co-Convenor (with Professor Steve Leach from De Montfort University) of an ESRC competition seminar series entitled: The Future of Political Parties in Local Government; running in 2007 - 2008: 5 separate seminars and an end of series conference.
Co-Convenor for three panels accepted for PSA Annual Conference, Bath, 2007, entitled: Structuring Local Government and Politics; Local Electoral Politics in Britain and the USA; and, Local Politics as a Proving Ground in Britain and Europe.
Convenor for two panels at the PSA Annual Conference, Reading, 2006 entitled: Developments in Local Politics and, Urban and Regional Governance: A Challenge to Territorial Politics?