Registration is now open until 6 July 2026. Details are available on the registration page. Decision notifications will be sent out by 10 May 2026.

We are generously supported by the Hallsworth Conference Fund of the University of Manchester and will be able to offer subsidised registration rates.

The conference is organised in partnership with several organisations:

• APSA Section on Political Networks

• ECPR Standing Group on Political Networks

• International Network for Social Network Analysis (INSNA)

• Mitchell Centre for Social Network Analysis

• Cathie Marsh Institute for Social Research, University of Manchester

• Department of Social Statistics, University of Manchester

The 2026 conference is taking place in Europe for the first time and bringing together American, European, and UK-based academics studying political networks.

Previous conferences took place at Harvard, Michigan, Duke, and other major universities in North America.

We will offer eight training workshops on 4 and 5 August, including workshops on analysing networks in R, political network data collection and management, deep graph learning, causality, temporal networks, and statistical modelling.

Details can be found on the training workshops page.

The 19th Annual Political Networks Conference 2026 will take place at the University of Manchester this August. Please see the tentative programme.

We have secured rooms at Oddfellows Hall, an Edwardian Baroque-style historical building on the University of Manchester campus at Oxford Road.

The Cathie Marsh Institute for Social Research supports local PhD students and early-career researchers at Manchester with 10–20 CMI Conference Stipends.

The APSA Section on Political Networks is excited to sponsor 10 APSA travel grants for PhD students and postdocs based in North America to participate in the conference at Manchester.

Conference team contact: polinetworks2026@gmail.com

Conference host: Philip Leifeld (philip.leifeld@manchester.ac.uk)

Programme committee: Philip Leifeld (Social Statistics, Mitchell Centre) • Shahryar Minhas (APSA Section) • Monica Di Gregorio (ECPR Standing Group) • Silviya Nitsova (Politics, Mitchell Centre, Manchester)