Zoë LARDINOIS

Bio

Zoë Lardinois is a doctoral student in political science at the Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB), within CEVIPOL. From her bachelor’s degree onward, she has been interested in questions of descriptive and substantive representation, dedicating her final dissertation to the role of Black women in representative assemblies.

She deepened this interest during her master’s in political science (European and International Governance) at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), where she followed a pre-doctoral program. Her research focused on the representation of women and minorities within elected assemblies. Her thesis analysed the underrepresentation of intersectionally marginalised women by expanding the legislative recruitment model beyond gender.

Currently, as part of the WHYCAN project (FNRS funded) and under the supervision of Audrey Vandeleene and Jean-Benoît Pilet, she is dedicating her doctoral research to studying the political ambition of women and minorities, as well as its impact on their representation. Through this lens, her work, in turn, examines the democratic quality of Belgian parliaments.

CV

Professional experience

• Since October 2025 – Doctoral Student, Université libre de Bruxelles (CEVIPOL)
• May 2025 - July 2025 – Internship at the Federal Parliament – Political Section
• March 2025 - June 2025 – Volunteer at CIVIX – Workshops for secondary school classes on Belgian and European politics
• Since May 2024 – Applications Director at MUN Society Belgium (MSB)

• 2024-2025 – Pre-Doctoral Master’s in Political Science, specialization in European and International Governance, Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), Brussels
• 2021-2024 – Bachelor’s in Political Science, trilingual major, UCLouvain Saint-Louis Brussels, Brussels

Areas of research

• Gender and politics
• Intersectionality
• Representation
• Parliaments
• Elections and political parties