Dr Alicja Pawluczuk / HYSTERA
A disabled artist-scholar working at the intersection of digital [in]equity, gendered pain, and "hysterical" knowledge-making.
Dr Alicja Pawluczuk was born in Poland and lives in the UK. She holds a PhD in Digital Culture from Edinburgh Napier University, Scotland (2019), and works under the artist name HYSTERA. Since 2012 her practice has unfolded through participatory art and community media, organised around a recurring set of questions: the potential and limitations of participation, the neoliberal language of empowerment, and how the [mediated] self and the collective shape one another offline and online.
Her research approaches digital [in]equity through its socio-technological dimensions: the entanglement of platforms, infrastructures, policies, and bodies. She is interested in experimental, critical, structural, and embodied experiences and interpretations of digital culture, and in the participatory, auto-ethnographic, and crip methods through which such work proceeds.
Her artistic practice encompasses mixed-media installations, experiential critical inquiry spaces, drawing, photography, zine-work, performance, and video, investigating medical misogyny, gendered pain, and the digital [in]visibility of chronically ill bodies. She is the leading theorist of endo violence, a framework she continues to co-develop since 2023 for a solo endometriosis-related exhibition at Obenrum Untenrum, Berlin.
Her research and practice engage extensively with international projects and institutional contexts. She has worked as a consultant and collaborator on governmental recommendations and policy frameworks regarding digital inclusive practices across European institutions. Her work with the INCLUDE+ Network at the University of Leeds involves developing and co-authoring the IN+ Principles, a methodology for digital equity that she continues to shape through collaborative research and participatory practice. She brings experience in international research networks, cultural exchange programmes, and cross-border collaboration on questions of digital justice and disability representation.
field ∕ each pill opens a different canvas
Endo Violence Collective & Magazyn
Co-founded with Allison Rich (Miami, FL). Four issues of Endo Violence Magazyn, the Endo Violence Self-Defense Toolkit (16 Days of Activism, Dec 2024), the open-access book (2025), and the touring Breaking This Silence exhibition with the Endometriosis Academy and the University of Leeds.
Digital Youth Work Research Network
Network fostering knowledge and practice co-creation between researchers, youth workers, and young people.
◌ endo violence
The systemic, structural, and interpersonal forms of harm experienced by individuals with endometriosis. Rooted in medical misogyny, ableism, racism, colonialism, and socio-economic injustice. The framework was developed and first named by Pawluczuk in 2023 for a solo exhibition at Obenrum Untenrum, Berlin, and now anchors a UKRI-funded research project at the University of Leeds.
Breaking the Silence
Touring exhibition with the Endometriosis Academy, the Endo Violence Collective, and the University of Leeds. On view 15 Jul - 19 Sep 2025.
Endo Violence Clinix
Iteration of the Clinix living methodology, a situated, clinic-like installation in which visitors encounter the endo violence framework through embodied participation.
Endo Violence Clinix
Iteration of the Clinix living methodology.
Glitch i Kolor
Solo exhibition, September-November 2025.
Breaking This Silence
Residency and exhibition. Substantial international press: Konbini Arts, Le Type, EU!Radio, Bordeaux Art Contemporain, Junkpage.
Endometrio-was
Group exhibition.
Endo Violence Exhibition
First public use of the endo violence concept. Curator: Helen Sange. Inclusive Gynaecology & Sexual Medicine.
Gendered Pain
Solo exhibition.
#PainStories Dictionary
One of fourteen artists commissioned for the global #PainStories campaign by AMV BBDO for Bodyform/Libresse.
Storifying the Digital Divide
Presentation at the Re@ct! Social Change Art Technology seminar examining how 1970s community video movements inform contemporary digital storytelling practice. Explores what it means to be a radical media maker in the digital era, and what young digital producers can learn from early community media activists. Panel with Prof. Tony Dowmunt (Goldsmiths) and Adam Lockhart (DJCAD).
Digital Youth Work Research Hub (DYWR.HUB)
International network for knowledge and practice co-creation on digital equity in youth work. Hosts Equitable by Default? (research lead: Cristina Bacalso) and Signal Spotting workshops at the Digital Youth Work Conference.
IN+ ART Iterations
Curatorial programme commissioning artists and community partners to interpret digital equity. Iterations across Argentina, Mexico, the UK, Poland, Belgium, Greece, India, Romania, USA.
Endo Violence Temporalities
Practice-led research on the interplay between endometriosis-related violence and digital inequalities — shadow-banning, content moderation, the censorship of endometriosis narratives online.
