A glance at the future of British politics: what we know about parties’ youth factions

A political party’s youth faction is a channel for engagement but can also provide a glimpse into what parties might look like in the near future, writes Emily Rainsford. She explains what we know about these factions so far, and why it’s worrying

Extending the franchise in Scotland to 16 year olds was progress which should be capitalised on, not rolled back

The Scottish referendum was not only historic for its constitutional implications, it was also the first time in the UK that 16 and 17 year olds were allowed to vote. But what are the reasons for including younger people in the electorate, and what might the consequences be for their future participation? Emily Rainsford analyses the potential impact

Political parties need to better integrate young members and give them the chance to influence policy

Most major political parties have youth wings, run by their young members. But with party membership declining, Emily Rainsford has considered how parties might better engage their young members and recruit others. In this post, part of our new series on youth participation, she argues for more integration of young party members into decision-making structures

Politics should be something that everyone can get involved in, and Verto is proving that Voter Advice Applications play a vital role on this mission.

Voter Advice Applications have been on the rise in recent years. These websites and apps match users to a particular political party based on a set of questions about their attitudes to different policies and political statements. Verto, launched last year, has been rebooted for the London Mayoral election. Here, Oliver Sidorczuk, Emily Rainsford, and Alex Dobson discuss the new app, arguing that it can help young voters understand and participate in politics at a time of acute disengagement

Towards improving peer review: Crowd-sourced insights from Twitter

Peer review is an essential part of academic publishing, yet many authors, reviewers, and editors have reportedly encountered problems with the review process. Some scholars view peer-review as a necessary process for the advancement of science, while other scholars argue that for many publishers and journals, both authors and reviewers are being exploited. The aim of this commentary is two-fold. First, to provide a narrative review of current perspectives and available research on the peer-review process to date, and second, to summarise potential solutions elicited from scholars on Twitter. A review of the literature identified several problems with peer-review including publication delays, an over reliance on a narrow pool of reviewers, threats to anonymity, perceived exploitation, as well as overworked editors. Recommendations to redress these issues that emerged from scholars on Twitter suggested publishers, journals, their editors and associate editors, universities, individual academics and their communities all have a role to play towards creating an equitable and fair system. This commentary aims to ignite conversations about improving the peer-review process

What use is academia for small businesses and community interest companies?

Pressures to demonstrate the impact of research has led to increasing numbers of academics looking beyond their peers for new audiences for their research findings, including to small businesses and community interest companies. But how can academia be of use to these groups? Emily Rainsford, LJ Rawlings, Lauren Mistry and Eve Forrest share reflections on a successful collaboration and skills exchange between a social sciences researcher and community interest company Youth Employment UK, with perspectives from academic, community interest company, and funder

Genomic analysis of codon, sequence and structural conservation with selective biochemical-structure mapping reveals highly conserved and dynamic structures in rotavirus RNAs with potential cis-acting functions

Rotaviruses are a major cause of acute, often fatal, gastroenteritis in infants and young children world-wide. Virions contain an 11 segment double-stranded RNA genome. Little is known about the cis-acting sequences and structural elements of the viral RNAs. Using a database of 1621 full-length sequences of mammalian group A rotavirus RNA segments, we evaluated the codon, sequence and RNA structural conservation of the complete genome. Codon conservation regions were found in eight ORFs, suggesting the presence of functional RNA elements. Using ConStruct and RNAz programmes, we identified conserved secondary structures in the positive-sense RNAs including long-range interactions (LRIs) at the 5′ and 3′ terminal regions of all segments. In RNA9, two mutually exclusive structures were observed suggesting a switch mechanism between a conserved terminal LRI and an independent 3′ stem–loop structure. In RNA6, a conserved stem–loop was found in a region previously reported to have translation enhancement activity. Biochemical structural analysis of RNA11 confirmed the presence of terminal LRIs and two internal helices with high codon and sequence conservation. These extensive in silico and in vitro analyses provide evidence of the conservation, complexity, multi-functionality and dynamics of rotavirus RNA structures which likely influence RNA replication, translation and genome packaging

Perceived economic self‑sufficiency: a countryand generation‑comparative approach

We thank Michael Camasso and Radha Jagannathan as well as Asimina Christoforou, Gerbert Kraaykamp, Fay Makantasi, Tiziana Nazio, Kyriakos Pierrakakis, Jacqueline O’Reilly and Jan van Deth for their contribution to the CUPESSE project (Seventh Framework Programme; Grant Agreement No. 61325). CUPESSE received additional funding from the Mannheim Centre for European Social Research (MZES) and the Field of Focus 4 “Self-Regulation and Regulation: Individuals and Organisations” at Heidelberg University. We further acknowledge helpful comments on this article by two anonymous reviewers. Julian Rossello provided valuable research assistance.Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https ://doi.org/10.1057/ s4130 4-018-0186-3) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.Existing datasets provided by statistical agencies (e.g. Eurostat) show that the economic and financial crisis that unfolded in 2008 significantly impacted the lives and livelihoods of young people across Europe. Taking these official statistics as a starting point, the collaborative research project “Cultural Pathways to Economic Self-Sufficiency and Entrepreneurship in Europe” (CUPESSE) generated new survey data on the economic and social situation of young Europeans (18–35 years). The CUPESSE dataset allows for country-comparative assessments of young people’s perceptions about their socio-economic situation. Furthermore, the dataset includes a variety of indicators examining the socio-economic situation of both young adults and their parents. In this data article, we introduce the CUPESSE dataset to political and social scientists in an attempt to spark a debate on the measurements, patterns and mechanisms of intergenerational transmission of economic self-sufficiency as well as its political implications.CUPESSE project (Seventh Framework Programme; Grant Agreement No. 61325