Teodora Gaidyte is a tutor at International Studies.

More information about Teodora Gaidyte

Fields of interest

Political participation, social and political trust, Eastern Europe, democracy, inequality

I come from Vilnius, Lithuania, where I studied political science. I have moved to the Netherlands in 2012 to continue working on my PhD. My PhD research focused on political culture and democratic engagement, more particularly, how social trust enhances political participation in Western and Eastern Europe. The thesis was nominated for the Annual Dissertation Award of the Faculty of Social Sciences (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam).

Before joining BAIS as a tutor, I was a postdoctoral researcher at the Sociology department of the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. Within the POLPART project (“How citizens try to influence politics, and why? International comparisons of movement and party politics”), I was collecting and analyzing cross-national data on different forms of political participation. During the years in academia, I have discovered my passion in teaching. I particularly enjoy the interdisciplinary, multi-cultural nature of International Studies where students and scholars are able to build the bridges across their different cultural backgrounds and worldviews.

Next to my teaching, I am involved in the Baltic-Dutch Academic Community, which aims at enhancing knowledge and understanding between people who are interested in politics and culture of the Baltic countries - Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia -, and disseminating this knowledge in the Netherlands.