People
Professor Jane Gray
Principal Investigator
Dr. Witold Mandrysz
Research partner representing the University of Silesia in Katowice
Since 2005 he is responsible from the site of the University of Silesia in Katowice for the international joint degree study programme SOWOSEC – Master in Social Work and Social Economy . He conducts ongoing didactic cooperation by delivering regular didactic classes on social work, social economy and community organising at several partner universities: FH-Campus Wien, Austria; University of Debrecen in Debrecen, Hungary; Ostravska Universita in Ostrava Czech Republic.
He is passionate about martial arts and has achieved the master level and 1st Dan in Aikido. He is also a keen motorcyclist.
Dr. Siresa L. Berengueres
Post-doctoral researcher
Siresa López Berengueres is a Senior Post-doctoral Researcher at the Sociology Department and the Social Sciences Institute, National University of Ireland Maynooth; and an Associated Researcher at the Centre for Research on Social Inequalities, Sciences Po Paris. A transdisciplinary scholar by training, Siresa received her Ph.D. in Sociology (Sciences Po Paris) and holds degrees in Economics (University of Barcelona) and Anthropology (Autonomous University of Barcelona). She has held research and teaching positions at Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa, Sciences Po Paris, the University of Leicester, the University of Liège, and the Barcelona Institute for International Studies. Her agenda focuses on the cultural dimension of globalisation and human mobility, contemporary class divisions, Marxian cultural theory, European integration and cultural citizenship.
Dr. Milena Komarova
Post-doctoral researcher
Her work spans the fields of conflict, urban and border studies, exploring the intersections between themes such everyday life, urban space, and conflict transformation in ethno-nationally divided cities. She has further studied the impact of the UK’s withdrawal from the EU on (re)bordering the island of Ireland, focusing on political and border residents’ contestation of such (re)bordering. This work integrates and reflects Milena’s expertise in qualitative and ethnographic methodology, including in the use of mobile and visual methods.
Milena has published on urban regeneration, the development of ‘shared space’, the management of contentious parades and protests, the role of visibility and movement in urban public space, and on the effects of Brexit on the Irish border region.
Dr. Maria P. Waclawik
Post-doctoral researcher
Saif Ali
Post Graduate Student
Saif Ali completed his master’s degree in Sociology from Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto University in 2021. His academic journey began with a critical examination of social inequality within Karachi’s urban sprawls, where the selective processes of urbanization systematically marginalized the rural working class under the guise of social progress and mobility. This initial research, grounded in oral history interviews with rurally migrated working-class communities, highlighted the deeply entrenched dynamics of exclusion and stratification. Building on this foundation, Saif’s work evolved to explore the intersection of history and sociology. His recent scholarship includes conducting oral histories with individuals who experienced the partition of India in 1947, the partition of Pakistan in 1971, and the era of nationalization. Through these studies, he has uncovered the enduring impacts of historical upheavals on contemporary social hierarchies and class stratification. Saif’s research is driven by a commitment to understanding the structural roots of cultural and material loss through a sociohistorical framework.