Dr Scott Davidson

I research and teach strategic communication, public relations and lobbying. I am the director of the EUPRERA Network on Public Affairs and Lobbying in Europe. I began my academic career later than most after spending 12 years working in public affairs and campaigns management.

My main expertise and focus is on finding ways to square strategic communications and lobbying with the needs of democratic systems. What makes “good” communication? How are we going to make lobbying more equal between the resource-rich and the resource-poor? How does PR become a public service profession? How can lobbying align with  sustainability pledges? Why is stakeholder empowerment becoming an objective of corporate social responsibility? And how? What are the main language strategies in lobbying?

I also have expertise in the targeting of older voters in political communication, and an ongoing interest in the impact of ageism on the careers of strategic communication practitioners and journalists. 

I am interested in bridging the gap between academic research and reflective practitioners.

View and subscribe to my occasional newsletter - The Wall Jump

My main focus has been on finding ways to square strategic communication and lobbying with the needs of democratic systems. What makes “good” communication? Exploring how agonistic democracy theory helps us understand that dialogic communication is not a cure-all answer to ethical dilemmas. How are we going to make lobbying more equal between the resource-rich and the resource-poor? How does PR become a public service profession? What are the main language strategies in lobbying? How can lobbying align with  sustainability pledges? Why is stakeholder empowerment becoming an objective of corporate social responsibility?

I also have expertise in the targeting of older voters in political communication, and an ongoing interest in the impact of ageism on the careers of strategic communication practitioners and journalists.

I am currently the Enterprise coordinator for the School of Media, Communication and Sociology

Davidson, S. & Lock, I. (2024). Argumentation strategies in lobbying: the discursive struggle over proposals to regulate Big Tech. Journal of Communication Management, Vol. ahead-of-print. https://doi.org/10.1108/JCOM-12-2023-0134

Lock, I & Davidson, S. (2024). "Argumentation strategies in lobbying: toward a typology", Journal of Communication Management. Vol. 28 No. 2, pp. 345-364

Davidson, S. (2022). Public affairs and lobbying: Public relations and the unequal contests to construct the public interest. Chapter 22 in (Eds Pompper et.al. The Routledge Companion to Public Relations. Routledge.

Davidson, S. (2021). Public relations and the media. Chapter 2 , pages 2-34 in Tench, R and Waddington, S (Eds). Public Relations and Management Communication. Pearson

Davidson, S. (2020). Made by a Human like You or Me: Back to the Greek classics to further develop the Rhetorical Paradigm of Public Relations. Public Relations Review, 46(1).

Joint Guest Editor. Special Issue: Lobbying Roles, The Public Interest and Democracy. Journal of Public Affairs, 20(2). May 2020.

Valentini, C, Davidson, S. (2020) Trade unions and lobbying: Fighting fat cats while defending the public interest? International Journal of Communication, 14 (2020), pp. 4913-4931

Ihlen, O., Raknes, K, Davidson S. (2018). Framing the public interest: Comparing public lobbying campaigns in four European states. Journal of Public Interest Communications, 2(1), 107-128. doi:10.32473/jpic.v2.i1.p107

Davidson, S. (2018). Organisational rhetoric in deeply pluralistic societies: the agonistic alternative. Chapter in Ihlen, and Heath, R (Eds). The Handbook of Organizational Rhetoric and Communication. Wiley Blackwell: Oxford

Davidson, S.(2017). Public Affairs Practice and Lobbying Inequality: Reform and regulation of the influence game. Journal of Public Affairs, 17(4). 

Davidson, S. Motion, J. (2017). On Mouffe: Radical pluralism and public relations. In Ihlen, Fredriksson, M. (Eds.). Public relations and social theory: Key figures and concepts. (2nd Expanded Edition). New York: Routledge.

Somerville, I. Davidson, S. (2017). Security, democratic legitimacy and the public interest: Policing and the communicative ritual in deeply divided societies. In Johnston, J and Pieczka, M (Eds). Public Interest Communication: Critical Debates and Global Concepts. Routledge.

Davidson, S. (2016). Public Relations Theory: An agonistic critique of the turns to dialogue and symmetry. Public Relations Inquiry 5 (2) 145-167.abstract

Davidson, S & Rowe, O. (2016). Emerging from the shadows? Perceptions, problems and potential consensus on the functional and civic roles of public affairs practice. Public Relations Inquiry. Vol. 5(1) 5-32

Davidson, S. (2015) Everywhere and nowhere: Theorising and researching public affairs and lobbying within public relations scholarship. Public Relations Review, Volume 41, Issue 5, December 2015, Pages 615-627

Davidson, S. (2014). Older Voters: A Phantom Tyranny of Numbers? A Response to Berry: Young People and the Ageing Electorate: Breaking the Unwritten Rule of Representative Democracy. Parliamentary Affairs. 2014 Volume 67 (3): 726-738.

Davidson, S. (2012). Going Grey: The mediation of politics in an ageing society. Ashgate Publishing Limited.

Davidson, S. Binstock, R. (2011). Segmentation: Political Marketing in Aging Democracies. In Lees-Marshment, J. Editor, The Routledge Handbook of Political Marketing. Routledge.

Stanyer, J. Davidson, S. (2011). The global human rights regime and the internet: Non-democratic states and the hyper-visibility of evidence of oppression in Cottle, S & Lester,L Eds Transnational Protests and the Media. Peter Lang Publishing.

Davidson, S. (2005). Grey Power, School Gate Mums and the Youth Vote: Age as a Key Factor in Voter Segmentation and Engagement in the 2005 UK General Election. In the Journal of Marketing Management, Volume 21, Number 9, November 2005, pp. 1179-1192(14).

I am interested in supervising PhD candidates in the following areas:

Development of strategic communication & public relations theory

All aspects of political communication, public affairs and lobbying

Rhetoric and argumentation strategies

Agonistic democracy

Communication & Corporate Social Responsibility or Advocacy

Issues management

Automation of campaigning

Relationships between campaigners and the media/media relations strategies

Science and environmental communication

Media and political communication responses to population ageing

Media and political portrayals of older people and framing of pensions reform inter-generational relations and the meaning of later life

The constructions of the baby boomers, Gen Z and other generations

I am programme director for the MA in Media and Public Relations. I have overseen the development of this course as one that seeks to enable students to become reflective strategic thinkers about communication in fast-changing world.

I lead postgrad modules in PR theory and strategic communication management.

I have also recently introduced a new module that introduces undergrads to rhetoric and PR writing.

Public relations campaigns and ethics

Lobbying practice/trends/ethics/regulation

Lobbying inequality/finding a level playing field

The Wall Jump is my newsletter on PR public affairs and lobbying: pulling back the curtain on the research pay wall to link academic research and issues in practice

The format of this newsletter is evolving. It starts with a simple premise. Practitioners in PR and lobbying don’t have easy access to lots of relevant and thought-provoking research that relates to what they do. Sometimes because of the academic-practitioner divide often because academic research is hidden behind ridiculously expensive pay walls. Many papers can be found you just have to know where to look. That’s one service this newsletter can provide. There might be others to be discovered as the community of readers builds.