CV

A PDF version of my full CV is available here.

Academic positions

• Postdoctoral Researcher, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid — 2025–present
  • Horizon Europe project EXPRESS2: Specify and Protect the EU Social Contract
• Teaching Fellow, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya — 2026–present
• Substitute Lecturer, Universitat de Barcelona — 2025–2026
• Ph.D. Researcher in Social Sciences, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid — 2020–2024
  • Funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (FPI Grant)

Research stays

• Dynamics Group, Humboldt University of Berlin — Visiting Researcher (Host: Heike Klüver) — Fall 2025
• Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona — Visiting Researcher (Host: Ana Mar Fernández Pasarín) — Spring 2025
• Universitat de Barcelona — Visiting PhD Student (Host: Macarena Ares Abalde) — Spring 2024
• European University Institute — Visiting PhD Student (Host: Filip Kostelka) — Fall 2022

Education

• Ph.D. in Social Sciences, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid — 2020–2025
  • Dissertation: Socio-Economic Contexts, Status and Political Behaviour in Western Democracies (1964–2019)
  • Supervisors: Juan J. Fernández (UC3M) and Antonio Jaime-Castillo (UNED)
  • Committee: Ruth Dassonneville (KU Leuven), Hanspeter Kriesi (EUI) and Amuitz Garmendia Madariaga (UC3M)
• M.A. in Social Sciences, Universidad Carlos III – Juan March Institute — 2018–2020
• B.A. in Political Science and Administration, Universitat Pompeu Fabra — 2013–2017

Publications

• Tirado Castro, A., & Caihuelas Navajas, B. (2025). “The gender gap in policy responsiveness in Spain.” European Journal of Politics and Gender. DOI
• Fernández, J., Jaime-Castillo, A. M., & Caihuelas Navajas, B. (2025). “The Socio-structural Basis of the Long-term Decline in Traditional Left–right Class Voting in Affluent Democracies, 1968–2018.” Comparative Politics. DOI

Work in progress

Working papers:

• “Legitimacy Under Pressure: Dynamics of Trust in the European Union Amid Polycrisis.” With A. Tirado Castro and J. A. Mayoral. (R&R, European Union Politics.)
• “Governing or Delegating Democracy? Public Preferences for AI Governance and Democratic Authority in Europe.” With A. Tirado Castro. (Under review.)
• “Democracy’s Unsolved Dilemma: Education and Increasing Turnout Inequality.”
• “Trust, Mistrust, and Distrust in the European Union: A Conceptual and Empirical Distinction?” With A. Tirado Castro and J. A. Mayoral.
• “Can Algorithms Govern? Public Trust and the Limits of GenAI in Public Policy Design.” With A. Tirado Castro and J. A. Mayoral.
• “Compared to Whom? Gender, Generation, and the Reference Groups of Young Men’s Grievance.” With R. González Antuña and L. Núñez Alañón.
• “Zero-Sum Nationalism: Social Identity and (Dis)Trust in Supranational Institutions.” With T. Camilot and Í. Ruiz Hilera.
• “Backlash and Resilience of Gender Equality: A Two-Dimensional Mapping of 25 European Societies.” With Z. G. Göker, A. B. Çelik and M. Çağlar.

Book chapters:

• “Diagnosing Trust in the European Union: Citizens and the Social Contract.” With A. Tirado Castro and J. A. Mayoral. In The EU Social Contract, Routledge.
• “La europeización de la economía española.” With M. Pastor Mayo. In 40 años de España en la Unión Europea, CEPC. (Under review.)

