Dr. Susan de Groot Heupner is a political sociologist with a research focus on populist mobilisations and hegemonic ideological constructions. She is a Research Fellow at the Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation at Deakin University in Melbourne, where she researches religious populism, affective polarisation, and authoritarian political mobilisation. She has published in journals such as Politics and Religion, Journal of Intercultural Studies, Religions, and Journal of International Communication, and has contributed to public media platforms like The Conversation, ABC, and Enlighten.