Selena Grimaldi is Assistant Professor at the University of Macerata where she teaches Political Science and Communication and Political Language. She is currently the coordinator of the Standing Group “Candidate and Leader Selection” of the Italian Society of Political Science (since 2022), and member of the editorial board of the Italian Journal of Electoral Studies (QOE-IJES) and Regional Studies and Local Development where she is the principal editor of the yearly Special Volume on Regional elections in Europe. She is head of a Local Unit (UniMC) of the National funded Research Project (PRIN 2022) UNVEIL (Understanding Vulnerabilities to Expand Insight on Local units). Her research interests are related to studies on leadership and presidential politics; Regional and local elections; Political class and careers; The communication and political language of political leaders. Her work has been published in several national and international journals.Her most recent books are: Local Electoral Participation in Europe (with Bolgherini S. and Paparo A.), Palgrave MacMillan, 2024 and The Informal Powers of Western European Presidents, Palgrave MacMillan, 2023.