Endo Violence Clinix
A living methodology developed within the HYSTERA practice, enacted as situated, clinic-like installations and participatory environments. Each iteration adapted to its host context rather than reproducing a fixed exhibition format. Iterations to date: Fourth Idea, Bradford; Liminal, Athens.
Women's Health Strategy Reading Club
Grassroots reading group evolved from a reading circle at the Endo Violence Clinix. Treats UK policy documents as texts belonging to patients rather than to institutions. Operates on crip time. Methodologically rooted in 1970s feminist health-education and consciousness-raising movements (Our Bodies, Ourselves). No academic or medical expertise required.
Digital Beez
Experimental, non-profit digital literacy collective. A decade of participatory digital storytelling, digital rights, and digital inclusion projects across the UK and Europe.
Digital Youth Work Impact Mapping Tool 1.0
Practitioner-facing evaluation tool. In pilot with Verke, Finland's National Development Centre for Digital Youth Work.
IN+ Principles
A co-authored methodology comprising six digital equity principles developed with Prof. Helen Thornham, Rosie Wilkinson and an advisory group at INCLUDE+. Designed as guiding constraints rather than fixed metrics, the IN+ Principles offer a methodological framework for approaching digital inclusion work with reflexivity, care, and critical awareness of power dynamics.
IN+ Tools: Digital Privilege Walk
Interactive tool for exploring digital privilege and inequity. Part of the INCLUDE+ toolkit.
◌ artivism
Art-activism as practice and pedagogy. The convergence of artistic methods with activist intent — using creative practice as a tool for social change, consciousness-raising, and community building. Central to HYSTERA, the Endo Violence Collective, Digital Beez, and participatory workshops.
◌ hysterical artivism
Auto-ethnographic, performative practice anchored in chronic illness and neurodivergence. Working title for the HYSTERA body of work, 2020→.
◌ data artivism
Coined in a 2020 keynote at the ESRC Methods North West cluster, University of Liverpool. Practice positioned at the threshold of data literacy and art activism — where artistic methods surface, refuse, and renegotiate the data conditions of citizenship.
◌ The ADHD UK Crisis and Disaster Capitalism
Navigating guilt, insecurity, and financial struggles in the context of the UK ADHD diagnosis crisis.
◌ neuroqueering digital youth work
A neurodivergent, queer-informed lens for reimagining participation, inclusion, and digital literacy in youth work. Published as a book chapter.
◌ big data divide (Scottish reading)
2020 Internet Policy Review paper situating the big data divide in Scottish youth digital inclusion practice. Argues for critical digital literacy over functional digital literacy.
◌ data citizenship framework
Three-axis framework — data thinking, data doing, data participation — co-authored with Carmi, Yates, Lockley, Wessels & Gangneux. Adopted in ITU's Digital Skills Insights 2020.
◌ digital youth transformation
[Co]developed understanding of digital transformation in European youth work contexts. Articulated via SALTO reports and blog posts examining how digital tools reshape youth engagement, participation, and practice.
◌ gender digital divide
[Co]developed understanding of the gendered dimensions of digital exclusion — examining how gender intersects with access, skills, usage patterns, and online safety to produce differentiated digital experiences.
◌ girls' digital inclusion
[Co]developed frameworks for inclusive digital programming specifically addressing the barriers girls face in digital spaces, from online harassment to underrepresentation in tech education.
◌ digital equity
[Co]developed via IN+ Principles and DYWR.HUB research networks. Goes beyond access to examine the conditions for meaningful, safe, and empowering digital participation across different communities.
◌ IN+ Principles
[Co]developed with Prof. Helen Thornham — six principles for digital equity practice that centre reflexivity, care, and critical awareness of power dynamics in digital inclusion work.
◌ feminist digital youth work
[Co]developed methodology integrating feminist pedagogy with digital youth work practice — centring care, intersectionality, and critical consciousness in how we support young people's digital lives.
Digital [in]visibility
The platform conditions under which marginalised bodies become legible online. Centres on the algorithmic suppression of chronic illness and endometriosis content, the asymmetric visibility regimes through which digital infrastructures discipline whose suffering may circulate, and the labour required to remain visible against these conditions.
Medical knowing and medical misogyny
The historical and ongoing politics of medical credibility. Examines how pain is differentially believed across gendered, raced, and classed bodies; how the diagnostic category of "hysteria" continues to discipline the female-coded body; and how clinical recognition operates as a site of structural rather than individual injury.
