Research Team

Meet the team behind GEA-POL, a group of researchers combining expertise in political science, sociology, and computational methods to understand how gender equality and social attitudes shape political participation across Europe.
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Dr. Olga Lavrinenko

Principal Investigator | University of Warsaw

Dr. Olga Lavrinenko is an assistant professor at the University of Warsaw and Principal Investigator of the GEA-POL project. Her research explores gender gaps in political participation, gender equality policies, and social movements across national and global contexts. She focuses on methodological innovation in quantitative social science and comparative political analysis. She has led multiple NCN-funded projects on women’s political power and inequality.
Academic Positions
2021 – present: Assistant Professor, Faculty of Political Science and International Studies, University of Warsaw
2020–2021: Postdoctoral Scholar, Institute of Philosophy and Sociology, Polish Academy of Sciences
2013–2020: Ph.D. Candidate, Research Assistant, Institute of Philosophy and Sociology of the Polish Academy of Sciences
Poland’s National Science Center (NCN) Research Projects
2024–2027: “Gender Gaps in Political Participation: Gender Equality and Gender-Role Attitudes in Europe
1999–2021”: (PI, “Sonata” grant)
2021–2024: “Fragmentation of Women’s Organizations and Women’s Political Power Worldwide, 1999–2020” (PI, “Sonatina” grant)
2020–2021: “Political Voice and Economic Inequality across Nations and Time” (Postdoctoral Scholar, “Opus” grant)

Dr. Kateryna Gryniuk

Dr. Kateryna Gryniuk is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Warsaw working on gender gaps in political participation in Europe. She holds a PhD in Sociology from the Polish Academy of Sciences and has led research on labour markets, inequality, education, and migration. Her work combines academic research with international NGO projects and policy analysis in areas such as peacebuilding and post-war reconstruction. She also teaches inclusivity in peacebuilding.
Education
2013-2020: Ph.D. in Sociology, Institute of Philosophy and Sociology, Polish Academy of Sciences (IFiS PAN)
2014-2015:  M.A. in Society and Politics with distinction, Lancaster University (UK / Poland).
2010: DMP (mini-MBA), IEDC-Bled School of Management (Slovenia).
2008-2010: M.A. in International Economic Relations and Translation (French) with distinction. Kyiv National Taras Shevchenko University (Ukraine).
Research Projects
Principal Investigator for research grants:
“The Mechanism of Bridging the Skills Gap in Post-Communist Countries. Case study of Ukraine, Poland, and Estonia” (IFiS PAN, 2 grants: 2016 and 2018), “Human Capital Development in Post-Soviet Countries: Cooperation and Conflict between Government, Civil Society and Business in Ukraine and Estonia” (IFiS PAN, 2014-2015).
Researcher in the NCN-funded projects:
“Gender Gaps in Political Participation: Examining the Relationships Between Gender Equality and Gender-Role Attitudes in Europe, 1999 – 2021” (UW, NCN SONATA, 2025-2027).
“Political Voice and Economic Inequality across Nations and Time” (PAN, NCN OPUS, 2017-2022);
“Practices of handling money in close relationships in young family households” (PAN, NCN OPUS, 2014-2017);
“Who Wins and Who Loses in the Parliamentary Elections? From Formal Theory to Empirical Analysis" (PAN, NCN SONATA BIS, 2013-2016).

Isti Marta Sukma

Isti Marta Sukma is a PhD researcher at the University of Warsaw’s Faculty of Political Science and International Studies. Her work focuses on cybersecurity policy diffusion in the Indo-Pacific using computational social science methods. She contributes to the GEPOD project, developing datasets on gender-related policy regimes, including family law, quotas, and violence against women. She also teaches cybersecurity and global governance and publishes on technology governance and geopolitics.
Academic Positions
2024 - present: PhD Researcher & Teaching Assistant
University of Warsaw, Research on AI governance, cybersecurity, and geopolitics using NLP and network analysis. Teaching cybersecurity, emerging
technologies and geopolitics for ERASMUS+
2025 - present: Commissioning Editor
E-International Relations
Commission and edit publications on international relations and technology governance.
Selected Presentation
2025: Techno-Realism: How is Technology Redefining Politics?
TEDx University of Warsaw.
2024: Techno-Realism: Redefining Power and Hybrid Warfare
28th World Congress of Political Science (IPSA/KPSA), Seoul, South Korea.
2024: Public-Private Partnerships and Cybersecurity Governance
International Public Policy Association Conference (ICPP7), Chiang Mai, Thailand.
2024: Digital Democracy in Flux
World International Studies Committee (WISC 2024), Warsaw.