CV

Current position

08/2024–now — Postdoctoral researcher and lecturer, Department of Political Science, University of Amsterdam

• Project: ‘CRITICALTRUST’: Healthy or harmful distrust? On the democratic relevance of political skepticism over blind (dis)trust (led by prof. dr. Tom van der Meer) (see: https://www.criticaltrust.eu/)
• Project: Dutch Parliamentary Elections Studies/Nationaal Kiezersonderzoek 2025 (DPES/NKO) (see:https://www.dpes.nl/)

Education

09/2019–09/2023 — PhD in Sociology/Political Science, Departments of Sociology and Political Science, University of Amsterdam : Dissertation: “Our Place in Politics: Urban-rural political divergence and how place affects political attitudes”. Supervisors: prof. dr. Wouter van der Brug, prof. dr. Sarah de Lange, dr. Eelco Harteveld & dr. Bram Lancee

09/2015–06/2017 — Research Master Sociology and Social Research (cum laude), Utrecht University : Thesis: “Social influences, peer delinquency, and low self-control: An examination of time-varying and reciprocal effects on delinquency over adolescence” (published in European Journal of Criminology). Internship at the Netherlands Institute for the Study of Crime and Law Enforcement (NSCR)

07/2016 — ICPSR Summer Program, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, US

09/2012–06/2015 — Bachelor Sociology, Utrecht University

Minor: Labour, care and welfare. Internship at Wiardi Beckman Stichting, The Hague

Previous work experience

09/2023–06/2024 — Postdoctoral researcher and lecturer, Department of Sociology/Political Science, University of Amsterdam : Research project: ‘Dutch Adolescent Panel on Democratic Values’ (with prof. Tom van der Meer, prof. dr. Herman van der Werfhorst, and prof. dr. Geert ten Dam)

09/2019–09/2023 — PhD Candidate, Departments of Sociology and Political Science, University of Amsterdam : Affiliations: Amsterdam Institute for Social Science Research (AISSR); Interuniversity Center for Social Science Theory and Methodology (ICS); Amsterdam Centre for Inequality Studies (AMCIS)

01/2018–07/2019 — Junior researcher, Department of Sociology, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam : Project: “POLPART: How citizens try to influence politics and why. International comparisons of movement and party politics” with prof. dr. Bert Klandermans

Research visits

09/2022–12/2022 — Visiting PhD researcher, Department of Political Science, Stanford University : Project: ‘A Comparison of Urban-Rural Partisan Polarization in Western Democracies’ (with prof. dr. Jonathan Rodden)

Grants & awards

• Frances Rosenbluth Best Paper Prize (2025), for best paper published in Comparative Political Studies in 2024, with Jonathan Rodden, for “The Great Global Divider? A Comparison of Urban-Rural Partisan Polarization in Western Democracies”
• Microdata Access Grant (2025), for the project “The meso-level as a lens for evaluating politics: how economic performance at different meso levels explains variation in political trust,” granted by ODISSEI (€7,500)
• Fulbright Promovendus Grant (2022), for a research stay of one semester at the Department of Political Science, Stanford University ($5,000)
• Cultuurfonds Promovendi Beurs (2022), for a research stay of one semester at the Department of Political Science, Stanford University (€3,500)

Teaching experience

See the Teaching page for course descriptions and the full list of teaching experience.

Conferences and invited talks

Invited academic talks

• “‘People in Places’-Based Policies: Addressing Urban-Rural Inequalities Through Combined Interventions.” Workshop on Urban-Rural Divides and Shaping Solutions to Geographic Polarization, Norrköping, Sweden, May 2026
• “Crossing the Density Divide: Party Systems and Urban-Rural Coalitions.” Political Economy and Geographic Polarization in Rich Democracies workshop, Hoover Institute, Stanford University, January 2025
• “Our Place in Politics.” Politics & Society seminar series, Collegio Carlo Alberto, Turin, Italy, April 2024
• “Our Place in Politics.” Rethinking Rural conference, Colby College, Waterville, Maine, US, March 2024
• “Our Place in Politics.” Economic Geography seminar, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Utrecht University, February 2024

Specialized conferences

• “The ‘Meso-Level’ as a Lens for Evaluating Politics: Local economic context and individuals’ political trust.” Beyond the Divide: ECR Conference on the Political Dimensions of Place-Based Inequalities in Urban & Rural Life, LSE London, April 2026
• “Urban-rural splits and the transnational cleavage in Europe.” Advances in Cleavage Research workshop, European University Institute, Florence, Italy, June 2024
• “Urban-Rural Splits as ‘the Great Global Divider’? Comparing urban-rural electoral divides across countries.” Conference on Urban-Rural Divides, Goethe University, Frankfurt, Germany, November 2023
• “Urban-Rural Splits as ‘the Great Global Divider’? Comparing urban-rural polarization across countries.” Urban-Rural Differences in the Nordic Welfare States, An Arne Ryde Workshop, Malmö, Sweden, August 2023

General conferences

APSA Annual Meeting (2023); Council for European Studies conference (online, 2020); Dag van de Sociologie (2022, 2021, 2019); ECPR General Conference (2025, 2022, 2019); Midwestern Political Science Association (online, 2025); Politicologenetmaal (2024)

Professional service

Journal reviews: American Journal of Political Science (2025); Acta Politica (2024, 2026); British Journal of Political Science (2025, 2024); Comparative Political Studies (2025, 2024); Comparative European Politics (2026); De Economist (2026); Electoral Studies (2022); European Journal of Political Research (2021, 2023, 2025); European Political Science Review (2023); Journal of European Integration (2023); Journal of European Public Policy (2022, 2023, 2025); Journal of Experimental Political Science (2024); Journal of Sociology (2025); Journal of Politics (2026); Politics (2026); Party Politics (2026); Political Behavior (2022); Political Geography (2022, 2023, 2024); Political Science Research and Methods (2024); Scandinavian Political Studies (2023); Territory, Politics and Governance (2024); West European Politics (2023, 2026)

Grant review: Swiss National Science Foundation grant application (2025); ODISSEI Microdata Access Grant (2025)

Service:

• Organizer, with Lawrence McKay, of pre-conference on Place, Politics and Evidence-Based Policy, at EPSS conference 2026, Belfast
• Organizer, Challenges Seminar, Department of Political Science, University of Amsterdam, 2025–2027
• Co-organizer, PhD club Quantitative Research in Social Inequalities, Amsterdam Institute for Social Science Research (AISSR), 2020–2022
• PhD defence committee, Esther Karkdijk, “Young citizens and their parents, peers, and teachers in a changing world,” University of Amsterdam, November 2025