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Will Allen

@williamlallen.bsky.social

1.8K followers 620 following 330 posts

political scientist • how people engage with info, and why this matters for attitudes and policy around the world • Deputy Editor @migrationjrnl.bsky.social • UK Young Academy • dog dad • all the baking • www.wlallen.com

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Will Allen @williamlallen.bsky.social · Mar 14

Now with pages in @cpsjournal.bsky.social: can citizens use simple visualizations to benchmark their government's performance during crises? Turns out, yes: visually showing the UK as one of the "worst of the bunch" for COVID-19 mortalities led to more negative evaluations. doi.org/10.1177/0010...

Worst of the Bunch: Visual Comparative Benchmarks Change Evaluations of Government Performance. By William Allen and Kristoffer Ahlstrom-Vij

Summary: Benchmarking theories argue voters use information about other countries’ performances, usually on the economy and obtained through experience or media, to evaluate their own governments. Yet existing observational evidence is relatively fragile and struggles to distinguish how people become more knowledgeable. Using a pre-registered experiment, we showed UK respondents a chart displaying the UK’s exceptionally high cumulative COVID-19 deaths either in isolation or alongside European countries with fewer deaths. Mimicking widely-circulated charts, this visual treatment enhances our study’s external validity and tests the media-based channel for benchmarking. Aligned with pre-registered expectations, seeing the UK as “worst of the bunch” compared to UK-only data caused more negative government evaluations. Unexpectedly, partisanship did not moderate the information effects, while exploratory tests revealed the visuals generated more negative evaluations among respondents with high political trust. Our study shows international comparisons in visual forms can change domestic opinion, and on matters beyond strictly economic performance.

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Will Allen @williamlallen.bsky.social · 1d

Hope to see you and the @equalstrength.bsky.social crew in Belfast for @epssnet.bsky.social next year!

Reposted by Will Allen

Will Allen @williamlallen.bsky.social · 3d

Ten years ago today, I started my PhD in Politics w/ @politicsoxford.bsky.social. As others are in the starting phases of their own programs, some thoughts on what I’ve learned, both since then and during the process (in no particular order). 1/

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Will Allen @williamlallen.bsky.social · 3d

The fairest comparison is yourself against where you were a year ago. As long as I was making progress on the skills, knowledge, and networks compared to the year prior, that was a win for me. 6/

Will Allen @williamlallen.bsky.social · 3d

Don’t let the perfect dissertation be the enemy of the good-enough dissertation. Very rarely is the PhD project the defining thing you’ll work on forever. And it’ll probably look very different in forms that actually matter: books, articles. Plus life gets in the way, or a visa app in my case. 5/

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Will Allen @williamlallen.bsky.social · 3d

Tool and tech up: take as many methods and research design classes or workshops as you can. Topics and trends change, so I decided early on to keep updating my data and methods toolkit (including qual approaches) as much as possible. 4/

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Will Allen @williamlallen.bsky.social · 3d

Turn up every day for others, too. A solo project can feel lonely, so learning from and sharing feedback with my cohort was helpful for my own work and mental health. Plus, these folks may well likely be future peers or colleagues that you’ll see at conferences or editing journals in your field. 3/

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Will Allen @williamlallen.bsky.social · 3d

Turn up every day for yourself. Building a habit of regularly chipping away at a problem meant that there was a greater chance (though no guarantee) of a breakthrough. 2/

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Will Allen @williamlallen.bsky.social · 3d

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Will Allen @williamlallen.bsky.social · 5d

The @migrationjrnl.bsky.social special issues call is now open, with a deadline of 15 Dec. Particularly good if you’ve recently held a workshop or conference on a theme related to migration. Citizenship, or integration, and have a collection of papers.

Migration Studies @migrationjrnl.bsky.social · 5d

Our call for Special Issues is now live! We welcome collections that advance theoretical debates, offer comparative insight, and push methodological boundaries. Deadline: 15 December 2025. Questions: get in touch with @mkoinova.bsky.social. Details: academic.oup.com/migration/pa...

2025 Call for Special Issue Proposals

Deadline: 15 December 2025 Migration Studies is now accepting Special Issue proposals. The journal typically publishes one call for special issues pe

academic.oup.com

Will Allen @williamlallen.bsky.social · 5d

If you work on the politics of migration, integration, or citizenship, consider submitting it to @epssnet.bsky.social and the more-than-capable hands of co-chairs @kristinabsimonsen.bsky.social @aalrababah.bsky.social. Deadline is 7 November! #migcitsky #polisky

EPSS @epssnet.bsky.social · 6d

▶️ Migration Politics

👉🏽 Section chairs: @kristinabsimonsen.bsky.social & @aalrababah.bsky.social

📢 Our section section brings together research on the politics of migration, including migration flows, government policies to manage mobility, and the politics of forced displacement. >>>

6/

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Will Allen @williamlallen.bsky.social · 6d

Another chance to see me profess my love (and the limits) of charts to change minds. Thanks @psapolpsychology.bsky.social for hosting! And check out the whole autumn series which looks excellent.

