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Biography
William T Daniel is Associate Professor in Comparative Politics in the School of Politics and International Relations at the University of Nottingham (UK). He is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and teaches modules in comparative politics and research methods. He also serves as the School's Director of Admissions and External Relations.
Prior to the University of Nottingham, Will was Assistant Professor of Political Science at Francis Marion University in South Carolina (USA). He obtained his PhD from the Department of Political Science at the University of Pittsburgh in 2013, where he was also affiliated with the University's European Union Center of Excellence and held visiting doctoral studentships at Sciences Po - Paris, Université Libre de Bruxelles, and the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven.
Will holds an MA in Political Science and Graduate Certificates in European Union Studies and Western European Studies from the University of Pittsburgh, a BA in French and Political Science from Wake Forest University, and has studied at The German School at Middlebury College.
Expertise Summary
Will is an expert in comparative politics. He has a strong subject interest in the politics of representation, especially the identities of politicians, including gender and sexuality. He has written widely on legislative politics, political parties, and political careers in European settings and has strong connections to international networks in the study of gender and representation, the European Union, legislative studies, social media and digital campaigns, and the study of political careers. He has particular subject expertise in the European Parliament and in French politics.
His second book, Quotas as Game Changers for the Recruitment, Selection, and Performance of Elected Politicians, with Andrea Aldrich (Yale University), will be published by Oxford University Press in 2025. His first monograph, Career Behaviour and the European Parliament: All Roads Lead through Brussels?, was published by Oxford University Press in 2015.
He has published articles in a range of top political science journals, including The Journal of Politics, The Journal of European Public Policy, European Union Politics, Politics and Gender, West European Politics, Party Politics, Journal of European Integration, Journal of Legislative Studies and JCMS: Journal of Common Market Studies.
His work includes advanced quantitative methods on observational data, bespoke dataset construction using manual coding, and qualitative interviewing and archival techniques used across several national legislatures (including work in French and German). He is an active member of various academic associations, such as European Consortium for Political Research (ECPR) - including active participation in the Standing Group on Politics and Gender, the Standing Group on the EU, and the Standing Group on Parliaments, as well as the Political Studies Association (PSA), the University Association for Contemporary European Studies (UACES), and the European Union Studies Association (EUSA).
He has extensive experience reviewing for journals, grant makers, academic and textbook publishers, and prize juries. From 2022-24, he served as Co-director of the Research Centre for Parties and Democracy (REPRESENT), for which he was Deputy Director from 2020-22. As the current Director of Admissions and External Relations for the School of Politics and International Relations, he combines academic expertise with an acute administrative ability.
Teaching Summary
At the University of Nottingham, Will regularly provides teaching on the following modules:
- POLI 1014 - Intro to Comparative Politics (module convener)
- POLI 2014 - Crises and Controversies in European Politics
- POLI 2047 - How Voters Decide
- POLI 3121 - Gender and Political Representation (module co-convener)
Current students can book on for office hours during term time, using the School of Politics and IR booking page.
Research Summary
Will's current research continues to examine the nexus between political institutions and individual behaviour in political representation. Ongoing work addresses these dynamics for gender and… read more
Selected Publications
Current Research
Will's current research continues to examine the nexus between political institutions and individual behaviour in political representation. Ongoing work addresses these dynamics for gender and representation, digital campaigning, and political careers.
Drawing upon novel data collected on the 2022 French legislative elections for a Digital Society Project-funded research package that he led from 2022-23, he is currently focussing on the determinants of online campaigning behaviour, examining the role of political experience, personal background, and partisanship with Elise Frelin, Max-Valentin Robert, and Laurence Rowley-Abel. In EU politics, he is working on a related new study of cross-platform social media campaigning during the 2024 European Parliament elections with Lukas Obholzer and a separate study of demographic 'fit' in candidate selection with Anthony Kevins. He recently completed a paper on the importance of individual background for Commission cabinets with Steffen Hurka.
Past Research
Will recently completed a book manuscript, Gender Quotas as Game Changers for the Recruitment, Selection, and Performance of Elected Politicians, with Andrea Aldrich, on the effect of gender quota implementation on political career trajectories in Europe, which will be published by Oxford University Press in 2025. He provided evidence to the Welsh Senedd's Reform Bill Committee that draws upon this work.
Will's first book, Career Behaviour and the European Parliament: All Roads Lead through Brussels?, was published by Oxford University Press in 2015. The project explores institutional change in the European Parliament and its effect on the career paths of its membership. To do so, he examines the role of legislative professionalization and national political party gatekeepers on the career behavior and advancement strategies of European Parliament legislators.
Related research on the legislative behavior of Members of the European Parliament that builds on this volume has appeared in JCMS: Journal of Common Market Studies, European Union Politics, Party Politics, Journal of European Integration, The Journal of European Public Policy, The Journal of Legislative Studies, Research & Politics, Politics & Gender, The Journal of Politics, and in the form of various ongoing working papers and book chapters.
Future Research
Will has been awarded a Leverhulme Trust Research Fellowship for 2025, which he will use to launch new research on how shared personal experience among politicians from marginalised or minoritised backgrounds can foster communities of support to reach across political party differences.
Queering the Commons: Overcoming polarisation with identity-based connections, will explore how shared membership in LGBTQIA+ legislative parliamentary networks within four prominent European legislatures (UK House of Commons, Scottish Parliament, French National Assembly, and the European Parliament) affects the day-to-day behaviour of legislators from different ideological backgrounds. The project takes inspiration from scholarship on ethnic and gender identity's effects on political behaviour that has been less explored for sexuality. It argues that identities that divide us in one setting might bind us in another.
He also served as the lead applicant on a successful Leverhulme Visiting Professorship to support a year-long visit from Barbara Trish to the School of Politics and IR for academic year 2024-25. Under Will's coordination, Trish will share her expertise and research with students and colleagues from the REPRESENT network on a new project entitled, AI Campaigning In The 2024 US And UK Elections.