Gabriela has been involved in research for the last seven years. She has worked as a research assistant and associate researcher in the Latin America Social Sciences Faculty (Flacso Mexico) and in the Centre for Research and Teaching in Economics (CIDE) in Mexico City covering topics related to elections and government. She also served for four years as a transparency and accountability researcher in the Mexican NGO Fundar, Center of Analysis and Research.

Gabriela holds a Bachelor's Degree in Political Science from UNAM and the Technological Institute from Monterrey, Mexico and a Master of Arts in Corruption and Government from the University of Sussex. She also has doctoral studies from the Latin America Social Sciences Faculty (FLACSO, Mexico).

Research

• Electoral behaviour
• Political parties and electoral systems
• Economic analysis of political institutions
• Political science methodology, particularly quantitative methods and experiments
• Grand corruption
• Latin America (in particular Mexico)

PhD research

Gabriela's research focuses on electoral behaviour, political parties and electoral systems. She aims to compare strategic voting and others voters and parties´ behavior particularly in less advanced democracies and more unstable party systems. In her research she works with quantitative and experimental methods. 

Supervisors:  Dr Damien Bol and Professor Sarah Birch

Teaching

• 6SSPP360 Elections and voting behaviour
• 4SSPP103 Comparing political systems

Publications

Bol, D., Hunter, A., & Aguirre Fernandez, G. (2023). The psychological partisan effect of electoral systems: How ideology correlates with strategic voting. Party Politics, 0(0). https://doi.org/10.1177/13540688231176975

Aguirre Fernandez, Gabriela (2023), “Rendición de cuentas electoral ante presencia de escándalos de corrupción: Una aproximación desde la diferencia ideológica" Revista Apuntes Electorales, Número 69. pp.181-218. ISSN 1665-0921. https://aelectorales.ieem.org.mx/index.php/ae/index

Aguirre Fernandez Gabriela (2022), “How Effective Are Hybrid Anti-Corruption Agencies in Tackling Political Corruption? The Case of the Commission against Impunity in Guatemala”. Mexican Law Review, Vol XIV, Number 2. https://revistas.juridicas.unam.mx/index.php/mexican-law-review/article/view/16567 DOI: https://doi.org/10.22201/iij.24485306e.2022.2.16567