Sebastian Diessner is an assistant professor at the Institute of Public Administration at Leiden University. After completing his PhD at the London School of Economics and Political Science, he was a Max Weber Fellow at the European University Institute in Florence, Italy.

His research is concerend with questions of independence, coordination, and democratic accountability, with a particular focus on monetary, fiscal, and industrial policy in Europe and Japan. He also has a keen interest in mixed-methods research, combining qualitative case-study approaches with quantitative analyses. His work has appeared or is forthcoming in peer-reviewed journals including Socio-Economic Review, Review of International Political Economy, Politics & Society, West European Politics, JCMS: Journal of Common Market Studies, Governance, and Regulation & Governance.

His current research is funded by a grant from The Leverhulme Trust and explores the relationship between technological and institutional change in advanced capitalist democracies.