Research.

My research is motivated by a real-world problem: how can we improve digital labor market access for marginalized communities, such as refugees?

Research Streams

  • How do organizations facilitate refugees’ access to work in the digital economy?

    “Refugee Narrative Capital: How Organizations Reframe Refugee Status in Digital Labor Markets”

    Drawing on 9 months of fieldwork in the UK and Ethiopia, I examine how a digital labor market intermediary cultivates “refugee narrative capital” to counter the stigmatization of marginalized workers in digital labor markets.

    “Breaking Free from the Refugee Cocoon: How Digital Labor Expands the Opportunity Structure of Forced Displacement”

    In an ongoing project spanning 15 months of fieldwork in the UK and Kenya, I evaluate how digital labor shapes refugees’ work experiences and trajectories in structural, social, spatial, and symbolic ways—expanding the opportunity structure of forced displacement.

  • What are alternative models of platform work?

    “Ecosystems of Fragility: Feasibility of Platform Worker Cooperatives in Fragile Contexts”

    In a theory paper, I assess the feasibility of platform cooperatives—or worker-owned platforms—for workers in fragile contexts, where institutional conditions constrain individuals’ ability to economically organize.

    “Designing for the Periphery: Platform Governance of Refugee Labor”

    In an ongoing ethnographic project, I theorize alternative models of platform work, examining the case of a marketplace platform in the “impact sourcing” sector that links refugees to digital freelancing projects.

  • How is AI is shaping dynamics in labor markets?

    “An Occupational Framework for Assessing the Impact of Modern Artificial Intelligence Technologies on Work” (with Hatim Rahman and Ece Kaynak)

    In a theory paper, my co-authors and I propose an occupational framework to assess the impact of AI on work, calling attention to the ways in which occupational members wield individual- and field-level power to respond to technological change.

    “AI as Equalizer?: Refugees’ Perceptions and Uses of AI”

    In an interview study, I examine refugees’ perceptions and uses of AI, extending theories about AI’s impact on work to the Global South.

Publications

Lee, Michelle. “Disruption and Digital Revolution for Whom? Considerations on the Use of Blockchain and Distributed Ledger Technology in Displacement Contexts.” UNHCR Innovation Service, Apr. 2020.