C. (Claudia) Minchilli, Dr

Claudia Minchilli is an Assistant Professor at the Centre for Media and Journalism Studies (CMJS) and part of the Sector Plan research team DIGINEQ (Communication, information and social inequalities in a digital world).

Her expertise lies at the intersection of digital media, gender and migration/diaspora studies, which she approaches through a postcolonial and feminist lens.

Previously, she was part of the ERC Consolidator project ConnectingEurope (2016-2021) at Utrecht University. Her PhD thesis "Localizing Digital Diaspora: Diasporic Digital Networking among Somali, Romanian and Turkish women in Rome through the lens of Social Class" explores the impact of migrant and refugee women's digital practices on social class dynamics and experiences of social mobility. Her thesis received the 2022 Ted Meijer Prize from KNIR (the Royal Netherlands Institute in Rome) for the best dissertation in the humanities.

Her current research untangles the relationship between illiteracy and digital literacy among migrant and refugee women, focusing on the strategic use of audiovisual affordances to experience local (dis)connection, belonging, and social inclusion/exclusion.