THIS EVENT HAS RECENTLY OCCURED. PLEASE CHECK BACK IN THE COMING DAYS AS WE UPLOAD MATERIALS FROM THE CONFERENCE.
Welcome to the FT-APG Online A Level Conference information page, which occurred online on Nov 4th 2026.
This conference competition fells within a broader project aimed at fostering engagement between the American Politics Group of the Political Studies Association, the Schools Programme of the Financial Times, and A-Level students and tutors. This project is funded by competitive funding from the excellence and impact funding of the Political Studies Association and the Centre for Transformative and Global Justice of the University of Greenwich.
In particular, this conference is aimed at supporting those submitting to the 2026-27 American Politics Group of the Political Studies Association A-Level essay competition (deadline: February 1st, 2027).
You can find recordings of the 2025-26 conference here.
The conference was split into two parts:
- A: The 2026 Midterms
- Occurring the day before this conference, the 2026 US midterms will see thousands of seats up for election across the US. In this panel you will gain insight and understanding into the results from experts on US politics and elections.
- B: Preparing for your essay competition entry and your A-Level exam
- In this session you will receive advice from seasoned A Level tutors and academics about both how to develop your essay competition entry and how to prepare for your A Level politics exam.
You can find all the talks from the conference below.
Conference speakers included:
- Thomas Evans, Financial Times
- Dr Pete Finn, University of Greenwich
- Caitlin Lewis, The University of Manchester
- Dr Katie Pruszynski, The University of Sheffield
- Dr Dafydd Townley, University of Portsmouth
- Rob McMahon, Radley College
- Sophie Stanford, University of Manchester
- Kenneth Rushworth, University of Manchester
Panel A Talks
Panel B Talks
Queries: Lead Organiser Dr. Pete Finn: P.D.Finn@greenwich.ac.uk (students should ask their teachers/tutors to contact Dr. Finn on their behalf)
Registration: here
As well as running the above, the project team is also researching the multi-partner approach adopted on the ‘The A Level Engagement Project‘. This research has ethical approval from the University Research Ethics Board of the University of Greenwich. If you have questions about this research, email Lead Organiser Peter Finn: P.D.Finn@greenwich.ac.uk