Olga Zeveleva

Dr. Olga Zeveleva is an Assistant Professor in Conflict Studies within the Department of History and Art History at the University of Utrecht's Faculty of Humanities. Her research focuses on the intersection of sociology, human rights, and state violence, with particular expertise in prison systems and political conflict.

Dr. Zeveleva holds a PhD in Sociology from the University of Cambridge (UK) and a PhD in Social Science Research Methods from the Higher School of Economics (Russia). She also earned an MA in International Relations from the Free University Berlin (Germany). Prior to joining Utrecht University, she served as a Postdoctoral Researcher on the ERC project "Gulag Echoes in the Multicultural Prison" at the University of Helsinki.

Dr. Zeveleva's research interests span political sociology, human rights, violence, terrorism, and political violence. She employs qualitative research methods to examine how states exercise power through prison systems and how journalists navigate political constraints. Her work often focuses on post-Soviet contexts, particularly examining the dynamics of Crimea after 2014, prison systems in Eastern Europe, and the relationship between human rights organizations and social movements. She has conducted field research in Germany, Estonia, Ukraine, and Russia, bringing empirical depth to her theoretical frameworks.

Analysis of Dr. Zeveleva's recent publications reveals a consistent focus on power dynamics, state control, and resistance mechanisms. Her work bridges sociology, political science, and criminology, with particular attention to how theoretical frameworks like Bourdieu's field theory can be applied to contemporary political issues. Recent publications show increasing attention to the war in Ukraine and its connections to prison systems, reflecting her current KONE Foundation-funded project on the "military-prison nexus."

Dr. Zeveleva is currently leading the KONE Foundation-funded research project "Polycrisis of violence: Ecofeminist perspectives on the war in Ukraine and the military-prison nexus (PUMP)" from 2024 to 2030. Her work has received significant media attention, with op-eds published in The New York Times, Politico, and HuffPost, and coverage in major outlets including CNN, BBC, The Washington Post, The Guardian, and TIME.

Dr. Zeveleva has established herself as a significant voice in her fields, with publications appearing in top-tier academic journals including The British Journal of Sociology, Current Sociology, and Punishment and Society. Her scholarly output demonstrates remarkable breadth and depth, addressing topics from journalist self-censorship to prison architecture to migration narratives. She maintains an active presence in both academic and public spheres, contributing to scholarly discourse while ensuring her research has practical relevance for understanding contemporary political violence and human rights challenges.