Samantha´s research examines how people organize and work towards social change—through public policy, political collective action, or grassroots organizing—in complex and often hostile environments. She is particularly interested in understanding how public, voluntary, or paid workers, working towards social change, experience challenges in their everyday efforts. Also how, in response to these challenges, they develop practices, processes, and relationships that shape organizational resilience and goals. She has conducted studies on migration, social policy, public administration, regulation, grassroots organizing, and strike action. In her research she uses qualitative methods and in particular organizational ethnography.