I am a DPhil student in Politics at Lincoln College. My research interests lie at the intersection of democratisation, democratic backsliding, and resilience, with a particular focus on the roles of European integration and transitional justice in shaping democratic outcomes. I am also interested in the use of AI for large-scale interviewing.
My current research examines the effect of pro-EU positioning by illiberal parties, and the EU's continued engagement with them, on democratic mobilisation and coordination in aspiring member states. I argue that a broadly shared pro-European consensus can paradoxically work against democratic defence: by adopting pro-EU positions and delivering tangible integration outcomes, illiberal parties make it harder for citizens to recognise them as a genuine threat. I study this comparatively, using a mixed-methods design combining process tracing and survey experiments.
Prior to the DPhil, I completed an MSc in Politics Research at the University of Oxford, an MPhil in Political and Economic Sociology at the University of Cambridge, and a BA in Philosophy, Politics and Economics at the University of York.
