Biography

I received my undergraduate degree from the University of Athens. I also hold an M.A. in European Studies and International Relations from the University of Athens and an M.A. in Political Economy from the University of Essex.
I completed my Ph.D. in European Politics at the University of Essex, with a thesis titled ‘European integration and electoral democracy: How the EU constrains party competition in the member states’. In this I examined the impact of EU decision-making on parties’ agendas at national elections and whether the policy choices on offer for voters narrows as more decisions are taken at the EU level.
I have disseminated findings from research at conferences and published an article in European Union Politics. Currently I am revising a second paper, entitled ‘European Integration and Party Policy Convergence’. I am also working on a paper that assesses how the EU constrains parties’ ideological positions based on their affiliation to party families. I am working on a collaborative paper entitled 'Public attitudes towards the constitutionalisation of the EU: evidence from Britain'. A further collaborative project, titled ‘The paradox of nationalism: a comparative analysis of left and right wing party discourse in the 2009 EP elections’, is to be presented at the APSA Conference in September 2010.
I was a Fellow in European Politics at the Department of Government at the London School of Economics and Political Science from October 2009 to September 2010. I delivered lectures on a range of topics for team-taught courses. In addition, I taught postgraduate courses on political behaviour, comparative European politics and research methods. Prior to that, I taught in the Department of Government at the University of Essex, contributing to courses on West European politics and international relations.