On it you find information on the courses I teach, my research interests and on recent publications.

By way of introduction, a short bio : I studied political science in Brussels, at both the Vrije Universiteit Brussel and the Université libre Bruxelles, and social geography in Amsterdam, at the Universiteit van Amsterdam. In 2002 I obtained my Ph.D. at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, went to the Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen for a post-doctoral research project, and joined the department of Political Science at the Universiteit Antwerpen as an Assistant Professor in 2006. Since 2009 I direct the Policy Research Centre on Equality Policies. And in 2011 I took over the presidency of Sophia, the Belgian association of gender studies, together with Stéphanie Loriaux.

My research focuses on issues of equality and diversity, mainly - but not exclusively - from a gender perspective. It looks into questions of democracy and representation, electoral systems and their inclusiveness, electoral system design and gender quotas, symbolic representation and its connection with other dimensions of representation, the inclusiveness of public policies, their framing and design, more particularly gender impact assessment, the Belgian women's movement and women's policy agencies and issues of equality in multi level systems.

This research situates itself within the Research Group on Citizenship, Equality & Diversity.

For more information see full CV or just send me an email.

Recent books:

Celis, Karen, Meier, Petra and Bram Wauters (eds.), 2010, Gezien, gehoord, vertegenwoordigd? Diversiteit in de Belgische politiek. Gent: Academia Press. 

Marques-Pereira, Bérengère, Petra Meier and David Paternotte (eds.), 2010, Au-delà et en deçà de l’Etat. Le genre entre dynamiques transnationales et multi-niveaux. Louvain-la-Neuve: Academia-Bruylant.

Lombardo, Emanuela, Petra Meier and Mieke Verloo (eds.), 2009, The Discursive Politics of Gender Equality: Stretching, Bending and Policymaking. Oxford: Routledge.