The Team
The research group on Democracy, Elections and Citizenship (DEC) is part of the Department of Political Science of the Autonomous University of Barcelona.The main goal of the group is the analysis of citizens’ political involvement. For this purpose we develop externally funded projects. Our approach is empirical (we collect and analyze data) and mainly, but not only, quantitative.
The group shares a relative short but very intense experience of team work, starting in 2005. In 2009 we have been officially recognized as emergent research group by the Catalan government.
Eva Anduiza
Eva Anduiza - Professor of Political Science and Icrea Academia at the UAB. Her research interests focus around political engagement in advanced democracies including the causes and consequences of electoral turnout, political protest, digital media and political attitudes. She is also interested in survey and experimental methodology. Recently her research has focused on the attitudinal consequences of the economic crisis, with a special focus on understanding the triggers and implications of populist attitudes. Current she is focusing on change in attitudes towards gender equality.
Daniel Balinhas
Daniel Balinhas - PhD Candidate in the Department of Political Science at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Psychology and a Master’s degree in Psychosocial Intervention. His main research interests are focused on inter-group processes and conflict, political polarization, and the study of social forces producing, developing, and sustaining group-based inequalities.
Pedro Manuel Bellón Jiménez
Pedro Manuel Bellón Jiménez - He is a PhD Candidate at Departament of Political Science in Universitat Autonòma de Barcelona and IGOP-UAB. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Sociology and Political Science in Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (2021) and a master’s degree in Labour and Work Studies in Universidad Complutense de Madrid (2022). His research deals with work-life balance, gender equality in relation with labour studies and urban sociology.
Agustí Bosch
Agustí Bosch - He is senior lecturer in Political Science at the UAB and academic director of the UIMP. He holds a PhD in Politics, an MA in Political Behaviour (Essex) and a BA in Economics. His main research interests are political behaviour and the electoral system, both at Catalan and comparative levels.
Martha Ogochukwu Dennis
Martha Ogochukwu Dennis - PhD Candidate in the Department of Political Science at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Political Science (Federal University Wukari) and a Master’s degree in Political Science (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona). Her research interests centre on political protests and attitudes towards state repression.
Sergi Ferrer
Sergi Ferrer - He is a Postdoctoral Researcher at the ERC StG project DEMOTRADEOFF at the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB). He completed a PhD in Political Science at the University of Barcelona in 2022. His main research interests include political behavior, political attitudes, accountability, and party systems, with a particular focus on causal identification and research methods.
Carolina Galais
Carolina Galais - She obtained her Ph.D. in political science from the Universitat Pompeu Fabra and held postdoctoral fellowships at the Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, Université de Montréal (UdeM, 2012-2015) and Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (2015-2018). Her research interests revolve around two major research strands: public opinion (interest in politics, civic duty, populism, emotions, political socialization, digital media) and local participation. She has published more than 20 peer-reviewed articles in journals such as West European Politics, the European Journal of Political Research, Electoral Studies and Research & Politics.
Marta Gallina
Marta Gallina - Postodoctoral researcher (Juan de la Cierva) at the UAB. Previously, she was a JSPS postdoctoral fellow at Waseda University in Japan and lecturer at the Catholic University of Lille in France. She received her PhD in Political Science from the Catholic University of Louvain (Belgium) in 2021. Her research interests regard the study of political behaviour, issue dimensionality, opinion consistency and Voting Advice Applications. Her work appeared in scientific journals such as Political Studies Review, Swiss Political Science Review, Acta Politica and Regional and Federal Studies.
Rubén García Del Horno
Rubén García Del Horno - PhD Candidate in the Department of Political Science at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. He holds a master’s degree in Political Science (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona) and a bachelor’s degree in Political and Administration Sciences (Universitat Pompeu Fabra). His research interests include political attitudes and behaviours, political representation, and the rural-urban cleavage.
Laura Gutierrez Zárate
Laura Gutierrez Zárate - PhD Candidate in the Department of Political Science at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB). She holds a master’s degree in Public Policy (London School of Economics) and a bachelor’s degree in International Business and Administration (Universidad Panamericana). Her research is focused on the political consequences of social movements and movement leadership.
