Hi!
I’m a Professor of Politics and an Australian Research Council Future Fellow.

I grew up in Dublin and graduated from Trinity College. Since then, I’ve spent most of my adult life in Italy and Australia. I received my PhD in Political Science from the University of Turin in 2008. I stayed there until 2011, working as a researcher and lecturer, before spending three years at the European University Institute in Florence as a Jean Monnet Fellow and a Marie Curie Fellow. I moved to Australia in 2014 to take up a position at Griffith University in Brisbane.

My research focuses on populism and political parties. I specialize in studying how parties work, using interviews and surveys. I’ve interviewed hundreds of nationalist populist politicians and grassroots members across 18 countries. And I lead the YOUMEM project team that has surveyed thousands of mainstream party youth wing members in 6 countries.

I have authored several books and published multiple articles in leading journals. My next book is Youth wings of the populist radical right, which will be published by Oxford University Press in June 2026.

My research has been cited over 6,500 times. I’ve also been fortunate enough to win almost AUD 4 million in grants and Fellowships from the Australian Research Council (ARC), the European Union, and the Swedish Research Council.

Most recently, in October 2025, Sofia Ammassari, Ferran Martinez i Coma and I were awarded over $825,000 from the ARC for a Discovery project 'Generation-Z engagement with political parties'.

Reflecting my standing in the field, The Australian's 2025 Research Magazine named me the leading university researcher in Political Science in Australia.