Department Hosts the 19th Annual Political Networks Conference
From 4鈥�7 August 2026, the University of Manchester welcomed international scholars to Oddfellows Hall for the听19th Annual Political Networks Conference (POLNET 2026), hosted and organised by听Professor Philip Leifeld(Department of Social Statistics).
Marking the first time the premier international conference has taken place in Europe after previous iterations at Harvard, Duke, Michigan, and other universities, the event brought together leading researchers and practitioners from across North America, the UK, Europe, and beyond.
A Vibrant Programme of Methods and Research
The four-day conference showcased cutting-edge methodological developments and empirical applications in political network analysis:
114 participants听attended across the four days.
96 research presentations听were delivered across 30 sessions听in听4 parallel panel tracks, spanning topics from policy networks and political polarization to international relations and online discourse.
8 intensive training workshops听took place over the first two days, covering introductory and advanced network analysis in R, causality-aware temporal networks, deep graph learning, data collection and management, and statistical modelling.
Featured sessions听included a mentoring lunch, workshops with senior academics, and a publishing panel with the editors of听Network Science, where a dedicated special issue for the conference is hosted, and听Nature Human Behaviour.
Strong Local Engagement and Institutional Partnerships
The event saw substantial local participation, with听25 attendees from the University of Manchester听taking part thanks to conference stipends provided by the听Cathie Marsh Institute for Social Research (CMI). North American graduate students were supported by 10听APSA travel grants听sponsored by the听APSA Political Networks Section.
The conference was organised in partnership with the听Department of Social Statistics, the听Mitchell Centre for Social Network Analysis, the听Cathie Marsh Institute for Social Research, the听APSA Section on Political Networks, the听ECPR Standing Group on Political Networks, and the听International Network for Social Network Analysis (INSNA). Generous support was provided by the University of Manchester's听Hallsworth Conference Fund, the Mitchell Centre, and the CMI.
For full access to session abstracts and the conference archive, visit the听.