Crip and neuroqueer time
The temporal politics of disabled and neurodivergent embodiment under institutional time. Draws on Kafer's crip time and Walker's neuroqueering to examine the disjunctures between non-normative bodies and the normative cycles of research, funding, and labour.
The work of staying
The relational, temporal, and material conditions of sustained collective practice under chronic illness and precarious funding. What enables movements to remain over time rather than disperse under the metrics of project-based funding cycles.
Digital labour and unpaid care
The unrecognised infrastructural labour performed by activists, patients, and chronically ill communities online. The political economy of digital activism and the gendered, racialised, and ableised distribution of digital work.
Youth digital citizenship
The conditions of meaningful digital participation for young people. Argues against reductive framings as a function of employability or skills acquisition; advances structural conceptions of digital citizenship and critical digital literacy.
Migration, xeno-racism, and online hate
Eastern European migrant identity in digital diaspora; the constitution of long-distance nationalisms, xeno-racist formations, and exclusionary online publics through diasporic social media.
The limits of digital inclusion
A critical re-examination of digital inclusion as policy paradigm. Interrogates the extractive infrastructures into which inclusion-talk delivers marginalised users and the discursive operations that obscure these conditions.
Policy Review: Where is Digital Youth Work?
Report and policy review on the current status and visibility of digital youth work in European policy frameworks.
A [Cautiously] Speculative Take On Digitally Equitable Futures
Is digital equity a utopian idea? A speculative reflection on what a digitally equitable world might look like — and the work required to imagine it.
Checking-in on the assumptions, terms & conditions of [digital] civic participation
What is and what isn't civic participation? What is the role of digital equity in civic participation? A co-exploration with collaborators of the underlying assumptions.
Virtual endo care as innovation?
Can online appointments fix endometriosis care — or just digitise dismissal? A killjoy reading of the NHS's techno-solutionist promises.
Grace for the over-capacitated
ADHD, feminist collectives, and the work of staying in. ADHD unmasking as lifelong negotiation with care, pace, and participation.
unmasking under austerity
A neurodivergent life re-examined. On late-diagnosed ADHD, austerity, and the cost of unmasking.
The ADHD UK Crisis and Disaster Capitalism
On guilt, insecurity, and financial struggle. ADHD care reframed through Naomi Klein's disaster capitalism.
endo violence and digital [in]visibility
The censorship of endometriosis narratives online. Companion piece to the Endo Violence Temporalities research project.
the too muchness of suffering : ADHD-ing trauma
Have neurotypical ideas of suffering, trauma, and healing produced shame around "too-muchness"?
The Moral Panic of Digital Hysteria
What happens when sick girls become visible online? On the framing of invisible-illness communities as drivers of internet-induced anxiety.
workplace emotional abuse: my shock, shame, and silence
On becoming a victim/survivor of work-related emotional abuse — and the difficulty of naming it.
Endo Art: Women do not even get the privilege of owning their pain
On the politics of endometriosis representation in contemporary art.
I miss you but I hate you, Facebook
The complicated reality of transitioning out of Facebook.
[digital] xeno-racism
The new form of oppression directed at Eastern European migrants in the UK — and its digital intensification.
Radical long-distance nationalism
Why so many Polish migrants choose to hate online. On long-distance nationalism in the Polish diaspora.
Overthinking female chronic pain
On performing the socially constructed role of a "sensible" endometriosis patient. The emotional labour of being believed.
Misinformation ruined my Polish Christmas
On disinformation in family gatherings and the politics of holiday tables.
Role-playing my misinformation trauma
On using performance methods to process the psychic toll of misinformation exposure.
Digital Youth Work Research Hub Report 2026
Annual report from the Digital Youth Work Research Hub, documenting research activities, network developments, and emerging insights on digital equity in youth work.
IN+ Principles Report 2025
Report documenting the IN+ Principles and their application across the IN+ ART Iterations programme.
Are we blaming girls for not fixing the digital divide(s)?
Policy brief. The case for feminist digital youth work. Argues that Europe's "digital decade" — AI innovation, green tech, digital transformation — relies on non-formal education settings, and on girls themselves, to fill structural gaps the policy framework leaves open.
endo violence: [co]mapping endometriosis-related injustice
Open-access book. Pawluczuk & the Endo Violence Community, edited by Allison Rich.
Neuroqueering Digital Youth Work
Book chapter in Neurodivergent Education and Lifelong Learning.
Automating Youth Work: Youth Workers' Views on AI
Policy report on AI in youth-work practice. Forthcoming UN University AI Conference paper, Macau, April 2026.
