Nicole Plotke holds a Master’s degree in Political Science from the University of Zurich and a Bachelor’s in Psychology from the University of New South Wales. Before returning to academia, she gained extensive experience in leadership and organisational roles, promoting inclusive practices across various institutions. During her Master’s studies, completed in the spring semester of 2024, Nicole worked as a research assistant to Prof. Stefanie Walter, contributing to the DISINTEGRATION project and focusing on the impact of referenda on international institutions. Now, as a PhD student at IPZ, she is conducting research under the University Research Priority Program "Equality of Opportunity," supervised by Prof. Walter and Prof. Michaelowa. Her doctoral project explores perceptions of inequality in the context of the rise of the Global South, employing survey experiments and text-as-data methods to analyse shifts in status perceptions between the Global North and South.