Vanessa Ugolini

Vanessa Ugolini joined LSTS in 2023 as post-doctoral fellow in the DATAUNION project. Her research sits at the intersection of critical security studies, Science and Technology Studies, critical data studies, surveillance and policing. She holds a PhD in International Studies (cum laude) from the University of Trento, a MA in Intelligence and International Security (with distinction) from King’s College London (KCL) and a BA in Politics and East European Studies from University College London (UCL). She has also been awarded the “Barrie Paskins Award” for best Master of Arts Dissertation of the War Studies Department in 2019. 

Her doctoral thesis, titled ‘“Un-making” data to “make” security: A discursive and visual inquiry into the production, circulation and use of data across the pan-European information infrastructure’, investigated the centrality of data practices in the making of security in the EU AFSJ. During her PhD, she has served as teaching assistant at the School of International Studies, as well as mentor to MA students. She is also co-author of two research articles, published in leading peer-reviewed journals, and since 2021 contributes her expertise on questions related to security governance and the implementation of digital technologies in security contexts to various annual international conferences.