Laura Van Rillaer

I am a researcher and teaching assistant at the Brussels Institute for Social and Population Studies (BRISPO) at Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB). Before ending up in sociology, I studied psychology and gender and diversity studies, so it is probably fair to say that I have always been drawn to more than one field.

During my studies, I spent a semester in Washington, D.C. in 2024–2025, where I worked as a social justice research intern. I graduated with a Master’s degree in Sociology from KU Leuven in 2025 and then had my first professional experience at a Public Centre for Social Welfare (OCMW). I really valued the opportunity to work closely with people from different backgrounds and to experience social issues beyond an academic setting. At the same time, it made me realise how much I missed research and the process of trying to understand the broader social questions behind what we encounter in everyday life. That eventually brought me back to academia and to VUB, where my academic journey first started.

In my research, I would like to explore how queer asylum seekers and refugees are represented in digital and AI-mediated spaces, and how emerging technologies may reproduce, amplify or transform existing narratives and inequalities.

Alongside my research, I teach statistics. I enjoy the challenge of making a subject that can seem intimidating at first feel more understandable and approachable.

At BRISPO, I am looking forward to exploring questions that genuinely interest me, developing as a researcher and, above all, learning from and working with the people around me.

Research keywords: queer migration, AI, epistemic justice, representation, inequality