Researcher · Amerpass Research Lab
Khrystyna Nedeva
Independent researcher · Author
Independent researcher of women's labor, migration and professional recognition. Author of four research articles and The Invisible Economy.
Biography and professional background
Khrystyna Nedeva is an independent researcher and author working at the intersection of migration studies, the sociology of work and research-based journalism. She examines how women preserve professional skills and establish sustainable livelihoods after migration, and why their contributions often remain difficult for media, employers and public institutions to recognize.
Her research line brings together four articles on women’s informal labor, self-employment, professional identity and the public contribution of migrant women. A recurring question connects these works: how can work that sustains everyday life become visible within established descriptions of employment and professional recognition?
The article on informal labor in Eastern Europe identifies her as an independent correspondent. A journalistic perspective informs her attention to public narratives about work, newsroom decisions and everyday professional practices. Her research connects this perspective with migration, gender inequality and institutional recognition.
In 2026, Amerpass Foundation published her book The Invisible Economy: How Work Exists Before Recognition and Shapes Everyday Life, edited by Oleh Tytarenko. It develops her analysis of work that begins before formal recognition and acquires continuity through repeated services, recommendations, trust and the organization of time.
Within Amerpass Research Lab, Nedeva contributes a research focus on women’s labor and professional continuity in migration. This work connects everyday economic practices with the Lab’s broader questions concerning trust, professional identity and recognition of competence.
Research interests and approach
Women’s work and public visibility
Small and informal professional practices are often described as domestic assistance, accounts of hardship or exceptional personal success. Nedeva examines what these descriptions leave out: skills, time, service organization, responsibility to clients and economic contribution. Her work pays particular attention to care, domestic and personal services, education and other fields in which professional activity is closely embedded in everyday life.
Migration, self-employment and resilience
Migration changes access to familiar markets, institutions and professional relationships. Her research considers self-employment, referrals and local trust networks as ways of sustaining economic activity during adaptation. It also addresses the constraints of care responsibilities, limited resources and difficulties in securing formal recognition of skills.
Professional identity and recognition
Her work follows the connection between previous experience and new forms of employment. The articles discuss portfolios, documentation of professional practice, transparent service standards and reputation. These are considered ways of making experience intelligible to clients, colleagues and institutions when people change occupations or combine several roles.
Methods and sources
The articles use qualitative analysis of media narratives, comparative examination of professional trajectories and interdisciplinary interpretation of labor, migration and gender scholarship. The integration studies identify their examples as anonymized analytical composites. These examples illustrate mechanisms rather than provide population-level estimates. The book combines observation, analysis of everyday practices and writing for a broader readership.
Publications and book
Khrystyna Nedeva is the sole author of the four articles below. Dates follow the catalogue entries of the International Journal of Interdisciplinary Research, whose pages also record updates in February 2026. Catalogue dates and digital page updates are stated separately. The Zenodo DOIs follow the author’s publication register.
Women's Informal Labor and Media Invisibility in Eastern Europe
Examines how editorial categories, sourcing practices and familiar story frames obscure women’s work in care, domestic and personal services. It proposes greater attention to skills, work organization and economic contribution.
Displacement, Self-Employment, and Survival Economies among Women Migrants
Studies self-employment as a form of economic adaptation among displaced women. It focuses on informal and partly formalized services, trust networks and the stabilizing role of small professional practices in receiving communities.
From Survival to Integration: Women's Professional Identity and Economic Reinvention in Migration Contexts
Examines continuity of professional identity when migration changes the form of work. It discusses combined occupational roles, skill translation and gradual professional development through portfolios, documented experience and reputation.
From Integration to Institutional Contribution: Migrant Women, Professional Legibility, and National Interest in the United States
Considers how migrant women’s experience and work become intelligible to institutions and professional communities in the United States. It connects economic participation with public contribution in education, care, information services and local community life.
The Invisible Economy: How Work Exists Before Recognition and Shapes Everyday Life
The book examines distributed work that sustains everyday economic life before it receives a stable institutional description. It considers how individual services develop into recurring relationships, reputation and an organized working routine. The publication addresses readers interested in migration, livelihoods, professional recognition and the economy of everyday life.
Scholarly reviewing
IJIR’s editorial pages name Nedeva among the reviewers of the following works. These are contributions to the evaluation of other authors’ research and are distinct from her own authored publications.
- Oleh Tytarenko. Fascist Ideology and Propaganda Mechanisms in Contemporary Russia: Information Influence and the Formation of Collaborationist Structures in Ukraine. Catalogue date: August 5, 2024; page updated March 6, 2026. Nedeva is credited alongside Oleksandr Hryhoriev.
- Igor Leonov. Amerpass as a Non-State System of Transnational Professional Identification: Conceptual, Institutional and Ethical-Legal Foundations. Catalogue date: January 19, 2026; page updated February 11, 2026. Nedeva is named among four reviewers.
Research projects
Women’s labor: from media invisibility to professional recognition
The four-article series considers different levels of one problem: representation of women’s work, economic adaptation after displacement, continuity of professional identity and recognition of public contribution. Together, the works approach integration through professional practice and the ways in which experience is presented.
The Invisible Economy
The book project extends this research line to the everyday organization of labor. It focuses on relationships between service providers and clients, repeated tasks, trust, flexible scheduling and the interaction between small services and the formal economy. The publication forms part of Amerpass Foundation’s research initiative on emerging labor systems and professional identity.
Contribution to Amerpass Research Lab
Her works provide a thematic foundation for knowledge exchange concerning women’s employment, migration and recognition of experience. These themes intersect with other Lab participants’ research on institutional trust, professional identity and public communication.
Academic and professional CV
| Area | Information |
|---|---|
| Publication name | Khrystyna Nedeva; Кристина Недева |
| Professional role | Independent researcher and author; research-based journalism |
| Research fields | Migration, women’s labor, self-employment, professional identity and institutional recognition |
| Authored research | Four research articles catalogued by IJIR under dates in 2021–2024, with digital page updates in 2026 |
| Book | The Invisible Economy: How Work Exists Before Recognition and Shapes Everyday Life, Amerpass Foundation, 2026; ISBN 979-8-9957551-1-1 |
| Academic contribution | Named in editorial reviewer lists for research on propaganda and non-state professional identification |
| Languages | English, Russian, Ukrainian and Turkish |
Research record
- 2021, IJIR catalogue date: article on women’s informal labor and media invisibility in Eastern Europe.
- 2022, IJIR catalogue date: article on displacement, self-employment and survival economies among migrant women.
- 2023, IJIR catalogue date: article on professional identity and economic reinvention in migration.
- 2024, IJIR catalogue date: article on institutional recognition and migrant women’s public contribution in the United States.
- 2026: publication of The Invisible Economy and digital updates to journal pages for the research series.