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

Employment History

• Since 06/2024: Doctoral researcher in the project Social Security in Crisis Mode (SoSiKri) led by Dr. John Berten, funded by the Support 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
• 06/2022-08/2023: Managing Editor of Global Social Policy, Sage Publishing, led by Prof. Dr Alexandra Kaasch (German and Transnational Social Policy), Faculty of Sociology, Bielefeld University
• 01-06/2022: Research assistant / Webmaster at the Centre for Interdisciplinary Research (ZiF), Bielefeld University
• 06/2021-01/2022: Research assistant at the Collaborative Research Centre (SFB) 1228 Practices of Comparison and the Bielefeld University Press, Bielefeld University
• 05-10/2021: Researcher in the project Recovery Acres to develop a concept for the integration of people with a history of substance abuse and the local community through agricultural practices. Carried out for the non-profit organisation Lady Flower Gardens, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
• 2021-22: Research assistant at the Coordination Office of the Research Training Group 2225 World Politics, Faculty of Sociology, Bielefeld University

Education

• M.A. Sociology, Bielefeld University, 10/2020-03/2023
• B.Soc.Sc. Sociology and Social Policy (Double major degree), Maynooth University, Ireland, 09/2017-09/2020

Publications

• Berten, J., Bao, F., Cutler, S., Drubel, J., Heimo, L., Knebusch, V., Panaro, A.V., Ramírez, C., Samonova, E., Schulze Waltrup, R., Selivanov, M., Silva, V., Speroni, T., Weickardt Soares, W., & Whelan, O.J. (2026). Global Social Policy Digest 26.1: Navigating uncertain and unpredictable terrain. Global Social Policy, 26(1). https://doi.org/10.1177/14680181251408612
• 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. https://doi.org/10.1080/17405904.2023.2258424

Awards and Scholarships

• Awarded with an honorary certificate for the best degree of the year in MA Sociology, Faculty of Sociology, Bielefeld University, 2023
• Scholarship, OWL Study Fund Foundation, 04/2021-03/2022