Olga Usachova
Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Department of Comparative Biomedicine and Food Science, University of Padova
Olga Usachova holds a PhD in Sociology from University of Padova. She has a Master degree in Law from Donetsk National University (Ukraine) and a Master in International Cooperation and Development Studies from School of Advanced Studies – IUSS, Pavia (Italy). In her Master’ thesis, “Integration practices of Syrian refugees in host communities: the case study of Lebanon”, she focused on the social and political aspects of the integration practices of Syrian refugees and Lebanese community response.
Her PhD research project focused on the investigation of the socio-technical encounters of the digital technology used by and designed for migrant’s inclusion into the host society. In particular, she is interested in the role digital technology is playing for the fostering the inclusion process. Therefore, her research interests lie on the intersection of the following areas: STS, Migration Studies, Refugees Studies and Human-technology interaction, ranging from the understanding the agency of the users/ non-users of mobile software and its implication on the process of the refugee’s integration.
During the research visit at the Digital Media Lab, Munich Centre for Technology in Society, Technical University Munich (Germany) she has been conducting an empirical fieldwork across Bavaria, by getting in touch with various representatives of the non-governmental organizations for refugees, political actors responsible for integration policy, as well as developers of the software to support the process of inclusion.
Recent Publication
Usachova O. (2021) “Infrastructuring the digital: mobile applications for migrants’ integration”. In: eds. S. Acampa, G. Gargiulo, R. Gatti, R. Mazza, M. Paolillo. Saperi, Conoscenze ed esperienze in formazione: Atti della V conferenza nazionale delle dottorande e dei dottorandi in Scienze Sociali. Libreriauniversitaria.it Edizioni, p. 338-345
Usachova, O. (2021) “Mobile applications as a welcoming guide: between digital mediation and local culture”. Der Donauraum, Zeitschrift des Instituts für den Donauraum und Mitteleuropa, 6(4), p. 75 – 87, DOI: 10.7767/dedo.2021.61.4.75
Pollozek S., van der Kist J., Trauttmansdorf, P., Usachova O., Ullrich, M., Makrygianni, V., Amelung, N., Cruz-Santiago, A. (2021) A portrait of STS-MIGTEC: An independent network working on migration, technologies and borders. Backchannels blog, 4S – Society for Social Studies of Science, https://www.4sonline.org/sts-migtec/
Usachova O. (2020) Responsibilities beyond fieldwork: Morality and social distancing during the interview, Boasblog: Filedwork meets crisis, https://boasblogs.org/fieldworkmeetscrisis/responsibilities-beyond-fieldwork/