Kaat Smets

Kaat Smets is a Senior Lecturer (Reader) in Politics at Royal Holloway, University of London, where she serves as Head of the Department of Politics, International Relations and Philosophy. She is a co-investigator in the Marie Curie Doctoral Network IP-PAD and focuses on political behaviour, particularly youth participation and deliberative democracy. Her work has appeared in journals like Journal of Politics, Political Behavior, and Electoral Studies. Previously affiliated with the University of Siena's CIRCaP, she holds visiting experience at Montréal, Oxford, and Vienna.

• Baccalaureate in Journalism and Communication, Fontys Hogeschool
• MA in Politics and Communication in Europe, VU University Amsterdam
• MRes in Political and Social Sciences, European University Institute
• PhD in Political and Social Sciences, European University Institute

Her research analyzes longitudinal patterns in political participation, generational differences in voter turnout, and micro-level attitude changes in deliberative settings. Recent projects include the IP-PAD network on adolescence and democracy (2023–2027) and a 2024 Impact Accelerator study on improving youth electoral turnout.

Kaat received recognition for her work, including the Highly Cited Research Certificate in Electoral Studies (2017), the College Teaching Prize (2023), and the College Team Teaching Prize (2016). She teaches courses on political behaviour, quantitative methods, and research design at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels.