Polina is a postdoctoral researcher in social sciences and maritime studies in Solent's Research, Innovation and Enterprise department.
She completed a PhD project (2018) entitled: ‘Careers and Labour Market Flexibility in Global Industries: The case of seafarers’, which focuses on the flexibilisation of labour among seafarers. Part of the SIRC-Nippon fellowship (2012-2016), Polina was generously funded by the Nippon Foundation throughout her studies in Cardiff.
Polina also holds an MA in Anthropology (2012) from the University of Haifa, obtained by completing a written dissertation entitled: 'From sea to shore: An ethnographic account of seafaring experience'. Additionally, she completed a BA in Sociology, Anthropology and Human Resources (2009) at the University of Haifa and a PGDip in SSRM (Social Sciences Research Methods 2013) from Cardiff University.
She developed a genuine interest in seafarers after finishing her BA, which almost led to her joining the maritime industry as a merchant navy officer. However, her eagerness to pursue an academic education as well as contribute to seafarers’ welfare resulted in Polina embarking on the study of seafarers as her main research subject. Polina has over three years’ experience as a research and teaching assistant at the University of Haifa. She taught undergraduate and postgraduate students in several courses, including Introduction to Anthropology (2010, 2011) and Qualitative methods (2011, 2012).
Polina speaks Russian, Hebrew and English and has basic knowledge of Spanish and Arabic.
Research interests
Polina's research interests include:
- The shift from bureaucratic to flexible employment in the global labour market, focusing on recruitment, training, and retention of employees.
- Skills transferability - intra-occupational, cross-sector and intra-sector transferability of skills.
- Various aspects of employment in the global shipping industry, especially concerning the global labour force of seafarers, for example precarious employment among seafarers and multinational work environments.
- Qualitative research methods, including ethnography, participant/non-participant observation and semi-structured interviews (individual and group interviews).
- Qualitative data analysis, including the use of CAQDAS (Computer-Assisted Qualitative Data Analysis Software), eg, Nvivo, atlas.ti.
- Food on board ships (excluding cruise ships).
- The impact of globalisation on precarious employment.
View Polina's LinkedIn profile