Wagner Alves Da Silva

Wagner Guilherme Alves da Silva is an anthropologist whose research examines power imbalances, labour, platformisation, and health. He holds a PhD in Social Anthropology from the National Museum at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (2023) and is currently pursuing a second PhD in Geography at University College Dublin. His work focuses on the intersections between the digital economy, platform labour, and political radicalisation, with particular attention to how informal workers, such as domestic workers, are encouraged to reframe themselves as “digital entrepreneurs”. Through ethnographic research, Wagner explores how digital platforms reshape labour relations, subjectivities, and aspirations under conditions of precarity. 

Wagner has conducted fieldwork in Brazil and, more recently, in Metro Manila, the Philippines, investigating how platformisation mediates experiences of work, visibility, and political engagement.  He is also a member of DeepLab – the Digital Economy and Extreme Politics Laboratory, based at University College Dublin.