Stefanie Reher

Dr. Stefanie Reher is a Reader (equivalent to Associate Professor) in Politics at the University of Strathclyde, within the Department of Government & Public Policy in the Faculty of Humanities & Social Sciences. She joined the university in 2017 as a Chancellor's Fellow and was promoted to Senior Lecturer in 2019. Her research focuses on political representation, behavior, and attitudes, with a strong emphasis on the representation of disabled people and gender in politics.

She holds a DPhil from the University of Oxford (Nuffield College) and an MSc from the London School of Economics & Political Science. Prior to Strathclyde, she was a Max Weber Fellow at the European University Institute in Florence and a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Copenhagen.

Her research interests include political representation, voter behavior, disability and politics, gender and politics, policy representation in Europe, and quantitative methods. She uses survey data analysis and survey experiments to understand how public policy reflects citizen preferences and how representation gaps affect political legitimacy.

Her recent publications focus on disability identity and representation, voter perceptions of disabled candidates, and barriers to political participation for disabled people, particularly disabled women. The articles show a strong trend toward intersectional analysis of marginalization in politics, using both qualitative and quantitative methods to explore inclusion, voter bias, and institutional reform.

• Chancellor's Fellow, University of Strathclyde
• Max Weber Fellow, European University Institute

Dr. Reher has secured research funding, including an ESRC New Investigator grant, and is involved in multiple research projects on political representation and diversity. She supervises PhD students and teaches quantitative methods at the postgraduate level. She is an active contributor to academic discourse through publications, invited talks, and participation in research networks.

She is affiliated with research initiatives focused on diversity in deliberative mini-publics and the socio-economic representation of women in UK and Scottish politics. Her work contributes to UN Sustainable Development Goals, particularly those related to reduced inequalities and quality education.