Britt Vande Walle, Dr (B.B.)

Britt is a postdoctoral researcher and lecturer in the Politics department at the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASoS), Maastricht University.

Before starting her academic career, Britt gained professional experience in the Flemish Parliament. She went on to complete her PhD in 2024 as a Doctoral Fellow of the Research Foundation Flanders (FWO) at KU Leuven. Her dissertation, The Brains Behind the Party: Varying and Evolving Roles of Political Party Think Tanks, led to publications in leading political science journals, including Political Studies and Government and Opposition. During her PhD, she also undertook a research stay at the University of Amsterdam.

At Maastricht University, Britt is part of the ACCESS4ALL project, where her research focuses on the interactions between interest groups and far-right parties. Her broader research interests lie in political organisations that are essential to a healthy democratic system, such as political parties, their affiliated think tanks, and interest groups. She is particularly interested in how parties acquire information and collaborate with affiliated organisations to fulfil their representative function.

Methodologically, Britt employs both qualitative approaches (including case studies based on in-depth interviews, qualitative comparative analysis (QCA), document analysis) and quantitative approaches.