Jana Foxe (they/them/theirs)

Jana Foxe is a PhD Candidate at the University of Washington's Department of Political Science. They received their A.B. in Political Science from Brown University in 2016, and their MA from the University of Washington in 2022. 

Jana's research is at the intersection of comparative politics, international relations and political economy, using mixed-methods approaches. Their research explores the behavior of non-state actors, interest groups, activist movements, political parties and NGOs, examining themes including humanitarianism, ideological bias, climate change, LGBTQIA+ rights, Eurocentrism, populism, democratic backsliding, norms, political institutions and electoral change. Their dissertation, Dilemmas of Humanitarian Advocacy explores how humanitarian aid NGOs navigate ethical and instrumental dilemmas.

Jana's work on NGO politics includes the current working paper Aiding the Civilized? Detecting Eurocentrism in UK Humanitarian Aid Appeals for Ukraine, and the recently published Varieties of Climate Activism: Assessing Public Support for Mainstream and Unorthodox Climate Action (with Nives Dolšak and Aseem Prakash)

Jana's paper, A Shock to the System? Assessing the Party System Implications of Europe's Austerity Doctrine (under review) evaluates the impact of externally-imposed austerity policies on the party systems of bailout recipient countries.

Jana also has an interest in queer studies, and is currently working on a research project entitled Comparative Homonationalisms and the Far-Right: How Dutch and American Neofascist Ideologies Imagine Queer Citizenships (with Jessica Sciarone, under review). This project examines the variation in the degrees of inclusion that far-right political parties have for queer and trans citizens in their home countries, based on case studies of far-right parties in the United States and the Netherlands. 

Jana has a strong interest and personal commitment to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in Higher Education. Jana has worked as a Graduate Research Assistant at the Center for Evaluation and Research for STEM Equity (CERSE), where they worked on a number of NSF and NIH-funded projects.  

Jana is the 2025-2026 Severyns Ravenholt Fellow in Comparative Politics, and the chair of the 2025-2025 Severyns Ravenholt Seminar in Comparative Politics 

Outside of academia, Jana enjoys cycling, pickleball, vegan cooking and watching trashy reality TV.