Victoria Cooper is a researcher and political analyst based in Melbourne.

Victoria’s current research explores how the approaches of social psychology and behavioural science can help interrogate trends that undermine Australia’s national security, social cohesion and democratic resilience. Her research and writing span themes such as political beliefs and behaviour, trust, disagreement, intolerance and communication.

Previously, Victoria was an expert at the United States Studies Centre (2021-2024) where she led research projects on democratic resilience, public opinion polling and the implications of US politics for Australian foreign policy. Her research has briefed senior government officials and thought leaders across Australia, the United States and Japan. In 2023, Victoria was a Rising Think Tank Opinion Leader and provided insights on the future of cooperation between Quad countries in Washington DC and Tokyo.

Victoria’s expertise on US politics regularly features on Australian news radio and television, and she holds bylines in several mastheads including the Australian Financial Review, The Conversation and The Sydney Morning Herald. She was identified as a Young Woman to Watch in International Affairs, for this work, in 2024. 

Victoria is passionate about making politics accessible and relevant for wide and varied audiences. As an advanced research communicator, Victoria has worked to translate detailed research into easy-to-understand multimedia content— from policy briefs and reports to lectures, podcasts, newsletters, and op-eds. She’s currently an Editorial Consultant at the Development Intelligence Lab, was the Research and Editorial Assistant on Trump’s Australia by Bruce Wolpe (Allen & Unwin, 2023), and the Editor-in-Chief of the Young Diplomats Society between 2020 and 2022.

Victoria is the author of Dinner Table Politics, a newsletter that analyses political disagreement, conflict and intolerance at the ‘dinner table level’ and provides practical advice to help people approach politics with greater empathy and respect.