The emerging digital divides: COVID-19 and European youth work
UNU Institute in Macau report.
Insights into Digital Transformation in the Youth Field
Strategic report for SALTO Inclusion & Diversity and SALTO Participation & Information.
Bridging the gender digital divide: gender digital inclusion programme evaluations
Pawluczuk, Lee & Gamundani (2021). Peer-reviewed analysis of existing guidance for gender digital inclusion programmes' evaluations — examining how impact is measured, what is left out, and the assumptions that shape evaluation frameworks.
Girls' Digital Inclusion Programming: Insights from the field
Pawluczuk & Lee. Field report drawing on the Girls' Digital Inclusion Programming project Pawluczuk led at the UN University Institute in Macau. What works, what doesn't, and what's missing in the design and evaluation of girls' digital inclusion initiatives globally.
Digital youth inclusion and the big data divide
Examining the Scottish perspective. Argues for critical digital literacy over functional digital literacy.
Data citizenship: rethinking data literacy
Carmi, Yates, Lockley & Pawluczuk. Three-axis framework — thinking, doing, participation.
Youth digital participation: Measuring social impact
Pawluczuk, Hall, Webster & Smith.
The social impact of digital youth work
Pawluczuk, Hall, Webster & Smith. What are we looking for?
Feminist Digital Youth Work
Encyclopedia entry on feminist approaches to digital youth work practice.
Education and Gender
Encyclopedia entry examining the intersection of education and gender.
Designing EdTech for Scale: Insights from the field
Field research on digital education technology implementation at scale. Contributing to EdTech Hub and ICT4D evidence base.
Digital Skills Insights
Report contributing to the International Telecommunication Union and UNESCO digital skills framework.
Quality in Digital Transformation Youth Work
Article on quality frameworks for digital transformation in the youth sector.
APPG on Youth Affairs — Digital & AI Roundtable
Invited panellist at the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Youth Affairs Digital & AI Roundtable.
TF Talk in Iceland: shame and digital transformation
Talk exploring shame and digital transformation in the context of youth work practice.
Unwrapping the Digital Divide Episode 4: Art and digital (in)equity
Panel discussion on how art can be leveraged for digital inclusion. Part of DigiCo's Unwrapping the Digital Divide webinar series.
Webinar on Digital Transformation
Webinar on digital transformation in the youth sector.
Video Interview: Youth Digital Transformation in Europe
Interview discussing digital transformation and its impact on youth work across Europe.
Digital Citizenship Education at the European Commission
Article on digital citizenship and youth work to inform the Consultative Meeting on Education.
The Citizens International Youth Summit 2022 — AI and Youth
Talk on young people's digital inclusion at the Citizens International Youth Summit 2022.
DIGY Podcast: interview on digital inclusion and youth participation
Interview on digital inclusion and youth participation.
Automating Youth Work
Conference paper accepted.
Keynote — International Tool Fair XVIII
"From ambiguity to OMG-what-am-I-doing: a shame-free guide to digital transformation."
Commons Library Podcast — Creative Activism & Endo Violence
With Allison Rich. On the formation and ongoing work of the Endo Violence Collective.
Keynote — Digital Youth Work Conference
On Pawluczuk's research framework for the Digital Youth Work Research Hub.
Automating Youth Work: Youth Workers' Views on AI
Research exploring youth workers' perspectives on automation and AI in youth work practice.
Endo-Violence Temporalities: Exploring Digital [In]visibilities
Research project at INCLUDE+ examining the interplay between endometriosis-related violence and digital visibility.
Checking-in on the Assumptions, Terms & Conditions of [Digital] Civic Participation
Co-exploration of what is and isn't civic participation, and the role of digital equity.
A [Cautiously] Speculative Take On Digitally Equitable Futures
Is digital equity a utopian idea? Exploring what a digitally equitable world would look like.
New Digital Youth Work Impact Mapping Tool 1.0
Tool being tested with Verke, where online youth work practitioners explore ways to use it in their work.
Research Fellowship at INCLUDE+ @ Leeds University
Joined INCLUDE+ Network as Research Fellow exploring how social and digital environments can be more inclusive.
#digitaltransformation SALTO Jury 2022
Served as SALTO Youth Awards 2022 Jury Member for the #digitaltransformation category.
The Moral Panic of Digital Hysteria
Why are teenage girls punished for being visibly sick online? What types of girls' digital visibility are worthy of digital capitalism?
Youth and Digital Transformation Experts Panel
Expert panel on youth and digital transformation policy.
