Mark Carpenter

Welcome!  I am a currently a Ph.D. candidate in Political Science and Government of Ireland Postgraduate Research Scholar at Trinity College Dublin. My research is funded by the Irish Research Council’s Postgraduate Scholarship scheme.

My research focuses on the role that interest groups (interpreted broadly) play in  the public policy process at both the national  and supranational (EU) levels.  Currently, I am particularly interested in the relationship between interest group resources and interest group access. In examining this relationship I ask three interrelated questions:

What type of information are different types policymakers most in demand of?

What resources do interest groups need at their disposal to respond to these informational demands?

What type of interest groups are most likely to possess such resources?

I argue that the answers to these questions have a number of important policy implications, particularly from the perspective of democratic responsiveness.

Prior to undertaking my Ph.D. I received a Master of Science in Comparative European Politics from Trinity College, Dublin (2010) and a Bachelor of Arts in Modern History from Oxford University (2007). In the interim period I worked as a Management Consultant for the global consulting firm, Accenture.

My ‘digital footprint’ extends to profiles on  LinkedIn, Facebook  and Twitter.

I am most easily contacted via email on carpenm@tcd.ie and can also be reached by regular post at:

Department of Political Science
3 College Green
Trinity College
Dublin 2
Ireland