Theresa Reidy

Theresa Reidy is a professor in the Department of Government and Politics at University College Cork. Her primary research focus is voting behaviour at elections and referendums and she has also conducted research on political parties and political institutions. Her recent work has been published in PS: Political Science and Politics, Electoral Studies, Parliamentary Affairs and Politics,  and she is co-editor of several books on Irish elections and Irish politics.
Theresa has received funding for her research on elections and referendums from the European Commission, Irish Research Council, Irish Aid and the Royal Irish Academy. She is a member of the management board of the National Elections and Democracy Study (NEDS) which was established in 2024 to undertake a 25 year study of Irish elections and political behaviour. The NEDS project is funded by An Coimisiún Toghcháin (the Electoral Commission of Ireland) under the Electoral Reform Act (2022). 
Theresa Reidy was co-editor of the International Political Science Review (SAGE Publications) from 2016-2023 and co-editor of Irish Political Studies (Taylor and Francis) from 2012-2016. She was a member of the Executive Committee of the International Political Science Association (IPSA) from 2016-2023. In 2023, Theresa was co-chair of the World Congress of Political Science in Buenos Aires, Argentina with Prof EY Kim of Seoul National University. She is co-chair of the IPSA Research Committee on Elections and Parties with Prof Daniel Stockemer of the University of Ottawa. Theresa convened the annual conference of the Political Science Association (PSAI) in University College Cork in 2006 and 2016. She was a member of the Executive Committee of the PSAI for more than a decade. She served as honorary secretary from 2006 to 2011 and as vice president from 2012-2016 and she was a founding member of the association specialist group on Voters, Parties and Elections.

In 2014, Theresa Reidy was awarded the Peter O'Brien Visiting Scholar position at the School of Canadian Irish Studies, Concordia University, Montreal. She was a visiting researcher at Universität Konstanz in Spring 2013 and again in Spring 2023. In Autumn, 2023, she was awarded the visiting position of Chaire Internationale en Humanités et Sciences Sociales at Université de Rennes 2.
Theresa Reidy is a well-known political scientist. She is a regular contributor to Irish and international broadcast media with more than 350 appearances on stations that include RTE, Sky News, ABC, CBC, Al Jazeera, and the BBC. She has published more than 100 newspaper articles in the local and national press in Ireland, along with more than 30 blogs for national and international publishers. Theresa has given expert evidence to Dáil committees on electoral institutions, electoral management and electoral integrity, institutional reform and the conduct of referendums. She has also addressed the Finance and Constitution Committee of the Scottish National Parliament and the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee of the House of Commons on matters relating to the conduct of referendums. She has provided expert policy contributions on a number of occasions to the Constitutional Convention of Ireland, and the Citizens’ Assembly of Ireland.