Dr Matt Qvortrup is a comparative political scientist, and a pioneer of social neuroscience. Author of the acclaimed book The Political Brain (CEU Press 2024), he has an international reputation for outstanding empirical research in all over the world. Professor Qvortrup he has been escribed as “world authority on referendums” by the Financial Times, and is also author of several in-depth studies of political leaders (including acclaimed biographies of Tony Blair and Angela Merkel). In addition to more than 15 monographs, his more than 50 refereed articles have appeared in top journals like Government & Opposition, West European Politics, and Journal of Democracy. Having originally studied neuroscience, he gained a doctorate in politics at the University of Oxford. Not merely an outstanding scholar, Professor Qvortrup has built a reputation for concise analyses in the public square as a presenter for BBC Radio 4’s ‘Analysis Program’ (including a recent program about the ‘Democratic Brain’), and as a regular contributor to LA Times, The Independent, The Guardian, and El Pais. From 2016-2023, he was Editor-in-Chief of European Political Science Review, at a time when it rose to become one of the top-25 journals in the discipline. A former top-civil servant in the United Kingdom, Matt has a reputation for providing expert advice for national governments, parliaments, and international bodies, including the British House of Commons, the United Nations, and the European Union. Matt has taught at several universities including the Australian National University, the London School of Economics, Sorbonne, and is currently chair of political science at Coventry University. In his spare time Matt spends too much time at the gym, plays bass guitar, and writes a column for the magazine Philosophy Now.