Curriculum Vitae
Academic Education
04/2013 PhD in Social Anthropology. University College London, UK
Reluctant intimacies. Japanese eldercare in Indonesian hands. Ethnographic research among Indonesian migrant care workers exploring the tensions in Japan between national ideologies of cultural homogeneity and the increasing need for migrant labour.
11/2007 MSc in Social Anthropology. University College London, UK
European citizenship and Polish experiences in London. Ethnographic research into the ideas of belonging among Polish migrants in London after the 2004 EU Enlargement.
07/2003 MA in Japanese Studies. Jagiellonian University, Kraków, Poland
Angry Japanese. Linguistic expressions of negative emotions among Japanese youth. A multimethod survey of Japanese youth's linguistic expressions of anger.
Professional qualifications
07/2014 Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. UK
04/2006 Diploma in Journalism. Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań, Poland
Professional experience
Research positions
01/2018 – date Research Fellow
Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology, Germany
ERC research group Realising Eurasia: Civilisation and Moral Economy in the 21st Century (REALEURASIA)
01/2015 – 12/2017 Research Fellow
Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology, Germany
Research group Buddhist temple economies in urban Asia
03/2013 - 12/2015 Research Co-coordinator, Honorary Research Associate
Department of Anthropology, University College London, UK
Ethical adventures in a neoliberal world. Extreme sports in education and the shifting moral landscape of Western society. Collaborative research project on ethics and education in adventure sports in the UK.
05/2013 - 05/2014 Research
Collaborator, Kyoto University of Foreign Studies, Japan
Anthropological training and the professional world. A research project funded by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science exploring the use of anthropological knowledge in commercial services and product design.
06/2011 - 12/2012 Volunteer Social Research Project Coordinator
Westminster Befriend a Family, London, UK
A multi-method research project coordinated on behalf of a charity working with disadvantaged families aimed at assessing the impact of the charity's services on the families' wellbeing.
09/2010 - 07/2011 Researcher
Queen Mary University, School of Geography, London, UK
The costs and benefits of the London Living Wage research commissioned by Trust for London to measure the costs and benefits of the London Living Wage through workplace case studies, a large survey of workers and modelling of the income, tax and benefit systems.
03/2005 - 11/2005 Research Fellow
The Ethnicity and Social Policy Research Unit, University of Bradford, UK
Multi-method research into the notions of diasporic community among Japanese living in London.
Teaching and learning support
04/2017 – 07/2017 Lecturer, Department of Anthropology
Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Germany.
09/2013 - 12/2013 Postgraduate Teaching Assistant
Department of Anthropology, University College London, UK
First year undergraduate course: Introduction to Social Anthropology.
04/2013 - 11/2013 Learning Support Provider
Self-employed / Student Finance UK
Advising and support for graduate students with dyslexia.
01/2013 - 04/2013 Postgraduate Teaching Assistant
Department of Anthropology, University College London, UK
Second and third year undergraduate course: Social Construction of Landscape.
09/2010 - 01/2011 Volunteer Teaching Assistant (P/T)
Hackney Community College, London, UK
Support during English language classes for refugee and migrant students.
Administrative roles
01/2013 - 06/2013 Undergraduate Admissions Coordinator
Department of Anthropology, University College London, UK
09/2003 - 11/2004 Administrator/Interpreter
Polish-Japanese Toyota Motor Industries Poland, Jelcz-Laskowice, Poland
Workshop and panel organization / attended
01/2018 “Representation in Motion: Taking Footage of, for and with Buddhist Temples in Tokyo”. Joint workshop between Burg Giebichenstein University of Art and Design and Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology: Images from the Field: Anthropological Perspectives. Halle, Germany, 8 January
11/2017 - 12/2017 “Buddhist business plan. Chance encounters and economic sustainability of Japanese Buddhist temples”. 116th American Anthropological Association Annual Meeting: Anthropology Matters! Washington DC, USA, 29 November-3 December
09/2017 “Religious ritual and what the taxman has to do with it. Definitional tug-of-war between Buddhist temples, commercial companies and the state in Japan”. Workshop on Sangha Economies: Temple Organisation and Exchanges in Contemporary Buddhism. Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology, Halle, Germany, 21-22 September
08/2017 - 09/2017 “Sensory Ethnographies in Spaces of Co-Production: The Quest for Alternative Immersive Experiences”. Discussant. 15th International Conference of the European Association for Japanese Studies. Lisbon, Portugal, 30 August - 2 September
03/2017 “Reclaiming subjectivity. Marginalisation and cultural stereotypes in relationships between Japanese elderly and Indonesian care workers”. Seminar talk. Europe Japan Research Centre Seminar Series, Oxford Brooks University, UK, 15 March
10/2016 “Buddhist encounters with modernity in Tokyo”. Seminar talk. Graduate School of Asia Pacific Studies Seminar Series, Waseda University, Japan, 3 October
06/2015 On simultaneity: The utopia of play and paradox in the making of mundane sociality. Panel co-convened (with M. Shapiro) for the 12th Congress of International Society for Ethnology and Folklore (SIEF2015). Zagreb, Croatia, 21-25 June
11/2014 Ordinary extraordinary. Anthropology of risk, limits and exposure. A co-convened (with A. Abramson and H. Swee) two-day international interdisciplinary workshop aimed at anthropological exploration of risk and limits of human control. Department of Anthropology, University College London, UK, 6-7 November
11/2013 Friendship in care? Migrant eldercare workers' relationships with their non-migrant colleagues. Paper presented at the 112th American Anthropological Association General Meeting: Future Publics, Current Engagements. Chicago, IL, USA, 20-24 November
10/2013 Ascription of personhood. Care work and migration in Japan. Paper presented at the 10th Annual Conference of the Romanian Society for Social and Cultural Anthropology: Cultures of Mobility and Immobility. Sibiu, Romania, 17-19 October
09/2013 Working intimacies. Indonesian care worker experiences in Japan. Paper presented at the 1st European Association for Japanese Studies Japan Conference. Kyoto, Japan, 28-29 September
06/2012 Can anthropology work for migrants? Anthropology(ists) at work in charities and NGOs. Panel convened for The Royal Anthropological Institute Anthropology in the World Conference. London, UK, 8-10 June
05/2012 - 06/2012 Hospitality and amae. Paper presented at the 8th European Association for Japanese Studies PhD Workshop. Newcastle, UK, 30 May-02 June
09/2011 Comparative socialities of migrants and people with disabilities. Paper presented at the Association of Social Anthropologists of the UK and Commonwealth Conference: Vital Human Interactions with Living Things. Lampeter, UK, 13-16 September