Benedetta Lana is a social and political scientist specializing in human rights and migration, with a focus on the European framework. In recent years, her research has increasingly concentrated on health-related vulnerabilities in crisis contexts, and on the dynamics of fragilization affecting at-risk communities. Her work emphasizes the integration of social sciences in preparing for and responding to public health emergencies, ensuring that responses are adapted to and co-designed with local communities. Benedetta has contributed to various projects, including those related to vaccine uptake and hesitancy, community engagement in humanitarian action, and the assessment of vulnerability and resilience during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Since joining the Institut Pasteur as a Research Engineer in September 2020, Benedetta has been part of the Ecology and Anthropology of Emerging Diseases Unit. She is currently working on a research project investigating the long-term health vulnerabilities of South Asian migrants who traveled to Europe via the Balkan Route. The study, based in Trieste — one of the final points of the Balkan Route — seeks to trace the locations and dynamics where health deterioration occurs for this community by examining the health impact of the route’s hostile and extreme environments. Over the past two years, Benedetta has also served as a Teaching Assistant at Sciences Po, contributing to BA and MA courses on the History of Epidemics and Planetary Health.
Benedetta holds an MA in Human Rights and Humanitarian Action with minors in Migration and African Studies from Sciences Po Paris, completed in July 2020. She previously earned a BA in European Studies and French from King’s College London in 2018. During her studies, she developed a particular interest in displacement in urban settings and access to services in informal settlements, which led to her work as an intern for the City of Turin on Project MOI — a multi-stakeholder urban resettlement project for migrants. Additionally, she has volunteered for several years with associations offering legal support to asylum seekers in urban camps in both Turin and Paris. At the end of her studies, she completed a traineeship with the Odysseus Academic Network, where she contributed to research on the upcoming reforms of the EU asylum and migration legal framework.
