HORIZON-CL2-2027-01-DEMOCRACY-01 & 2027-01-DEMOCRACY-02

Dr. Loes Aaldering

Associate Professor in Political Science, Department of Political Science and Public Administration, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (VU)

Expertise: gendered politics, political leadership, voter attitudes and behavior, political communication, political representation, political psychology, polarization

l.aaldering@vu.nl

Google Scholar profile Loes Aaldering 

General Expertise of Loes Aaldering

Loes Aaldering is a political scientist whose expertise lies at the intersection of gender and politics, political psychology, political communication, electoral behavior and political leadership. Her research focuses on the functioning and resilience of representative democracies, with particular attention to political inequality, gender bias, and the role of media and political communication in shaping democratic attitudes and behavior. Her main areas of expertise include:

• Gender and politics — including sexism in politics, the underrepresentation of women, gendered political stereotypes, and gender bias in political media coverage and voter’s candidate evaluations.

• Political communication and media effects — especially how media portray politicians and how this shapes voter perceptions, leadership evaluations, political attitudes and electoral behavior.

• Political leadership and candidate popularity — including the role of leadership traits, personality characteristics, stereotypes, partisanship, and “dark” personality traits in politics.

• Political socialization — particularly how children and adolescents develop political attitudes related to gender, representation, and democracy.

• Democratic representation and inequality — with a broader focus on strengthening representative democracy and improving the political inclusion of marginalized groups.

Methodologically, Loes Aaldering specializes in advanced quantitative methods, including survey research, experiments, meta-analysis, and textual and visual content analysis. Her current research focuses on gendered political socialization and the influence of the online manosphere on adolescents’ political attitudes, including the development and testing of interventions to counter political sexism among youth.