I am a PhD researcher at the University of Bremen, where my research is concerned with how social policy agendas of political parties in Western Europe are becoming increasingly exclusionary towards immigrants, also known as “welfare chauvinism”. My PhD thesis is comprised of three main papers, in which I use party manifesto, voter survey and policy reform data to observe the partisan politics of this issue, comparatively across European countries.
At the University of South Denmark, I had the opportunity to work with a number of scholars who are at the forefront of research in this area. With my host, we worked on ideas for a literature review paper that we will write together. She also helped me extensively with party manifesto analysis, which is one of her specialisms. I presented at the Danish Centre for Welfare Studies Lunchtime Seminar series on the 26 March, and was a guest at other seminars in this series. Afterwards, there was often a joint lunch or dinner where networking was possible.I really enjoyed my time in Odense, met some fantastic scholars and networks that will stay with me for a long time.
Originally from the UK, Eloisa studied her Masters at the ETH Zurich before going to University of Bremen to undertake her PhD studies in political science. Her position is co-funded by the EU Horizon 2020 Marie Curie Actions and the DFG project. Eloisa’s research interests are primarily in political sociology; the study of political actors and interests; mainly in the field of social policy and the welfare state. In her PhD, she looks in depth at how welfare states across Western Europe exclude immigrants from receipt of social rights, and how this issue is politicised in political conflict structures: she seek to explain variation across countries and time in political party agendas, competition between parties at elections, and policies that emerge from party coalitions. Eloisa believes that receiving the YERUN grant would give her academic career a kick-start and formalise links she has already begun to develop between her institution and the Syyddansk University.
