I have a BA in philosophy, MA in sociology, and a diploma in teaching from the University of Iceland, and a PhD in sociology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In previous lives I was a team leader at government agency, radio producer and presenter, founder of a non-partisan think-tank, in addition to working with kids and grown-ups with disabilities or drug problems. My ongoing research agenda focuses on democratic challenges and innovations. For example, I study whether citizen assemblies can help inform and influence the wider electorate; democratic and civic participation; ideology and issue polarization; and the characteristics of populism. I use various methods and data in my research, both quantitative and qualitative. My work has been published in journals such as the American Journal of Sociology, PLOS ONE, Political Behavior, Public Opinion Quarterly, and Political Psychology. I teach courses on social theory, methods, and how individual behavior is constrained and enabled by norms, institutions, processes, and identities. In these courses I train students to critique and evaluate current research. To better understand the reliability of studies I help students think through the relationship between theory, evidence, and methods. I work with the Institute for Global Higher Education at DKU on projects around improving the quality of teaching at universities.
