Kaat Smets

Kaat Smets is a Reader in Politics in the Department of Politics, International Relations and Philosophy at Royal Holloway, University of London, where Smets has held positions since 2013 following postdoctoral work at the Centre for the Study of Political Change (CIRCaP) at the University of Siena. Smets completed a PhD in Political and Social Sciences at the European University Institute in 2010, having also earned an MRes there and earlier degrees in communication and journalism from VU University Amsterdam and Fontys Hogeschool Journalistiek. Smets researches political behaviour, elections, and political socialisation, with published work on voter turnout, generational and age-related patterns in participation, candidate representation by sex and ethnicity, civic education, and the role of deliberation in attitude change. More recent work examines future anxiety among young people and its relationship to political attitudes.