Enrique Hernández
Enrique Hernández- Associate Professor at the Department of Political Science at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. He completed a Ph.D in Political and Social Sciences at the European University Institute in 2016. His research interests include electoral behavior, political attitudes, public opinion and political participation.
Dani Marinova
Dani Marinova- Dani joined the Department of Political Science and Public Law at the Autonomous University of Barcelona in 2015. Her research is currently funded by a grant from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Education (Juan de la Cierva – Incorporación, 2015-2017). Previously, she was a postdoctoral researcher at the Political Economy Cluster at the Hertie School of Governance in Berlin. She completed a PhD in Political Science at Indiana University in 2012
Roberto Pannico
Roberto Pannico- Ramón y Cajal Fellow at the Department of Political Science at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Previously, he was Beatriu de Pinós Fellow at the University of Barcelona and post-doctoral researcher for the ERC MAPLE Project at the Social Sciences Institute of the University of Lisbon. His research interests include attitudes toward the EU, economic voting, information processing, party cues, survey and experimental methodology.
Juan Pérez-Rajó
Juan Pérez-Rajó - Ph.D. Candidate in the Department of Political Science at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB). He holds a master’s degree in Political Science (UAB) and a bachelor’s degree in Political Science and Public Administration (Universidade de Santiago de Compostela). His research interests include populism, populist attitudes and voting behavior.
Enrique Prada
Enrique Prada – Research Assistant at the Demotradeoff Project. He holds a Master’s degree in Social Sciences (Universidad Carlos III de Madrid) and a dual degree in Political Science and Sociology (Universidad Carlos III de Madrid). His research interests include public opinion, redistributive politics and the political consequences of technological change.
Guillem Rico
Guillem Rico- ‘Ramón y Cajal’ fellowship. His research interests include voting behavior, public opinion, and political leadership. His work has been published in journals such as Political Psychology, Electoral Studies, and South European Society & Politics. He is also author of a book on the perception and electoral influence of party leaders in Spain (Líderes políticos, opinión pública y comportamiento electoral en España. Madrid: CIS, 2009), and co-editor of a volume on the 2011 general elections in Spain (Elecciones generales 2011. Madrid: CIS, 2014).
Leire Rincón
Leire Rincón- She is a postdoctoral researcher at the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB). Before this, she was a postdoctoral researcher at the Chair of Political Sociology and Social Policy at Humboldt University in Berlin (2021-2022). She completed a PhD in Political Science at the University of Barcelona and IBEI (2021). Her research interest include public opinion, political behaviour, welfare policies and redistributive politics, especially universal basic income and different aspects of gender-based violence (e.g., attitudes, perceptions and policies to address this).
María Ruiz
María Ruiz - PhD candidate in the Political Science at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB). She holds a bachelor degree in International Studies (Universidad Autónoma de Madrid) and a MA in Contemporary European Studies (University of Bath on behalf of the EAUC). Her research deals with populist attitudes, populist support in relation with transitions.
Damjan Tomic
Damjan Tomic - PhD Candidate in the Department of Political Science at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB). He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Biology, with a minor in Psychology (University of Western Ontario, 2014); a Master’s degree in International Business Management (Institut des hautes études économiques et commerciales, 2016) and a Master’s degree in Political Science (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 2021). His research deals with attitudes towards immigrants, social identity and the rural-urban divide.
Marta Vallvé
Marta Vallvé - PhD Candidate in the Department of Political Science at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB). She holds a bachelor’s degree in Political Science (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 2019) and a master’s degree in Applied Philosophy (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona and Universitat de Girona, 2020). Her research deals with environmental attitudes and behaviours, ecological distribution conflicts and the rural-urban divide.
Paula Zuluaga
Paula Zuluaga - She is a Juan de la Cierva postdoctoral researcher at UAB. Previously, she was a researcher at the Institute of Public Goods and Policies in the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC). She received a PhD in Political and Social Sciences from the European University Institute (EUI) in 2021. Her research interests include political behaviour (gender gaps in political attitudes, public opinion, and participation) and political economy (state formation, fiscal capacity, and development).
