Olga Boichak

Dr. Olga Boichak is a Senior Lecturer in Digital Cultures and Director of the Computational Social Science Lab at the University of Sydney's Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. She holds a PhD from Syracuse University (USA) and an MPA. Her research focuses on the role of digital technologies in shaping public perception and outcomes of wars, particularly in Ukraine and other post-colonial contexts. Boichak is an Australian Research Council DECRA Fellow exploring colonial topographies of digital sovereignty and leads projects on geopolitical digital media dynamics.

Education:

• PhD in Interdisciplinary Social Science, Syracuse University
• MPA, Syracuse University

Research Interests:

• Mediatized warfare and participatory war dynamics
• Information warfare and digital sovereignty
• Online activism and diasporic humanitarianism
• Algorithmic agency and meme culture
• Cybersecurity and geopolitical tech landscapes

Awards & Grants:

• 2024 Max Crawford Medal (Australia's top humanities honor)
• ARC DECRA Fellowship ($380k) for digital sovereignty research
• SOAR Prize for interdisciplinary info warfare research

Her work bridges humanities and tech through projects like the Computational Social Science Lab, and she advises Australian government agencies on digital security risks. Boichak is also Director of the Ukrainian Studies Foundation in Australia and faces Kremlin sanctions for her advocacy.

Labs & Teams: Leads the Computational Social Science Lab and collaborates with institutions like King's College London and the University of Glasgow.