Benedetta Lana is a social and political scientist specializing in human rights and migration in the European region. In recent years, her research has focused on health-related vulnerabilities in crisis contexts and the dynamics of fragilization affecting at-risk communities. Her work emphasizes the integration of social sciences and participatory methods 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 related to infectious disease emergence, vaccine uptake and hesitancy during the Covid-19 pandemic, community engagement in humanitarian action, vulnerability and resilience during epidemics and climate-induced disasters.
Benedetta is a member of the Ecology and Anthropology of Emerging Diseases Unit since 2020. She is currently working on a research project investigating the long-term health vulnerabilities of South Asian migrants arriving 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. Towards the end of her studies, she completed a traineeship with the Odysseus Academic Network, where she contributed to research on expulsions of severely ill migrants in the European region and on the upcoming reforms of the EU asylum and migration legal framework.
