Personal Statement
Hello! I am a Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor) in the Department of Politics at the University of Liverpool. I joined the Department as a Lecturer in Politics in September 2019. Before moving to Liverpool, I was a Juan de la Cierva-formación Postdoctoral Researcher at the Department of Political Science and Public Law at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona and part of the amazing DEC research group. Previously, I was a researcher in the ERC-funded ResponsiveGov Project at the School of History, Politics and International Relations at the University of Leicester, where I obtained my PhD with a dissertation investigating the effects of electoral incentives on government responsiveness to public opinion. I hold an MA (University of Florence) and a BA (University of Cagliari) in Political Science. I am a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. I was nominated for the ECPR Rising Star Award twice in 2020 and 2021. Sadly, I did not get it so I must be closer to be a falling star.

Research Overview
My research explores the following areas and questions:

- Mental health and politics: How do mental health problems influence the way people engage in politics? How does politics affect people's mental health? What are the determinants of policy attention and policy change on mental health?

- The psychological and political effects of COVID-19: How do COVID-19 stressors impact people's mental health and influence their political attitudes and behaviours?

- Mass-elite linkages: To what signals from public opinion do policymakers respond? To what extent do factors such as electoral incentives condition the link between public opinion and public policy? What are the consequences of government (non)responsiveness? What are the causes and consequences of voters' perceptions of parties' policy positions? Do voters punish and reward parties for what they say or what they do?

I invite any student who is interested in potential PhD research to contact me if they find any of the above areas appealing.

Currently, I am involved in the supervision of the following PhD students:

Melanie Kennedy-Diver: Where are the disabled politicians? The barriers, disablism and ableism of physically disabled political candidates in the UK

Will Oliver: Identity Entrepreneurs: To What Extent does a Polarizing Approach to Group Based Appeals Explain the Electoral Success of the Radical Right in Europe

Viktoriia Olishevska: Selective Politicization of Sports in Wartime: Evidence from Ukrainian Football Coverage, 2010-2025

Former PhD students:

Daniel Bowman: Framing a Wicked Problem: Understanding the Changing Attention of UK Parliamentarians and Political Parties to Mental Health, 1997-2024

Enis Porat: The Dynamics of Party Choice Among Immigrant Voters in The Netherlands: Immigrant Characteristics, Issue Ownership and Policy Positions on Mainstream and Migrant-Related Agendas