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 07/2026: Deputy doctoral representative of the BGHS
• 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) / Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs (BMAS), 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 Publications, led by Prof Dr Alexandra Kaasch, 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
• 01/2021-06/2022: Research assistant at the Coordination Office of the Research Training Group 2225 World Politics, Faculty of Sociology, Bielefeld University

Education

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

Publications

• Berten, J., Bao, F., Cutler, S., Drubel, J., Heimo, L., Kasza, G., Knebusch, V., Panaro, A.V., Ramírez, C., Samonova, E., Schulze Waltrup, R., Selivanov, M., Speroni, T., Weickardt Soares, W., & Whelan, O.J. (2026). Global Social Policy Digest 26.2: From unintended exclusion to the weaponization of social issues for retrenchment or division. Global Social Policy, 26(2), 396–430. https://doi.org/10.1177/14680181261440752
• Whelan O.J. (2026). Towards resilient social security? Governing the unpredictable in global eco-social policy. Global Social Policy, 26(1), 113–117. https://doi.org/10.1177/14680181261427255
• 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), 127–160. 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 M.A. Sociology, Faculty of Sociology, Bielefeld University, 01/12/2023
• Scholarship, OWL Study Fund Foundation, 04/2021-03/2022