Rate My Professor Elizabeth Evans

Professor Elizabeth Evans is Professor of Politics in the Department of Politics and International Relations at the University of Southampton. She serves as Associate Dean (Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion) for the Faculty of Social Sciences and Co-Director of the Gender and Inequalities Research Centre (GAIN). Her research explores the relationships between social movements, political parties, and political representation, with particular emphasis on gender, disability, and intersectionality. She is currently Principal Investigator on a four-year ESRC-funded comparative European project with Stefanie Reher examining disability and political parties. Previous research has received funding from the ESRC, British Academy, Government Equalities Office, and Independent Social Research Foundation. Evans' work addresses how to make politics more accessible and equitable, including projects on disabled people's political participation and barriers to representation.

Evans is the author of three books: Disability and Political Representation (Oxford University Press, 2024, with Stefanie Reher), The Politics of Third Wave Feminisms: Neoliberalism, Intersectionality and the State (Palgrave Macmillan, 2015), and co-editor of Confronting Privileges: Intersectionality in Feminist and Queer Movements (Routledge, 2020, with Eléonore Lépinard). She has published over 30 articles in international peer-reviewed journals, including recent works such as 'Ableist institutions and party selection processes: exploring the political recruitment of disabled candidates' (Electoral Studies, 2026, with Reher), 'Making political parties accessible for people with disabilities: a new research agenda' (Perspectives on Politics, 2025), 'Feminist politics and gender equality in Britain' (British Politics, 2025, with Elsa Bengtsson Meuller and Lydia Ayame Hiraide), 'No level playing field: barriers to disability representation in politics' (The Political Quarterly, 2024, with Reher), and 'Someone like me? Disability identity and representation perceptions' (Political Behavior, 2024, with Reher). Her contributions extend to editorial roles as co-founding Editor of the European Journal of Politics and Gender and former Editor-in-Chief of Politics. She has convened the ECPR Standing Group on Politics and Gender and the PSA Women and Politics Group. Awards include the 2022 Political Studies Association Joni Lovenduski Prize for Outstanding Achievement by a Mid-Career Scholar, the 2026 Ken Young Prize for best article in Policy & Politics, and the 2026 PSA W.J.M. Mackenzie Book Prize for Disability and Political Representation.