Adele Webb

Dr Adele Webb is Research Fellow in Democracy and Citizen Engagement at the Centre for Deliberative Democracy, with a PhD in Politics from the University of Sydney, MSc in Political Sociology from the London School of Economics, and Bachelors in Law and History from the University of NSW.

Adele's work focuses on democracy in theory and practice, and sits at the nexus of political theory, political psychology and empirical political science. She specialises in the study of complex political attitudes, including ambivalence, and its effects on political opinion formation and political behaviour. Adele has expertise in Southeast Asian politics, including Philippines' populism and the history of US colonialism. She is the author of Chasing Freedom: The Philippines’ Long Journey to Democratic Ambivalence (2022, Liverpool University Press).

Adele leads the Centre for Deliberative Democracy's industry engagement, working with the Museum of Australian Democracy at Old Parliament House, AMPLIFY, The Better Cities Initiative and others, to translate research on democratic innovations in to actionable ideas for improving representative democracy in Australia.

In 2025 she was lead author on two key impact reports: Bridging the Gap - Citizens, Elected Officials and Deliberative Engagement in Australia and Belonging in Australian Democracy - A Multicultural Perspective. 

Globally, Adele has worked with International IDEA as an expert consultant to design the a global comparative survey on Perceptions of Democracy. She has also consulted for the UN’s Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP).

Before completing her PhD at the University of Sydney in 2019, Adele worked in international development for almost a decade. Alongside her academic work, Adele maintains an active profile in public engagement. She has a track record of disseminating her research findings through high impact media commentary. 

Adele has teaching expertise in Public policy and critical policy analysis, Co-design and deliberative engagement, International Development, Populism and Southeast Asian politics, and Political Sociology.

Her research draws on a range of social science methods and approaches, including qualitative interviews, historical sociology, post-colonial analysis, and survey methods.