Thank you for visiting my website!
Substantively, my work focuses on the causes and consequences of electoral reforms, especially migrant and youth enfranchisement. Methodologically, I am primarily a qualitative researcher, combining case studies with quantitative and experimental methods.
I recently completed my book manuscript on contemporary enfranchisement. A previous version was awarded the Ernst B. Haas Best Dissertation Award from the APSA European Politics and Society section as well as an Honourable Mention for the Dissertation Award by the APSA Migration and Citizenship section. My other work has been published in Comparative Political Studies, the Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, and other outlets.
In 2023, I defended my doctorate in political science at the University of Oxford with no corrections. That year, I started as a postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Government at the University of Vienna. During the 2024/2025 academic year, I was based at the Yale Institution for Social and Policy Studies as a Democratic Innovations postdoctoral associate. Since returning to Vienna, I remain an external fellow at Yale University. I have also been involved in a long-term research project on migrant electoral rights at the European University Institute.
Please reach out if our interests overlap.
- Party Strategies
- Enfranchisement
- Electoral Rights
- Migration
- Direct Democracy
- Voting Behaviour
- Mixed Methods
-
DPhil in Politics, 2018-2023
University of Oxford
-
MSc in Migration Studies, 2016
University of Oxford
-
BA in Political Science and English, 2015
University of British Columbia
Publications
All available open access
Working Papers
Available upon request
Klaudia Wegschaider, Rainer Bauböck, and Sebastián Umpierrez de Reguero. 2025. [title blinded for review]
Sebastián Umpierrez de Reguero, Klaudia Wegschaider, and Rainer Bauböck. 2025. [title blinded for review]
Klaudia Wegschaider. 2025. Episode Analysis in Historical Institutionalism. (developed as part of the 2025 Emerging Methodologists Cohort)
Klaudia Wegschaider, Rainer Bauböck, and Sebastián Umpierrez de Reguero. 2025. Migrant Franchise Constellations.
Leonardo Carella and Klaudia Wegschaider. 2025. The Anti-Cooptational Coalition: Introducing Proportional Representation in Two-Round Systems.
Leonardo Carella and Klaudia Wegschaider. 2025. From Galaxy to Party: Elite’s Party-Building Path to Proportional Representation.
Fieldwork
Various Projects
Book project: I study the politics of enfranchisement based on in-depth case studies. These draw on several months of fieldwork in Switzerland, Austria, and the United Kingdom. In Switzerland, I was hosted as an NCCR Junior Visiting Fellow at the University of Basel. In Austria, I had the chance to join the Department of Government at the University of Vienna as a Visiting PhD.
Collaborative project: In a collaborative project with Dr. Leo Carella, funded by a British Academy Small Grant, we look at the introduction of proportional representation. This project involves archival fieldwork in Italy, France, and Belgium.
Teaching
Postgraduate Level:
Political Science Research Methods
Co-Instructor | Summer 2024
Master Seminar | University of Vienna
Suffrage Politics From Past to Present
Main Instructor | Winter 2023
Master Seminar | University of Vienna
Qualitative Methods in Politics
Teaching Assistant | Fall 2020 (Michaelmas)
Department of International Development | University of Oxford
Undergraduate Level:
Bachelor Thesis Seminar
Main Instructor | Winter 2023, Summer 2024
Bachelor Seminar | University of Vienna
Quantitative Methods in Politics (Q-Step)
Teaching Assistant | Winter 2021 (Hilary)
Department of Politics and International Relations | University of Oxford
Comparative Government (Oxford tutorials)
Retained Lecturer | Corpus Christi College | Fall 2019 (Michaelmas)
Tutor | Oriel College | Spring 2020 (Trinity)
Tutor | Pembroke College | Fall 2020 (Michaelmas)
Political Sociology (Oxford tutorials)
Retained Lecturer | Corpus Christi College | Fall 2019, Winter 2020 (Michaelmas, Hilary)
Politics in Europe (Oxford tutorials)
Retained Lecturer | Corpus Christi College | Fall 2019 (Michaelmas)