PhD Thesis
Title: The Making of Algorithmic Labour in the Platform Economy
PhD Supervisor: Filipe Calvão
Expected completion date: 2025
The rise of app-based labour platforms constitutes a paradigmatic shift in the contemporary modes of employment relationship. At the heart of this lies the algorithmic management of work—i.e. Algorithms having the ability to allocate, track, manage, and remunerate the platform workforce. These algorithmic systems are not simply technological artifacts but are also the product of sociocultural dynamics. The doctoral research is situated at the confluence of these socio-technological forces that inform the logic of these algorithmic systems. Through an ethnographic study in a platform company building mobility app in Bengaluru’s tech milieu in India, the research aims to explore how software developers, tech capitalists, and the state co-construct the development of an application, with a consequential impact on the livelihoods of app-based workers in the platform economy.
Profile
Kanikka is a PhD Fellow (2021-2025) in Anthropology and Sociology at the Geneva Graduate Institute. She holds MPhil (2018-2020) and MA (2016-2018) degree in Sociology from the Delhi School of Economics. She had also completed her BA (Hons) in Economics at the Delhi University. Her academic and professional research experience lies at the interface of labour and technology with current focus on platform tech companies in India. Previously, she worked on the issues around digitalisation of work and labor policies at the International Labour Organization Geneva, Oxford's Fairwork Project, and V.V. Giri National Labour Instititute of India. Currently, she is studying a Bangalore based mobility app built on an open network to understand the making of platform apps in India.
Academic Work experience
Research Experience
Research Assistant at IIIT Bangalore| Apr 2021-Sep 2021| Part of the Fairwork Project of the Oxford Internet Institute to rate global platforms for labour conditions at work
Research Associate at V.V. Giri National Labour Institute VVGNLI | Feb 2020-Oct 2020 | Research study on skills and changing world of work carried out under the aegis of BRICS Network of Labour Research Institutes
Junior Research Fellow at Delhi School of Economics | Oct 2018-Sep 2020 |Explore the impact of digitalisation and platformisation on the working conditions of the digital platform labour
Research Interests
- Platform and Gig Economy
- Digital Labour and Algorithmic Work
- Open Source and Technology Studies
Relevant Publications and Works
- Gupta and Sersia. 2024. Governance of Algorithmic Systems and Digital Platforms. T20 Policy Brief. G20 Brasil.
- Fairwork India Report. 2021. Fairwork Project for the Oxford Internet Institute.
- Sersia, K. and Singh, N.K. 2020. Labour Control, Informalisation and Policy Implications: The Case of Uber Drivers in the Platform Economy, Labour and Development, Vol. 27, No. 1.
- Sasikumar, S.K. and Sersia, K. 2020. Digital Platform Economy: Overview, Emerging Trends and Policy Perspectives, Productivity, Vol. 61, No. 3.
Fellowships, Grants and Awards
- 2024 M. Estellie Smith Award by the Society of Economic Anthropology USA
- 2023 Sylff Fellowship by the Tokyo Foundation for Policy Research Japan
- 2021 Feris Fellowship by FERIS Foundation Switzerland
- 2018 Junior Research Fellowship by the University Grants Commision India
- 2014 CRISIL Young Thought Leader Award Runner-up India
- 2011 Dr. B.R. Ambedkar National Merit Award by MoSJE Government of India
ACADEMIC EXPERIENCES
- Apr 2021-Sep 2021 | Research Assistant, International Institute of Information Technology Bangalore
- Feb 2020-Oct 2020 | Research Associate, V.V. Giri National Labour Institute
- Oct 2018-Sep 2020 | Junior Research Fellow, Delhi School of Economics
OTHER WORK EXPERIENCES
- July 2023-Mar 2024 | Researcher, Namma Yatri
- Sep 2022-Mar 2023 | Intern, EMPLAB/Employment, International Labour Organisation Geneva