Robert Waller is a British election expert, author, teacher, and former opinion pollster. His best known published work is The Almanac of British Politics (8 editions, 1983–2007), a guide to the voting patterns of all United Kingdom parliamentary constituencies.

Education and Career

Educated at Buxton College

Buxton College

Buxton College was a boys' school in Buxton, Derbyshire.-History:It was founded in the 16th century and moved to a new building in 1881. The new building was by William Pollard of Manchester. It became a County Grammar school in 1923/4...

 secondary school, Derbyshire, and Oxford University: BA History (congratulatory first class, 1977), Balliol College, Oxford

Balliol College, Oxford

Balliol College , founded in 1263, is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England but founded by a family with strong Scottish connections....

; Senior Scholar, Merton College, Oxford

Merton College, Oxford

Merton College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Its foundation can be traced back to the 1260s when Walter de Merton, chancellor to Henry III and later to Edward I, first drew up statutes for an independent academic community and established endowments to...

; MA and D Phil History 1981.
Prize Fellow by Examination, Magdalen College, Oxford

Magdalen College, Oxford

Magdalen College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. As of 2006 the college had an estimated financial endowment of £153 million. Magdalen is currently top of the Norrington Table after over half of its 2010 finalists received first-class degrees, a record...

, 1980–84, Lecturer and Tutor in Politics, Trinity College, Oxford

Trinity College, Oxford

The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity in the University of Oxford, of the foundation of Sir Thomas Pope , or Trinity College for short, is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. It stands on Broad Street, next door to Balliol College and Blackwells bookshop,...

 1984-85; Lecturer and Tutor in History, Wadham College, Oxford

Wadham College, Oxford

Wadham College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom, located at the southern end of Parks Road in central Oxford. It was founded by Nicholas and Dorothy Wadham, wealthy Somerset landowners, during the reign of King James I...

 1985-86, Assistant Professor, University of Notre Dame

University of Notre Dame

The University of Notre Dame du Lac is a Catholic research university located in Notre Dame, an unincorporated community north of the city of South Bend, in St. Joseph County, Indiana, United States...

 London Program 1983-86. Waller's Oxford University doctoral thesis was published in 1983 as an OUP Historical Monograph The Dukeries Transformed, an authoritative history of the Dukeries coalfield.

In survey research 1986-98, Research Director of the Harris Research Centre

Harris Interactive

Harris Interactive , headquartered in New York, New York, is a custom market research firm, known for the Harris Poll. Harris works in a wide range of industries...

, responsible for national opinion polling; Wirthlin Europe

Wirthlin Worldwide

Wirthlin Worldwide was a political and business consulting firm founded by Richard Wirthlin in 1969. It ceased to operate as a separate company on September 8, 2004 when it was sold to Harris Interactive in a deal valued at $42 million dollars....

.

Since 1998 in secondary school teaching: Brighton College

Brighton College

Brighton College is an institution divided between a Senior School known simply as Brighton College, the Prep School and the Pre-Prep School. All of these schools are co-educational independent schools in Brighton, England, sited immediately next to each another. The Senior School caters for...

; Dame Alice Harpur School

Dame Alice Harpur School

Dame Alice Harpur School is an independent girls school in Bedford, United Kingdom, for girls aged 11-18. In September 2010 the junior department of the school merged with the junior department of Bedford High School...

, Bedford; Haileybury

Haileybury and Imperial Service College

Haileybury and Imperial Service College, , is a prestigious British independent school founded in 1862. The school is located at Hertford Heath, near Hertford, from central London, on of parkland occupied until 1858 by the East India College...

, Hertford; and since 2001 head of History and Politics, Greenacre School for Girls, Banstead, Surrey.

From 2008 until the 2010 General Election, Dr Waller contributed a monthly column to Total Politics

Total Politics

Total Politics is a British political magazine described as a "a lifestyle magazine for the political community". It was first published in June 2008 and is distributed freely to all MPs, MEPs, peers, political journalists, members of the Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish assemblies, and all...

 magazine.

Bibliography

• The Dukeries Transformed (OUP, 1983; ISBN 0-19-821896-6)
• The Almanac of British Politics 8 editions: 1. April 1983 (Croom
  Croom
  Croom is a village in County Limerick, Ireland. It is located just off the N20 on the River Maigue. It is 8 km southeast of Adare on the N20.-History:...
  
   Helm) ISBN 0-7099-2767-3; 2. October 1983 (Croom Helm) ISBN 0-7099-2789-4; 3. 1987 (Croom Helm) ISBN 0-7099-2798-3; 4. 1991 (Routledge) ISBN 0-415-00508-6; 5. 1995 (Routledge
  Routledge
  Routledge is a British publishing house which has operated under a succession of company names and latterly as an academic imprint. Its origins may be traced back to the 19th-century London bookseller George Routledge...
  
  ) ISBN 0-415-11805-0; 6. 1999 (Routledge) ISBN 0-415-18541-6; 7. 2002 (Routledge) ISBN 0-415-26834-6; 8. 2007 (Routledge) ISBN 978-0-415-37823-9. 5th and subsequent editions co-authored with Byron Criddle.
• The Atlas of British Politics (Croom Helm, 1985; ISBN 0-7099-3609-5).
• Moulding Political Opinion (Croom Helm, 1988; ISBN 0-7099-5230-9), with Ken Livingstone
  Ken Livingstone
  Kenneth Robert "Ken" Livingstone is an English politician who is currently a member of the centrist to centre-left Labour Party...
  
   and Sir Geoffrey Finsberg
  Geoffrey Finsberg
  Geoffrey Finsberg, Baron Finsberg, MBE, JP was a British Conservative politician.Finsberg was educated at the City of London School and was a 'Bevin Boy' 1945-47. From a young age he was active in the Conservative Party and was founder chairman of Mansfield Young Conservatives 1946-47...
  
  .