Gemma Walker

My research interests include text-as-data, populism, and political communication. My thesis focusses on language complexity in the context of populist political communication with the aim of answering questions about whether simpler language benefits electoral representation and affects the deliberativeness of political speeches. Therefore, my work aims to determine if populist communication has led to a decline in debate quality and whether there is always a trade-off between language simplicity and deliberation.