Digital Transformation: RAY Network's Panel on Youth Work
Panel discussion on digital transformation in the youth field.
What's Missing? #DigitalTransformation Resilience in the Youth Sector
Analysis of gaps in digital transformation resilience within the youth sector.
AI Workshop @ EU Council of Europe Youth Partnership
Workshop on AI and youth work at the EU Council of Europe Youth Partnership symposium.
Digital Transformation Research in Action: Digital Transformation Centre
Research on digital transformation implementation in practice.
Europe's Digital Principles for 2030: A Panel Discussion
Panel discussion on Europe's digital principles framework for 2030.
AI & YOUTH in the EU — New Research Project
New research project on AI and youth in the European Union.
The Limits of Digital Youth Work
Exploring the boundaries and limitations of digital youth work practice.
#CIStory Talk in Monopolis: Digital Inequalities and Effects on Youth
Talk on digital inequalities and their effects on youth and digital inclusion.
Podcast: Equity in [Sound] Digital Transformation
Podcast episode discussing equity in digital transformation.
Podcast: The Limits of Digital Youth Work
Podcast discussing the limits and challenges of digital youth work.
Article: Technology and New Power Dynamics — Limitations of Digital Youth
Article examining technology's role in creating new power dynamics in youth work.
The Emerging Digital Divides: Covid-19 and European Youth Work
Research on how Covid-19 exposed and exacerbated digital divides in European youth work.
Video: 'Nice, Adventure!' Young People and the European Digital Transformation Journey
Video exploring young people's experiences with European digital transformation.
#igotxt #DigitalTransformation in the Youth Field: What Does It Mean?
Exploration of what digital transformation means for the youth field.
Only for the Privileged? Digital Youth Work in Eastern Europe & Caucasus
Workshop examining digital youth work accessibility in Eastern Europe and Caucasus regions.
Data Artivism: Crafting Online Citizenship
ESRC-funded workshop series facilitating exploration of data artivism as a creative research methodology. Co-designing artistic approaches to understanding digital citizenship and data literacy with participants.
Under 30 Podcast: Digital Youth Work
Interview on digital youth work practice and research.
Research Youth Panel
Panel discussion on youth research methodologies and digital inclusion.
Schwarzkopf Stiftung Briefing
Briefing on digital youth work and European youth policy.
Digital Beez
A decade-long programme of participatory digital storytelling, digital rights, and digital inclusion workshops. Founder and lead facilitator.
Women's Health Strategy Reading Club
Hosted via @hy_stera. Evolved from a reading circle at the Endo Violence Clinix. Treats UK policy documents as patient-owned texts. Operates on crip time.
Endo Violence Magazyn co-creation
Four issues of co-creation workshops with an international cohort of contributing artists, writers, and endo activists. Co-edited with Allison Rich.
Konbini Arts — L'endométriose et la misogynie médicale
Endometriosis and medical misogyny in a powerful artistic series.
Curated by Girls — HYSTERA: bloody, hysterical, and vibrant
Feature profile.
It's Nice That — 14 artists visualise endometriosis pain
Feature on the AMV BBDO × Bodyform #PainStories campaign.
University of Leeds — Endometriosis is a 'systemic issue'
Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Cultures, Endometriosis Awareness Month feature.
Collater.al — Endometriosi e misoginia medica
Italian art press feature on endometriosis and medical misogyny.
Artlecture — L'art pour parler de l'endométriose
French art press on using art to speak about endometriosis.
Institut Français UK — Shaping the Discourse
Feature on HYSTERA and shaping discourse around endometriosis through art.
Junkpage — Breaking This Silence à Bordeaux
Coverage of the Breaking This Silence exhibition in Bordeaux.
EU Agenda — Breaking This Silence
European cultural agenda feature on the exhibition.
Hello Zdrowie — Endometrioza i przemoc
Polish health media feature on endometriosis and violence.
Sarah Graham — Rebel Bodies
Feature in Sarah Graham's work on chronic illness and medical gaslighting.
Impakter — Art and Endometriosis Awareness
Feature on art's role in raising endometriosis awareness.
Endometriosis Conference Program
Featured in the international endometriosis research conference program.
Available Works
I create limited-edition, hand-made artworks that reflect the somatic and cognitive labour embedded in my practice. Rather than maintaining a fixed inventory, commissions and acquisitions are arranged on a project-by-project basis.
If you're interested in acquiring work, commissioning a project, or exploring a collaboration, please contact me directly.
Follow @hy_stera for studio documentation and updates.