As a political theorist, Beausoleil explores the conditions, challenges, and possibilities of democratic engagement in diverse societies, with a particular attention to the capacity for 'voice' and listening in conditions of inequality. Connecting affect, democratic theory, neuroscience, and the performing arts, her work responds to compelling calls to find new models for coalition and community by asking how we realise these ideals in concrete terms. She is Editor-in-Chief for the Q1-ranked journal Democratic Theory, Distinguished Global Associate of the Sydney Democracy Network, and Associate Investigator for the current Australian Research Centre grant ‘Democratic Resilience: The Public Sphere and Extremist Attacks.’ Recent community collaborations include co-design of a nationwide anti-racism programme, creation of a UNESCO-funded project to support youth-led dialogue following the 15th March Christchurch terror attacks, and collaboration with Barbarian Productions to bring the expertise of performing artists to bear on the design of civic dialogues regarding structural inequalities. Her work has been published in Political Theory, Contemporary Political Theory, Constellations, Theory&Event, and New Political Science, and her first book (Staging Democracy: The Political Work of Live Performance; De Gruyter, 2023) launched the new book series, Critical Thinking and Contemporary Politics. She is the 2021 recipient of Royal Society Te Āparangi's Early Career Researcher Award for Social Sciences, and 2024 recipient of American Political Science Association's Distinguished Award for Civic and Community Engagement.