Kaat Smets

Kaat Smets is a Reader in Politics at the Department of Politics, International Relations and Philosophy at Royal Holloway, University of London, where Smets has held various positions since 2013, progressing from Lecturer to Senior Lecturer to current rank. Smets received a PhD in Political and Social Sciences from the European University Institute in 2010 and completed postdoctoral research at the Centre for the Study of Political Change at the University of Siena from 2009 to 2013. Smets' research focuses on political behaviour, elections, political socialisation, and comparative politics, with particular interests in voter turnout, generational differences in political participation, the role of deliberation and cognitive processes in political attitudes, and the electoral performance of diverse candidates. Smets has published extensively on topics including age and generation effects on voting, the relationship between cognitive control and politically motivated reasoning, political socialisation during adolescence and young adulthood, and the impact of civic education on political engagement across multiple national contexts.