Diego Fossati is Associate Professor of Global and Area Studies at the University of Hong Kong, specializing in the politics of Southeast Asia. He teaches courses on Southeast Asia, comparative politics, and research methods. His work draws on public opinion data and other sources to analyze how political legitimacy is shaped by public policy, governance arrangements, ideology, political participation and representation. Substantively, his research has included the politics of healthcare and social policy, decentralization and multi-level governance, local politics, political parties and electoral behavior, populism, political Islam and national identity. His publications include Unity through Division: Political Islam, Representation and Democracy in Indonesia (2022), The Meaning of Democracy in Southeast Asia (2023), and Towards Inclusive Social Policies? Southeast Asia after the Pandemic (2025). He has been awarded research grants by Hong Kong’s University Grants Committee, Singapore’s Ministry of Education, and the Australian Research Council. He received his PhD in Government from Cornell University in 2016.