Elena Vasiliou

Dr. Elena Vasiliou is a licensed psychologist, researcher, and queer scholar. She is currently an Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Warwick. Her work draws from queer theory, decolonial thought, prison studies, and psychoanalysis to explore the complex relations between power, pleasure, resistance, and pain in carceral settings. She recently completed a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellowship at Warwick and UC Berkeley (2022–2025), where she led a qualitative study on self-destruction in prison. Her research reframes self-inflicted pain as a communicative or empowering act within conditions of extreme deprivation. Elena is currently writing her first monograph, under contract with Bristol University Press. The book offers a reverse reading of the “pains of imprisonment,” drawing on interviews, fieldwork, and critical theory to examine how suffering can also become a site of meaning, critique, and resistance. Her research and practice are grounded in community engagement and collective organising.