Patrick Dumont studied political science at the Université Catholique de Louvain in Belgium and the Université de Genève (PhD) in Switzerland. Before becoming Professor at the ANU in 2017, he held a position at the Université du Luxembourg. He was visiting fellow at the Jack W. Peltason Centre for the Study of Democracy University of California, Irvine during the 2014-2015 academic year. He also came as visiting fellow at the ANU in July-August 2011.

He is the co-founder of the Selection and Deselection of Political Elites (SEDEPE) international network with Keith Dowding, co-convenor of the Standing Group on Elites and Political Leadership of the European Consortium for Political Research (ECPR) with Matthew Kerby, and chair of the Research Committee on 'Elites' of the International Political Science Association (IPSA). 

Patrick Dumont is the co-editor of the Routledge Research on Social and Political Elites book series. From 2003 to 2009, he was member of the executive board of the ABSP-CF (Political science Association – French-speaking Belgium) and from 2011 to 2017 he was a member of the editorial board of the Revue Internationale de Politique Comparée.

• Political elites
• Executive-legislative relations
• Parties and party systems
• Coalition theory
• Elections, Voting Advice Applications