Natália Varabyeu Kancelová is working on her dissertation on (un-)solidarity in the context of displacement and conducts a comparative study between the urban spaces of Vienna and Bratislava. She earned her Bachelor’s degree in Transcultural Communication and Slavonic Studies, and in 2022, she finalised the Master Interdisciplinary Eastern European Studies (with a specialization in social sciences) at the University of Vienna. For her master’s thesis, she carried out field research in several villages with above-average percentage of radical voters in Slovakia. Previous to her employment at the University of Vienna, she worked as a programme assistant at the office of the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung in Slovakia and as a student assistant within the FWF Special Research Programme (SFB) ‘German in Austria. Variation – Contact – Perception’ at the Department of Slavonic Studies, University of Vienna.

Research interests

• Unsolidarity
• Local inclusion processes in the context of displacement from Ukraine
• Right-wing extremism/populism in rural areas
• Inclusive policymaking and social divisions
• Political developments in Slovakia

Publications

• Radhuber, Isabella M., Katharina Kieslich, Katharina T. Paul, Gertrude Saxinger, Sebastian Ferstl, David Kraus, Stephen Roberts, Natália Varabyeu Kancelová, and Barbara Prainsack (2025). Why ‘inclusive policymaking’ is needed during crises: COVID-19 and social divisions in Austria. SSM - Qualitative Research in Health, 7, 100539. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssmqr.2025.100539 
• Varabyeu Kancelová, Natália (2024). Radical Voters in Rural Areas of Slovakia and Their Role in the Rise (and Fall) of the ĽSNS Party. Studia Politica Slovaca, 17, 1, p. 5-19. https://doi.org/10.31577/SPS.2024-1.1