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Dr Matthias Dilling

Affiliate
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences

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Available For Postgraduate Supervision

Research Links

About

Dr Dilling is a Lecturer in Politics at Swansea and an associate member of Oxford University’s Department of Politics and IR. His work centers around a central question in comparative and European politics: Why and how do democratic institutions emerge, evolve, and impact political outcomes? Dr Dilling investigates this question with a focus on political parties in Europe and how these parties form, develop, and respond to a changing environment. Empirically, he has a particular interest in political parties ranging from the center to the far right of the political spectrum and has conducted in-depth archival research in Germany, France, Italy, and Austria.

Dr Dilling’s sole- and co-authored work has been published in Political Research Quarterly, Social Science History, German Politics and Society, and in edited volumes on German politics.

Before joining Swansea, Dr Dilling was a Lecturer at Oxford University and Oxford University’s Pembroke College and a visiting researcher at Yale University and the University of Vienna. He holds a PhD from Oxford University (Nuffield College). His doctoral thesis is the recipient of the Walter Dean Burnham Award by the American Political Science Association for the best dissertation in the field of Politics and History.

 You can find out more about Dr Dilling’s work here.

Areas Of Expertise

  • Comparative politics
  • European politics
  • Political parties
  • Political institutions
  • Qualitative and historical methods

Career Highlights

Teaching Interests

Dr Dilling’s teaching covers comparative politics, European politics, political parties and party competition, political sociology, comparative research designs, and qualitative methods. He has taught widely at the undergraduate, MA, and PhD level and supervised dissertations on, among others, the center and far right in Europe, politics and religion, gender and politics, and history and politics.  

His teaching emphasizes active learning, empowering students to become self-regulated learners, and integrating subject knowledge with hands-on skills training to boost students’ employability and transferrable skills.

Dr Dilling completed a PGCert in Teaching and Learning in Higher Education (with distinction) at Oxford University’s Center for Teaching and Learning. He is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. In 2018, he was shortlisted for the Outstanding Tutor Award by Oxford University’s Student Union.

Award Highlights