Zsófia Hacsek has a strong theoretical and methodological interest in innovative bottom-up qualitative research, concerning how marginalised voices can be amplified, minority communities authentically represented, and vernacular aspects of sociopolitical issues discussed in academia and beyond. 

She has conducted arts-based and gamified research projects, such as Visualising Security (photovoice) as part of the Alternative Security Review, Collaging Dignity (collage-making) as her PhD research, and Brick by Brick workshops (creating models from building blocks) as part of the Gendered Innovation Living Labs. She is also skilled in more traditional qualitative research, such as participant observation, interviewing, focus groups, and archive research, which were used throughout her Research Assistant project portfolio as well as her MA and PhD studies. 

Based on these experiences, she continues to research phenomena such as security, dignity, vulnerability, violence, and resilience from a bottom-up, arts-based, (auto)ethnographic, and participatory perspective.

Zsófia Hacsek serves as Research Fellow (permanent) at Coventry University's Centre for Peace and Security. She was born in Hungary and obtained an MA degree in Social and Cultural Anthropology at the University of Vienna before moving to the Centre for Peace and Security (formerly Centre for Trust, Peace and Social Relations) for her PhD in 2018. Parallel to her doctoral studies, she served as Research Assistant on numerous projects, such as the Hot Periods of Anti-Minority Activism (PI: Professor Joel Busher), the Alternative Security Review (PI: Dr David Curran), and European Union / Horizon funded projects such as the MiFriendly Cities, the Transport Innovation Gender Observatory, and the Gendered Innovation Living Labs. She successfully defended her PhD thesis in January 2026.