PSA Political Psychology Specialist Group @psapolpsychology.bsky.social · 6d

Finally, three weeks later on Thursday 4th December at 12:00, @williamlallen.bsky.social rounds out the series by presenting important insights into the partisan attitudinal effects of data visualisation of refugee numbers.

Register: events.teams.microsoft.com/event/c939c6...

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Will Allen @williamlallen.bsky.social · 7d

How dare you throw Hobbes under the bus like that 😉

Will Allen @williamlallen.bsky.social · 7d

Congratulations Jan, and a very cool project!

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Will Allen @williamlallen.bsky.social · 7d

Cheers Jack! Next time I’m planning to use maple for that 🇨🇦 vibe

Will Allen @williamlallen.bsky.social · 7d

PS I’ve come to terms that this a baking and dog feed which occasionally has some social science content.

Will Allen @williamlallen.bsky.social · 7d

Today is the first @sotonpolitics.bsky.social seminar of the term, which means colleagues are getting these honey and peanut butter biscuits with mixed spice, pecan, and flakey sea salt! An autumn mix of sweet and salty, just like my last paper’s Reviewer 1 and Reviewer 2. #poliskybakes

Three golden brown biscuits on a grey plate. Each of them have chunks of pecan on top, with crosshatch patterns baked into the top of each one.

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Will Allen @williamlallen.bsky.social · 11d

Buenos días, Oxfordshire 🐶

A Jack Russell terrier stands on a fallen tree stump with a green park behind her. As she looks over her kingdom she thinks about the lunch that awaits: chicken chicken chic

Will Allen @williamlallen.bsky.social · 16d

We really appreciate the recognition, especially when among such a fantastic line-up of scholars I personally admire! And @isabel-ruiz.bsky.social really deserves it as a nod to how she inspires junior scholars in the political economy of development and migration. bsky.app/profile/maar...

Maarten Vink @maartenpvink.bsky.social · 19d

And congrats to all other 2025 @migcitizenapsa.bsky.social award winners and honorees!
connect.apsanet.org/s43/awards/

Will Allen @williamlallen.bsky.social · 16d

In a conjoint experiment, we show Colombians prefer policies that allow for conditional family reunification and access to formal employment. And, those with stronger humanitarian views favor fewer restrictions in core areas of health, work, and family (what we call "life, labor, and loved ones.")

A chart showing that Colombians tend to prefer migration policies that allow conditional family reunification, some access to formal labor markets, an (to a lesser degree) annual limits on arrivals and some kind of limited protection period.

Will Allen @williamlallen.bsky.social · 16d

Thanks @migcitizenapsa.bsky.social! @isabel-ruiz.bsky.social, @cvar-sil.bsky.social and I received an honorable mention for the section's Best Paper Award this year, for our study showing which types of migration policies towards Venezuelans that Colombians prefer. Free here: doi.org/10.1016/j.wo...

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Will Allen @williamlallen.bsky.social · 16d

Buenas noches, Oxfordshire

A Jack Russell terrier sleeps on her side, holding onto her human’s hand as she dreams of her favourite dinner: chicken.

Will Allen @williamlallen.bsky.social · 18d

Congrats to you both! (And I only found out about our HM from your post, so thanks social media!)

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Will Allen @williamlallen.bsky.social · 20d

Good evening, Oxfordshire

A lamppost at the end of a old brick alley. The photo is blurry as the photographer moved.

Will Allen @williamlallen.bsky.social · 21d

A great reminder from @jaeyeonkim.bsky.social as the academic job market season begins: “You won’t be the right fit everywhere. That’s okay. You only need one place where your work resonates and where you can continue to grow.” #academicsky #polisky

Jae Yeon Kim @jaeyeonkim.bsky.social · 21d

It's academic job market season. I’ve written a reflection with some potentially helpful tips: jaeyk.github.io/essays/job_m...

What I Wish I Knew Before the Academic Job Market – Hello, I’m Jae.

jaeyk.github.io

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Will Allen @williamlallen.bsky.social · 21d

Sin duda con una personalidad similar 😉