Sanne van Oosten
Postdoctoral Researcher, Centre on Migration, Policy and Society (COMPAS)
Dr Sanne van Oosten is a Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Oxford, where she works on the EqualStrength-project. This Horizon-funded project explores the cumulative and structural forms of discrimination experienced by ethnic, racial, and religious minorities in Europe, particularly focusing on Muslim, Roma, and Black communities. Together with a cross-European consortium, Dr van Oosten's work examines how prejudice and hate crimes accumulate across various life domains and generations, with a special interest in the intersections of race, ethnicity, religion, gender, and socioeconomic status.
Dr van Oosten completed her PhD in Political Science at the University of Amsterdam in October 2024. Her dissertation explored the political representation of minority, particularly Muslim, politicians in European parliaments and how anti-Muslim discrimination affects their electoral success. Using quantitative methods such as experiments and meta-analysis, she investigated how voters' preferences for shared religious, migration, and gender backgrounds influence their political choices, revealing the central role of religious identity in shaping voting behaviour.
Dr van Oosten's research interests include political representation, discrimination, and the dynamics of voting behaviour, especially in the context of minority groups. She has published in several leading journals, such as Legislative Studies and Electoral Studies, and regularly features in the media, including BBC, NPR, and The New York Times. She has also provided strategic advice to political parties, NGOs and government bodies, including Amnesty UK and the UK Home Office.