Prof. Dr. Léonie de Jonge studied Political Science and International Relations in the United States and the United Kingdom. In 2019, she received her PhD from the University of Cambridge. Her dissertation focused on the success and failure of right-wing populist parties in the Benelux countries. After completing her doctorate, she was an Assistant Professor of European Politics and Society at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands until 2024, where she also worked as a research fellow at the Documentation Centre for Dutch Political Parties. Since January 2025, she has been Professor of Far-Right Extremism Research with a focus on Political Actors and Ideologies at the Institute for Research on Far-Right Extremism at the University of Tübingen.
Throughout her academic career, she has received several awards for her research and public engagement, including the Gratama Science Award, which recognizes early-career researchers for innovative, socially relevant, and outstanding academic achievements. Since 2021, she has chaired the Steering Committee of the Standing Group on Extremism & Democracy of the European Consortium for Political Research (ECPR). In 2022, she was elected to the Young Academy of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW).
As an internationally connected and renowned political scientist, her research focuses on far-right actors, political parties, organizations,and networks; the normalization of far right ideologies; and societal and political responses to the far right. Her latest monograph is titled “The Success and Failure of Right-Wing Populist Parties in the Benelux Countries“ (2021). As an expert on far-right extremism, she is a sought-after voice in the media.
