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Associate Professor, College of Business, Government and Law, Flinders University

Rodrigo Praino is Associate Professor in Politics and Public Policy. He holds a PhD in Political Science, and has been the recipient of several prestigious fellowships, scholarships and awards.

A/Prof Praino’s research focuses on decision-making and political behaviour. It uses a cutting-edge combination of experiments, statistical modelling and real-world data to explain how citizens get to their vote decisions and what consequences this process has to our society. In particular, A/Prof Praino’s research focuses on how voters often make their decisions in a context of low-information. This has recently been in the spotlight worldwide, for example, when a record number of British citizens googled “what is the European Union” right after voting for Brexit. How did they arrive to that vote decision, if they didn’t even know what the EU is, and what are the consequences of this behaviour?

Thanks to A/Prof Praino’s research, scholars, policy-makers and practitioners can generate strategies to correct or even predict and prevent adverse consequences to society as a whole. His research has been applied to a vast range of issues, including political scandals and corruption, the political representation of women, child poverty and disparities, and how the physical appearance of candidates can influence voters.

Rodrigo’s research has been published by some of the top peer-reviewed academic journals in the Social Sciences and has attracted funding from a wide range of sources, including UNICEF, the Australian government, and the Canadian government. It has also featured in some major international media outlets, including the Washington Post, the Huffington Post, Politico, the Times of India, the Pew Research Centre and the Herald Sun.

Experience

  • 2015–present
    Associate Professor in Politics and Public Policy, Flinders University

Honours

2018 Young Tall Poppy of Science Award - SA