Isha Bhallamudi
PhD Candidate in Sociology
Hi there!
My name is Isha and I am a Sociology PhD Candidate at UC Irvine. I study how AI-mediated platforms shape work, social life, and wellbeing, with particular attention to gender, accessibility, inequality, development, and culture in Majority World contexts. I am proficient in a range of qualitative and quantitive methods, with particular interest in community-based and participatory approaches. I have worked on a range of projects around these topics and others, with a variety of collaborators and teams across South Asia, UK, US and Sub-Saharan Africa. You can check out some of my projects here.
My dissertation project examines the implications of AI-mediated platform work in India through the lived experiences of women workers, with a focus on organizational cultures, intersectional inequalities, and strategies of resistance against algorithmic control. It is a mixed-methods study with over 175 gig workers, platform managers and union organizers in Mumbai. I am deeply invested in applying historical-comparative and interdisciplinary perspectives to platform research, in order to assess and mitigate the potential harms of AI technologies.
I am on the job market, interested in post-doc roles and suitable industry positions starting Summer 2024. Please get in touch if you have openings!
Download my CV.
Download my 1 pg resume.
- Technology
- AI-mediated work
- Gender
- Inequality
- Accessibility
- Development
- Culture
- Majority World contexts
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PhD in Sociology, Exp. 2024
University of California Irvine
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MA in Demographic and Social Analysis, 2021
University of California Irvine
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Integrated MA in Development Studies (minor in Economics), 2017
Indian Institute of Technology Madras
- Aug 2023: My co-authored paper, "Applying ‘merging of knowledge’ in Tanzania: What can we learn about interrupting patterned relationships to reveal hidden dimensions of poverty?", was published in Action Research.
- Apr 2023: I was awarded the Graduate Dean's Dissertation Fellowship at UCI.
- Mar 2023: I presented my paper 'Gig Workers and HCXAI in the Global South: An Evaluative Typology' at the HCXAI workshop at CHI ACM 2023.
- Mar 2023: My paper with Lakshita Malik, 'Influence as Method and Method as Influence: Collaborative Platform Work in Mumbai and Delhi' was accepted as a position paper & poster at the Social Media & Society in India conference at UMichigan.