Paola Rivetti is Associate Professor in Politics and International Relations at the School of Law and Government. She joined DCU in 2011, as an IRC postdoctoral fellow. She researches the government of societies and polities in the Middle East and North Africa from a comparative perspective; social and political mobilizations; gender and politics. She is author of Political Participation in Iran from Khatami to the Green Movement (2020), which she presented in numerous universities across Europe, North America and the Middle East; and co-editor of Islamists and the Politics of the Arab Uprisings: Governance, Pluralisation and Contention (2018), Continuity and Change Before and After the Arab Uprisings. Morocco, Tunisia and Egypt (2015) and Effetto società civile. Pratiche e retoriche in Iran, Libano, Egitto e Marocco (2010).

Paola Rivetti was awarded the 2018 Early-Career Researcher of the Year Prize by the Irish Research Council and received the DCU President's Award for Early-Career Researcher. In 2018, she was a TED talk speaker for Trinity College Dublin, with a talk titled "What's wrong with solidarity". 

As an academic and intellectual, she contributes to public debates and is involved in a number of cultural and professional initiatives. Paola Rivetti is a Council member of the British Society for Middle Eastern Studies, a member of the Mentorship Committee of the Association for Iranian Studies, and of the Committe for Academic Freedom of the Italian Society for Middle East Studies (SeSaMO). She is a co-founding member of the Irish Network for MENA Studies. She was the General Secretary of the Italian Society for Middle Eastern Studies between 2013 and 2016. She is an Associate Editor at the journals Iranian Studies, and Partecipazione e conflitto. She regularly engages the policy-making community and comments on current affairs for numerous media platforms, such as Sky News, RTE, RAI, Virgin Media TV, Radio popolare, The Journal, il manifesto, and many others. In the past, her research was funded by the Irish Research Council, the European Union, Enterprise Ireland, Gerda Henkel Foundation, Giovanni Goria Foundation, and others. 

Paola Rivetti also co-edited We've Come A Long Way. Reproductive Rights of Migrants and Ethnic Minorities in Ireland (2018). Her work is published in the most important scientific journals. She regularly reviews submissions to academic journals, book publishers and grant donors (EU Parliament's subcommittee of human rights, ERC, National Science Foundation, IRC, Fonds Schappelijk Onderzoek, MIUR, and others). She regularly attends professional conferences, both in Area Studies and social and political science; she is regularly invited to give talks to different audiences, from academics to policy-makers and activists.