Chloe Challender

Thesis title:

Institutional intimacy: gender, contested sexuality and relationships in the 19th Century British Parliament

Research Area

History
Political History

Publications

Chloe Challender, 'Ringside Seat? Women's modes of entry to the early 19th century parliament', Parliamentary History (October 2025)

'Women in the House of Commons', co-authored chapter with Sarah Childs, Rosie Campbell & Jessica Smith in Cristina Leston-Bandeira, Alexandra Meakin and Louise Thompson (eds.), Exploring Parliament (OUP, March 2025)

Chloe Challender, 'The smallest room in the House?', blog for History of Parliament Trust, 16 January 2024

Chloe Challender and Harriet Deane, ‘The construction of the Good Parliamentarian within the House of Commons’ (Study of Parliament Group 2021)

Sarah Childs and Chloe Challender, ‘Re-gendering the UK House of Commons: The Academic Critical Actor and Her ‘Feminist in Residence’ (Political Studies Review Vol 17 Issue 4, 428-435, 1 August 2019)

Adam Mellows-Facer, Chloe Challender and Paul Evans, ‘Select Committees: Agents of Change’ (Parliamentary Affairs Vol 72 Issue 4, pages 903-922, October 2019)

Conferences

Panellist, Hidden in Plain Sight: Women in Archives, Libraries, Museums & Personal Collections, Women's History Network Annual Conference, 5 Sept 2025

Co-convenor, Lived Experience of the Westminster Parliament in History: Space, communities and people, University of Warwick, March 2025

Panellist, The Public-Private Divide in the History of Political Thought, University of Nottingham, October 2024

Panellist, Gender and Sexuality in Modern British History, University of Birmingham, June 2024

Co-presenter, M4C Research Festival, 4 October 2023, Maternal Bodies: An Overview of Outcomes/Experience of Our CDF-funded “Un”-Conference’

Co-convenor, M4C-funded Maternal Bodies Symposium, University of Birmingham, June 2023

Panellist, Gender and Political Groups in Britain c.1650-1950, University of Northampton, May 2023

Public Engagement & Impact

Awarded proxime accessit, Parliamentary History journal essay prize (Februrary 2025)

Vice Chair, Fellows Council; Member, Steering Group; Westminster Abbey Institute (2023 ongoing)

Funded workshop participant, Monash Prato Writing and Publishing Workshop, Italy (Sept 2024)

Presenter/panel member for Parliament's workplace equality network and I&D team events (2022-2025)

Senior Clerk, House of Commons (part-time role). Two decades’ experience as a senior official working on parliamentary procedure, policy and inclusion across Whitehall and Westminster.

Other Research Interests

Women's representation in the contemporary 21st Century UK Parliament.

Diversity and inclusion within parliamentary institutions.

Memberships

Postgraduate Member, Royal Historical Society

Practitioner member, Study of Parliament Group. Authored chapter in 2021 book ‘Parliaments and the Pandemic’ on the effect of the hybrid Parliament on inclusion and masculinities/femininities.