Dr Olimpia Burchiellaro


Olimpia is a Leverhulme Early Career Fellow in the Department of Politics and International Relations, School of Social Sciences, at the University of Westminster. Her primary research interests are in gender/sexuality, anthropology, politics, ethnography and queer theory. She is currently working on a project exploring the complicities and resistances between global corporations and local activists in Kenya, Argentina and Brazil. A member of the Gender and Sexuality Study Group at the Centre for the Study of Democracy and the Decolonizing Steering Group, her work is published in journals including Gender, Work & Organization and Organization Studies. 


Selected publications

'Out of Time: The Queer Politics of Postcoloniality by Rahul Rao' (Book Review). (2020). Gender, Work & Organization. DOI: 10.1111/gwao.12544.

''There’s nowhere wonky left to go': Gentrification, queerness and class politics of inclusion in (East) London'. (2020). Gender, Work & Organization, pp. 1-15. DOI: 10.1111/gwao.12495.

'Queering control and inclusion in the contemporary LGBT-friendly organization: on LGBT-friendly control and the (failed) reproduction of (queer) value'. (2020) Organization Studies, pp. 1-25. DOI: 10.1177/0170840620944557.

'Powerful writing'. (2018). Co-authored with: Amrouche, Charlotte, Breckenridge, Jhilmil, Breiding Hansen, Malte, Pedersen, Christina Hee, Plotnikof, Mie and Pullen, Alison. Ephemera: Theory & Politics in Organizations. 18(4): pp. 881-900.

Selected invited talks

Workshop on ‘Academic activism: irresolvable tensions or fruitful possibilities?’, ‘The Body of Work’ event series, the Wellcome Trust.

Book launch of ‘United Queerdom: From the Legends of the Gay Liberation Front to the Queers of Tomorrow’ by Dan Glass, Zed Books.

Seminar on ‘Queering LGBT-friendliness: three problems and possibilities in multi-sited ethnography’, Centre for Research in Equality & Diversity, Queen Mary University, London. 

Roundtable on ‘Privatization & Queer Spaces’, Queer Identities and Philosophy Conference, Kings College London.

Roundtable on ‘Queer Spaces’, with Prof Amin Ghaziani, Prof Phil Hubbard & Lo Marshall, University of Westminster.

Conference organization

'Gender, Work & Organization 2021 Conference' (Co-Organizer), University of Kent, 30th June - 2nd July 2021. 

‘Gender, Work & Organization virtual Seminar on COVID-19’ with Prof Karen Lee Ashacraft, Prof David Knights, Prof Stella Nkomo and Prof Nick Rumens, 23rd June 2020. 

‘Mythbusting Intersectionality- in Conversation with Kimberlé Crenshaw’, in collaboration with the African American Policy Forum, the Center for Intersectionality & Social Policy Studies (Columbia Law School) and the Centre for Research on Race & Law (Birkbeck University), 28th May, 2019.

‘Queering the future of organization studies’ (Stream convener), 11th International Critical Management Studies Conference, The Open University, 27th – 29th June, 2019. 

‘Sarah Schulman- A Witness to her Times’, in collaboration with ACT-UP, SOAS, Rich Mix and the London Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA), 1st – 4th May, 2019.

‘Living on the Margins’, University of Westminster, 11th  – 12th April, 2019.

‘Queer Activism Today’, University of Westminster, 3rd March, 2018.


  • Centre for the Study of Democracy