Dr Olga Oleinikova is a Senior Lecturer and Director of the SITADHub in the School of Communication at the University of Technology Sydney, Australia. She is named among Forbes Top 40 Global Ukrainians, Forbes 30 Under 30 in Asia and is a finalist for the Australia's Council of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences Future Leader Award. She is the author of" Achiever or Survivor? Life Strategies of Migrants from Crisis Regimes" (Palgrave, 2020) and editor of "Democracy, Diaspora, Territory: Europe and Cross-Border Politics" (Routledge, 2019). Dr Oleinikova also holds a Honorary Research title with the School of Political and Social Sciences, University of Sydney.

Dr Oleinikova holds PhD in Sociology (2016) from University of Sydney. She has held Research Fellowships at Oxford University's European Studies Centre (2018-19) and the WZB Berlin Social Science Research Centre (2015).

Olga is founder and project director of the "SITAD's Visiting Fellowship Program" - the first visiting fellowship program for Ukrainian ECRs and PhD/MA students in Australia. Olga is currently leading two research projects, working with the Sydney Democracy Network (Sydney, Australia), WZB Berlin Social Science Research Center (Berlin, Germany), The University of Oxford (Oxford, UK). The two main projects are: one on diaspora and democracy in Ukraine and one on outmigration from Ukraine to Asia-Pacific following the collapse of Soviet Union. Both projects are mixed-method studies examining the challenges, performance and prospects for democracy in Europe and Ukraine.

Olga has raised over $1.5M for various social and commercial projects. She holds positions in several non-profit organisations active in Australia, serves as advisor to the Australia-Ukraine Chamber of Commerce and mentor at 1991 Open Data Incubator. She is regularly called to offer expert opinion on the events unfolding in Ukraine and Europe, writing analytical pieces for The Conversation, ABC News, SBS World, SBS Australia, KyivPost, and TheGlobalist. Dr Oleinikova delivered 30+ international talks and keynote speeches, including at the University of Oxford, WZB Berlin Social Science Research Centre, Nanyang Technological University of Singapore, University of Sydney.