Colin Rallings is a British academic, Professor of Politics in the School of Sociology, Politics & Law at the University of Plymouth. Rallings’ first degree was in Politics and Modern History from the University of Manchester. Subsequently, he was awarded a master's degree in Politics by the University of Strathclyde and, in 1979, a Ph.D. by the University of Essex for a thesis on electoral behaviour. He joined the then Plymouth Polytechnic in 1976, being appointed Professor of Politics in 1997. He has held visiting appointments at the University of Leiden, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the University of Queensland, and the Australian National University, Canberra. He is a member of the Economic and Social Research Council's (ESRC) panel of assessors for Politics and International Relations, and of the Council's Research Resources Board.[1]
With his colleague Michael Thrasher, Rallings has written extensively on electoral systems, results and British politics. He is Co-Director of the Local Government Chronicle Elections Centre. Rallings has also appeared on ITN's ITV News election coverage on numerous occasions since the start of the 21st century.