Members affiliated to other institutions
Berta Barbet
Berta Barbet- Postdoctoral fellow at the Department of Political Science at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. He completed a Ph.D in Political Science and International Relations at the University of Leicester in 2016. Her reserach deals with the determinants of citizens’ behaviours and attitudes with an especial focus on how context shapes them
Luca Bernardi
Luca Bernardi- Senior Lecturer in Politics at the Department of Politics at the University of Liverpool. Among other things, his research agenda focuses on how mental health problems influence different domains of political behaviour, the link between mental health and political representation, and the impact of political stressors on people’s mental health.
María José Hierro
María José Hierro- Lecturer at the Department of Political Science at Yale. She teaches and does research on topics related to nationalism, national identity, and political protests. She has published her research in the American Journal of Political Science, West European Politics, and Journal of Conflict Resolution, among other journals. .
Robert Liñeira
Robert Liñeira- He is a Lecturer in Politics at the University of Glasgow. His research deals with public opinion and political behaviour using quantitative methods, particularly applied to voting in elections and referenda, attitudes towards territorial politics, and attitudes towards government institutions.
Raul Tormos
Raul Tormos- PhD in Political Science from the UAB, he is senior survey researcher at the Center for Opinion Studies (CEO), Generalitat de Catalunya. He teaches at the UB and EAPC. His research interests include the study of values, attitudes, political behavior, age-period-cohort effects, multilevel models, and survey methods.
Ángel Luis Torres
Former members
Macarena Ares
Macarena Ares - She is Serra Húnter Assistant Professor at the Department of Political Science of the University of Barcelona. She completed a Ph.D in Political and Social Sciences at the European University Institute in 2017. She is interested in the study of class politics, social policy, electoral behavior, political participation and public opinion.
Sofia Breitenstein
Sofia Breitenstein - She is a Juan de la Cierva postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Political Science at the University of Barcelona. She completed a PhD in Political Science at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (2020). Her main areas of research are: political behavior, public opinion, political attitudes, corruption accountability and experimental methodology.
Camilo Cristancho
Camilo Cristancho - He is a post-doctoral researcher in political science at the University of Barcelona. His research deals with protest politics through the lens of attitudinal and contextual determinants of political behavior, as well as the potential outcomes of contentious politics. His approach to the field has relied on survey and experimental research and computational social science as a way to grasp the complexity of political conflict.
Jordi Garcia Muniesa
Jordi Garcia Muniesa - Analyst at Ivàlua. He completed a PhD in Political Science and Public Policies at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. He holds an MSc degree in Political Sociology from the London School of Economics and a BA in Sociology from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. His research is focused on public opinion, specifically on citizens’ attitudes towards redistribution.
Sheila González
Sheila González- She holds a PhD in Public Policy and Social Transformation at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Currently she is researcher and assistant professor at the Universitat de Barcelona. Her research interests include public policy analysis and political participation.
Marc Guinjoan
Marc Guinjoan-He is an associate professor at the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya. He is a doctor in Political Sciences at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra (October 2012). His research interests are focused on political behaviour, elections and electoral systems, as well as on processes of decentralization, identities, nationalism and secession. He has published his work in reviews such as Public Opinion Quarterly, Publius, Gender & Politics or Nations and Nationalism.
Sabina Monza
Sabina Monza- Ph.D in Politics, Policies and International Relations (UAB), also holds a master’s degree in Research in Communications and Journalism (UAB). Her research deals with public opinion and political communication, and focuses in particular on opinion formation and attitudes mediated by the mass media.
Jordi Muñoz
Jordi Muñoz- He is an associate professor at the University of Barcelona. He had been a postdoctoral researcher (Juan de la Cierva) at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, and a Phd student at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra. His broad research interests are related to political attitudes an behavior.
Roser Rifà
Roser Rifà-PhD in Political Science from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (2017). She holds a master’s degree in Political Science Research (Universitat Pompeu Fabra, 2011). She is currently working in the Local Public Administration.