Kaat Smets

I joined the Department of Politics and International Relations at Royal Holloway, University of London as a lecturer in September 2013. My research focuses on why people participate in politics and I am particularly interested in how patterns of political participation change over time. Since the political behaviour of young people seems to be most affected by new patterns of political participation that have emerged over the last decades, a lot of my research focuses on young people's politics.

I defended my doctoral dissertation in 2010 at the European University Institute in Florence, Italy. I also hold a baccalaureate in Journalism and Communication from Fontys Hogeschool in Tilburg (The Netherlands), an MA in Communication and Politics in Europe from the VU University in Amsterdam and an MRes in Political and Social Sciences from the European University Institute. At Royal Holloway I teach undergraduate and postgraduate courses in political behaviour and (quantitative) research methods. Before joining Royal Holloway's PIR department I was affiliated to the Centre for the Study of Political Change (CIRCaP) at the University of Siena in Italy.

My general research interests include political behaviour, political attitudes, elections, political sociology, comparative politics and research methods. More specifically my published work researches the age gap in voter turnout, generational differences in political behaviour, the development of political attitudes and political behaviour over the life span and, more recently, the micro-mechanisms of individual level attitude change in deliberative settings. In my work I often apply quantitative methods for longitudinal, hierarchical, and (quasi) experimental data to address substantial research
questions. My work appears in international peer-reviewed journals such as European Journal of Political Research, European Union Politics, Electoral Studies, Acta Politica, Parliamentary Affairs, and the Journal of Elections, Public Opinion & Parties.