Olga Usachova is a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Padua, Italy, where she works on the investigation of the socio-technical encounters of digital technology used by and designed for migrants’ inclusion into the host society. She holds a PhD in sociology from the University of Padua, Italy. Her PhD thesis focused on the investigation of the actor-network of refugee apps designed and developed in the aftermath of the so-called refugee crisis 2015-2016 in Europe.
Her research revolves around digital technologies in migration governance and their impact on shaping transnational migration and border regimes as well as counter-migration management. Her research interests lie on the intersection of science and technology studies (STS), human-technology interaction, and digital history ranging from the understanding of the agency of the users/ non-users of mobile software and its implication on the process of the migrants’ integration to maintenance practices of refugee apps. From 2022 she is a co-chair of the independent scholarly network STS-MIGTEC.
