Staff Profile

I am a Lecturer in Comparative Politics at the School of Geography, Politics, and Sociology, Newcastle University. Before joining Newcastle, I was a postdoctoral fellow at the Consortium on Electoral Democracy (C-Dem) in Canada. I obtained my PhD in Political Science at LMU Munich in June 2022. During my graduate study, I was a visiting researcher at Berlin Social Science Center (WZB).

I am happy to supervise students who are researching on autocratization, radical politics, and information-updating during elections.

I study public opinion and political behavior. My substantive research interest lies in the intersection of autocratization, radical politics, and information updating during elections. In terms of methodology, I am interested in surveys and causal inference. 

I am currently working on a project called “Spillover Effects in an Age of Autocratization”. It studies how citizens in multi-level systems update the autocratization episodes of radical right politicians/parties (e.g. January 6 Capitol attack in US; Congress attack in Brazil). As these events took place in an international system, I analyze whether and how these autocratization events change citizens’ political attitudes and behaviour across borders.

Teaching Statement

One key of my teaching approach is to require students to organize, visualize, and analyze different kinds of data in their assignments and group projects. I often direct students to various sources of datasets that are of their interest. In the guiding process, I suggest under-explored questions that can be answered by these datasets. These skills of data analysis are indispensable for students’ success in jobs inside and outside of the academy. 

Another key of my teaching approach is to include teaching material that promotes equity, diversity, inclusion, and decolonization. I always include literature and examples of non-Western countries. Very often, these non-Western cases can widen students’ horizons and generate new perspectives. On the other hand, when I deliver lectures related to Western countries, I ask students to consider whether underrepresented social groups behave differently and how. By doing so, students will put themselves into the shoes of these underrepresented groups, which can deepen their understanding of the subject matter.

Courses Taught

POL8025   Autocratisation in Global Politics

• Articles

  • Chan KM. The Making of Radical Right Voters: Persuasion and Contrast Effects in a Dynamic Political Context. Political Psychology 2022, 43(6), 1043-1060.
  • Au NH, Chan KM, Ng KL. Cooperate but Divided at Heart: Analysis of an Opposition Elite Survey during Autocratization. Political Studies Review 2024, 22(1), 156-173.
  • Chan KM. The Bottom-Up Spillover Effect for Radical Right Parties. European Political Science Review 2022, 14(3), 351-366.
  • Chan KM, Ng KL. Elections with Candidate Filtering and Two Mechanisms of Demobilization Effect. Journal of Elections, Public Opinion and Parties 2022, 33(4), 664-683.