Olivia Jane Whelan

Current Research Interests

• Global social policy and governance
• Eco-social policy
• International organisations
• Social policy responses to crises
• The role of ideas, discourse and power dynamics in policymaking processes

Education

• M.A. Sociology, Bielefeld University, 2023
• B.Soc.Sc. Sociology and Social Policy (two-subject Bachelor), Maynooth University, Ireland, 2020

Employment History

• Since 06/2024: Doctoral researcher in the project Social Security in Crisis Mode (SoSiKri) led by Dr. John Berten, funded by the Funding Network for Interdisciplinary Social Policy Research (FiS) and associated with the working group of Prof. Dr Alexandra Kaasch (German and Transnational Social Policy), Faculty of Sociology, Bielefeld University
• 2022-23: Managing Editor of Global Social Policy, Sage Publishing, led by Prof. Dr Alexandra Kaasch (German and Transnational Social Policy), Faculty of Sociology, Bielefeld University
• 2022: Research assistant / Webmaster at the Centre for Interdisciplinary Research (ZiF), Bielefeld University
• 2021-22: Research assistant at the Collaborative Research Centre (SFB) 1228 "Practices of Comparison" and the Bielefeld University Press, Bielefeld University
• 2021: Researcher at Lady Flower Gardens, involved in the development of a concept for the integration of people with substance use experience and the local community through agricultural practices, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
• 2021-22: Research assistant at the Coordination Office of the Research Training Group 2225 "World Politics", Faculty of Sociology, Bielefeld University

Publications

• Söyler, M., Torino Zavaleta, M., & Whelan, O. J. (2023). How to ‘decaffeinate’ a legislative report: emerging discourses on the climate change-migration nexus within the European Parliament. Critical Discourse Studies, 21(6), 721-739

Awards and Scholarships

• Awarded a Master's degree in Sociology as the top graduate, Faculty of Sociology, Bielefeld University, 2023
• Social scholarship, OWL Study Fund Foundation, 2020-21