Alumna Dr Klaudia Wegschaider wins APSA section best dissertation award

DPIR alumna Dr Klaudia Wegschaider has won the Ernst B. Haas Best Dissertation Award of the European Politics and Society section of the American Political Science Association (APSA). 

She also received an honourable mention for the Best Dissertation Award of the Migration and Citizenship section of APSA. The award certificate will be handed over at the annual APSA conference in September.

Klaudia completed the DPhil in Politics in 2023. In her dissertation - titled 'Democratisation After Democratisation: The Politics of Contemporary Enfranchisement' - she studied party strategies in relation to the extension of immigrant, emigrant, and youth voting rights. Her work is based on three in-depth case studies drawing on archival fieldwork in Austria, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.

She commented: 

“I am very grateful for this award. Receiving this signal has encouraged me to go ahead with my plans and turn the project into a book. And I want to take this opportunity to thank my supervisor Professor Giovanni Capoccia for his guidance as well as my friends from the department. 

“As much as there were ups and downs along the way, I genuinely enjoyed the experience of the doctorate.”

After finishing the DPhil, Klaudia started at the University of Vienna as a Postdoctoral Researcher. In autumn 2024, she will be joining Yale University as the Democratic Innovations Postdoctoral Associate.