Welcome!

I am Sofia Ammassari, an Italian political scientist based in Brisbane, Australia.

Before moving here in 2020 to do my PhD, I lived in New Delhi, working first for the European Union Delegation to India and later at Ashoka University. I was awarded my PhD in August 2023 from Griffith University, where I am currently a Research Fellow.

My main research interests are the populist radical right, women’s and youth political participation, and party organisation. I have published on these topics in highly-ranked journals such as Comparative Political Studies, European Journal of Political Research, Political Studies and Party Politics. My first book, Grassroots Women in the Populist Radical Right, is forthcoming with Oxford University Press.

In October 2025, with my Griffith colleagues Duncan McDonnell and Ferran Martinez i Coma, I won over A$825,000 in funding from the Australian Research Council for our Discovery Project “Generation-Z engagement with political parties”. You can learn more about my work on this page, and view a list of my publications here.

In addition to my research, I convene the undergraduate course ‘The Rise of Global Populism’.

Outside of work, I enjoy travelling, reading novels (currently A Carnival of Atrocities by Natalia García Freire), listening to all sorts of music from ’60s rock to ’00s pop, hitting the gym, and trying out some cocktail recipes from my mixology books.