Research projects

• DECODE: Democratic Effects of Conspiratorial Disengagement — Team Member — 2026–2030
  • Spanish State Research Agency (PID2025-171937NB-I00). PI: Carolina Galais (UAB).
• EXPRESS2: Specify and Protect the EU Social Contract — Postdoctoral Researcher — 2024–2027
  • Horizon Europe (Project ID 101132426). PI: Antoni Abat i Ninet (UAB).
• Unravelling Gender Equality Resistance in Europe — Team Member — 2023–2027
  • Spanish State Research Agency (PID2023-147429OB-I00). PI: Marta Fraile (IPP-CSIC).
• Twice as Hard, Half as Good? Women Candidates on the Campaign Trail — Research Assistant — 2023–present
  • European Research Council (ERC), EU Horizon 2020. PI: Susan Banducci (University of Birmingham).
• The Mechanisms of Social Class Effects in Political Preferences — PhD Researcher — 2020–2023
  • Spanish State Research Agency (RTI2018-098781-B-I00). PIs: Juan J. Fernández (UC3M) and Antonio M. Jaime-Castillo (UNED).
• Comparative Campaign Dynamics Dataset — Research Assistant — 2019–2022
  • German Science Foundation. Country expert: Pedro Riera (UC3M). PI: Marc Debus (University of Mannheim).

Teaching

For a structured overview, see the teaching page. Recipient of Letters of Honor for Excellence in Faculty Evaluation Surveys (UC3M, 2020–2026).

Universitat de Barcelona: Political Behavior (2026); Data Analysis II (2025).

Universitat Oberta de Catalunya: Research Design (2026); Master’s Thesis Supervision (2026).

Universidad Carlos III de Madrid: European Politics (TA, 2026); Multidisciplinary Seminar on Globalization (TA, 2023); Interdisciplinary Seminar II (2023); Political Representation and Electoral Analysis (TA, 2021); Advanced Quantitative Techniques for Social Research (TA, 2021); Introduction to the Sociology of Work (TA, 2020).

Conferences and workshops

• 2026: IX Jornada de Comportament i Opinió Pública de Catalunya (Barcelona); AECPA (Granada); CES (Dublin)
• 2025: ECPR General Conference (Thessaloniki); EPSA (Madrid); IPSA RC27 International Workshop (Barcelona); EXPRESS2 Midterm Conference (Istanbul); PAPERSS (Madrid); Inequality Challenges, VII UB International Doctoral Workshop (Barcelona); Early Research Workshop (Madrid)
• 2024: VII Jornada de Comportament i Opinió Pública de Catalunya (Barcelona); ECPR General Conference (Dublin)
• 2023: ECPR General Conference (Prague); DIGCLASS International Workshop (Seville)

Honors and grants

• Grant for Feminist Research, Institute of Women, Spanish Ministry of Equality (€22,526) [declined] — 2026
• Grant for organising scientific meetings on gender and equality — Gender Equality Unit, UC3M (€500) — 2026
• Grant for holding congresses, conferences, scientific meetings and seminars — Social Sciences Department, UC3M (€1,000) — 2026
• Honorable Mention, Enrique Fuentes Quintana Prize for Doctoral Dissertation (Political Science, Sociology and Communication), FUNCAS — 2026
• Honorable Mention, Juan Linz Award for Best Doctoral Dissertation in Political Science — Center for Political and Constitutional Studies — 2025
• Letters of Honor for Excellence in Faculty Evaluation Surveys — Deputy Vice-Rector for Quality, UC3M — 2020–2026

Professional service

• Convenor, Young Researchers in Gender and Social Sciences Conference — 2026
• Convenor, Women in Political Science Writing Club — 2026
• Organizer of Working Groups, XVIII Congreso de la AECPA — 2026
  • Old and New Cleavages: Elites, Voters and Electoral Change
  • The Far Right and the Transformation of Political Conflict

Complementary training

• EUI Research Seminars (2022): Parties and Party Systems (Simon Hix); Intermediate Quantitative Methods (Arnoud van de Rijt & Filip Kostelka)
• UC3M Workshops (2020–2025): Conjoint Analysis; Behavioral and Experimental Social Sciences; Structural Equation Models; Qualitative Research Methods; Webscraping
• RECSM Summer Methods School (2021): Multilevel Analysis I & II

Skills

• Software & tools: R / RStudio, Stata, LaTeX, Microsoft Office
• Languages: Spanish and Catalan (native), English (C1), French (B2)