I am a doctoral researcher in the working group Globalisation, Transformation & Gender at Free University Berlin.

I studied International Relations in the United Kingdom, Japan, and China, focusing on issues of international trade policy & development, global inequalities, and migration. I was a full-scholarship recipient of the University of Oxford, where I graduated with an M.Sc. in Refugee and Forced Migration Studies.

Previously, I have worked on several applied research projects and served as an academic editor of the Oxford Monitor of Forced Migration Review. Outside of academia, I have worked primarily for NGOs and foundations in Germany as well as in Nepal, Jordan, Lebanon, and India.

• Racism, Migration & the City (research project seminar), summer term 2022
• Going Local: Negotiating Urban Contestations in Berlin (UG spring school), summer term 2022
• Introduction to Migration and Border Studies (UG seminar), autumn terms 2020, 2021
• Geographies of Difference (UG seminar), summer terms 2020, 2023
• Geographies of Globalisation (UG seminar), autumn terms 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022

Currently, I am exploring the digitisation of household-related services such as cleaning, cooking, grocery shopping or companionship for the elderly. I am specifically interested in the experience of migrant workers and their perception of digital labour platforms. My doctoral project explores the new opportunities and challenges that arise within the digitisation of care work carried out by migrant workers.

INVITED TALKS

• Orth, B. The Importance of Gender and Migration in Platform Regulation. Keynote at  “Trade Union Platfor(u)m” conference, September 2023

• Orth, B. Visa Categories in Platform Labour: The Working Holiday Visas Fuelling Berlin’s Gig Economy, Colloquium, BIM (Berliner Zentrum für Empirische Integrations- und Migrationsforschung), Humboldt University Berlin, July 2023

• Orth, B. Platforms as Infrastructures of Migration?, Workshop Infrastructures of Migration and The Architectures of Fulfilment, University of Uppsala, May 2023

• Orth, B. Engaging Feminist Geographies in Platform Research, Gender Lunch Talk Series hosted by Margerita-von-Brentano Zentrum, Freie Universität Berlin, November 2021

PANELS ORGANIZED & CONFERENCES CHAIRED

• Migration & the Gig Economy I: Labour Organising &
  Migration & the Gig Economy II: Visa and Residence Status, IMISCOE Annual Conference, July 2023
• (In)Visibility, Identity & Value in Platform Work &
  Trajectories of Care Platforms, Global Perspectives on Platforms, Labor & Social Reproduction Conference, University of Amsterdam, June 2023
• Economic Geographies of the Platform Economy, Symposium at Berlin Social Science Centre (WZB), March 2023
• Uber, Taxis and Urban Mobility Infrastructures: Exploring Pathways towards Platform Futures, Workshop at Einstein Centre for Digital Cultures Berlin, February 2023
• Understanding Care Platforms, Workshop at Free University Berlin, February 2023
• Labour Geographies Annual Standing Committee Conference, Berlin, February 2023
• Feminist Geographies Conference, Berlin, April 2022
• Crises as Vantage Points for Geographical Migration Research, Annual Meeting Standing Committee on Geographical Migration Research, Free University Berlin, November 2021
• (Un-)Doing Borders, 17^th Annual Conference of the Network for Critical Migration and Border Regime Studies (Kritnet), Humboldt University Berlin, November 2018

CONFERENCE PAPERS

• Orth, B. Becoming A Platform Worker: A Biographical Exploration Of Visa Categories And Working Subjectivities In Berlin’s Gig Economy, 20th IMISCOE Annual Conference, July 2023

• Orth, B. Platform Urbanism: Thinking Reproductive Contradictions through Body Scales, Global Perspectives on Platforms, Labor & Social Reproduction Conference, University of Amsterdam, June 2023
• Orth, B. Regulating Mobilities for Platform Labour, Migration and the Future of Work, International Workshop Co-Convened by Institut Convergences Migrations (ICM), CERC Migration at Toronto Metropolitan University, and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), March 2023
• Orth, B. Riders United Will Never Be Divided?, Society for the Advancement of Socio-Economics Annual Conference, Amsterdam, July 2022
• Orth, B. A 'Labour of Love:’ Deep-Acting in Platform Labour, Workshop Politics and Ethics of Platform Labour, University of Cambridge, June 2022
• Orth, B. ‘Precarious Workers’ Visa: Intersectional Perspectives on Platform Labour in Berlin, 4th International Feminist Geography Conference, University of Colorado, June 2022
• Orth, B. The ‘Precarious Workers’ Visa: Migration and Platform Labour in Berlin, Global Conference of Economic Geography, Dublin, June 2022
• Orth, B. Research Strategies for Investigating Reproductive Labour in the Platform Economy, Annual Conference of the Royal Geographical Society, London, September 2021
• Orth, B. Coping with the Covid-19 Pandemic by Engaging in Platform Work. Talk presented at the Migration and Mobility Postgraduate Conference, University of Neuchâtel, July 2021
• Orth, B. Global Care Chains Reloaded? Research Strategies for Investigating Workers’ Experience on Digital Care Platforms, Migrant Belongings Conference, Utrecht University, April 2021
• Orth, B. Care for a Gig Job? Investigating Workers’ Experience on Care Platforms. Poster presented at the Politics and Ethics of Platform Labour: Learning from Lived Experiences conference, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom, April 2021
• Orth, B. Care for a Gig Job? Research Strategies for Investigating Reproductive Labour in the Platform Economy.Talk presented at theAugmented Cities conference,Humboldt University Berlin, April 2021

Orth, B. (2023). Stratified pathways into platform work: Migration trajectories and skills in Berlin’s gig economy. Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space, 0(0). Online first available at https://doi.org/10.1177/0308518X231191933

Orth, B., Jahre, S. & Schmiz, A. (2023) Infrastrukturelle  Perspektiven auf Plattform-Urbanismus - Die Rolle von Körpern und Migrationsregimen. In: Sub\Urban Zeitschrift für kritische Stadtforschung 11(1/2): 47-67, https://doi.org/10.36900/suburban.v11i1/2.851

Orth, B. (2023) Feministischer Aktivismus. In: Belina, B., Neumann, M. & Strüver, A. (2023) Handbuch Kritische Stadtgeographie. Münster: Westfälisches Dampfboot.

Orth, B. (2022) “Riders United Will Never Be Divided? - A Cautionary Tale of Disrupting Platform Urbanism". In: Strüver, A. and S. Bauriedl (eds.) Platform Urbanism, Transcript in collaboration with Columbia University Press.

Orth, B. (2021) Engaging Feminist Geographies in Platform Research. In: Feministische Georundmail: 16-22.

Orth, B. (2021) “Krisenbearbeitung durch digitale Plattformen. Rezension zu Moritz Altenried, Julia Dück und Mira Wallis (Hsg.) (2021): Plattformkapitalismus und die Krise der sozialen Reproduktion.” In: Sub\Urban Zeitschrift für kritische Stadtforschung 9(3/4), 380–386. 

Orth, Barbara (2019) „Queer.Works: Dialog, Vernetzung und Bestandsaufnahme zur Situation queerer Menschen auf dem Berliner Arbeitsmarkt“, available here.