Adresse courrier :
ULB - Campus du Solbosch
Avenue F.D. Roosevelt, 50 - CP 124
1050 Bruxelles
Adresse visiteur :
Bâtiment S, 11è étage - Bureau : S11.103
Avenue Jeanne, 44 1050 Bruxelles
Bio
Sofia Serra-Silva is a political scientist and Research Fellow at the Institute of Social Sciences (ICS), University of Lisbon. She holds a PhD in Comparative Politics (2020) and studies how political institutions and citizens interact in today's globalized and digitalized world. Her research investigates how institutions address democratic fractures and how citizens engage with political processes. Her work has been published in Party Politics, Policy & Internet, Parliamentary Affairs, The Journal of Legislative Studies, European Politics & Society, and Mediterranean Politics. She is completing a book titled Open Parliaments: Revitalizing Democracy through Public Engagement and Innovation (Oxford University Press). Currently, she is the Principal Investigator of the FCT-funded project Bridging the Gap and serves on the board of IPP-Thomas Jefferson-Correia Serra. Committed to fostering healthier academic environments, she advocates against toxic academic practices and supports early career researchers.
CV
- Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Institute of Social Sciences, University of Lisbon (2021–present)
- WBI Excellence Fellow, Université libre de Bruxelles (forthcoming 2024)
- Visiting Professor, Department of Government, Georgetown University (Spring 2023)
- Guest Assistant Professor, University of Beira Interior (2020–2023)
- Blog
Areas of research
- Parliamentary public engagement
- Political participation and democratic fractures
- Democratic innovation and open institutions
- Political parties and electoral behaviour
- Political and digital communication
- Teaching
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2022- 2023: Visiting Professor at Georgetown University, DC, USA, Department of Government
Undergraduate course: “Modern Parliaments and The Public” (2023, Spring Semester, Coordinator)
2023-2025: Assistant Professor at University of Lisbon, ICS
Post-graduate course (PhD in Comparative Politics): “Workshop of Comparative Politics II” (Spring Semester 2025, Coordinator / Spring Semester 2024, Coordinator)
- Research
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My research examines how parliaments develop public engagement strategies in the digital age and the conditions that facilitate or constrain democratic innovation. My current project Bridging the Gap investigates citizen perceptions toward the Portuguese Parliament.
- Publications
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Serra-Silva, S. (2023). Beyond national boundaries in the study of digital public engagement. Policy & Internet, 15(1), 36–54.
Serra-Silva, S. (2022). How parliaments engage with citizens? A comparative analysis. The Journal of Legislative Studies, 28(4), 489–512.
Serra-Silva, S. and Belchior, A. M. (2020). Understanding pledge fulfilment of opposition parties. European Politics and Society, 21(1), 72–90.
Espírito-Santo, A., Freire, A. and Serra-Silva, S. (2020). Does women's descriptive representation matter? Party Politics, 26(2), 227–237
@SerraSilvaSofia
@sofiaserrasilva.bsky.social