Dr Vassilissa Carangio holds a Ph.D. in Business, specialising in Management and Organisation Studies, from Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, Australia. She has taught management, organisational studies, and interdisciplinary business humanities across Australian, US-accredited, and international institutions in Australia and Rome. Before entering academia, she worked in international professional roles across Europe and Australia in international trade, executive conferences, research and NGO development, and tourism. During her PhD, she was a Visiting Research Fellow at the University of Warwick (UK) and a Black Europe Summer School alumna at the International Institute for Research and Education (Amsterdam). Her doctoral research was supported by the Swinburne Chancellor’s Research Scholarship (Premier Research Award).
Carangio's research examines inequality in organisations through intersectional and anti-colonial approaches, with a focus on labour market stratification, organisational power relations, and processes of exclusion and privilege, particularly in the Asia Pacific region. Her work has been published in international journals, including Ethnic and Racial Studies and Gender, Work and Organization, and has been cited in policy discussions and institutional reports, including a UN Women policy brief and outputs by the Australian Human Rights Commission and UNOOSA.
Carangio also holds an MA in Mass Communication from Sapienza University of Rome, where her thesis examined the political economy of colonial debt in Africa. She has contributed to doctoral education through PhD examination, doctoral committee membership, and mentoring roles. She is also co-editor of Unblock Magazine, a multidisciplinary magazine focused on academia. Its first two issues were supported by the Cardiff University / Wellcome Trust-funded Cynnau/Ignite Programme, and its first issue was runner-up for the inaugural Hywel Thomas Prize by the Learned Society of Wales.
Her teaching and research are informed by a commitment to understanding and addressing inequalities in organisations and higher education, with particular attention to supporting first-generation, working-class, and historically underrepresented students. Her teaching includes management, organisational studies, diversity and inclusion, leadership, sustainability, media and communication, and interdisciplinary approaches to race, migration, and organisations.