Vera Shengeliya (she/her) is the Senior Manager, Digital Oblivion at PEN America. She leads research, strategy, and program development focused on digital oblivion—the disappearance of critical information due to censorship, infrastructural gaps, and technological transformations. Her work centers on preserving endangered media ecosystems and advancing global understanding of information erasure.
She brings over 20 years of experience as a journalist, museum practitioner, and human rights advocate, working at the intersection of culture, access, and social justice. She is a two-time recipient of the Redkollegia Award, Russia’s leading independent journalism prize. She also founded a nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing the rights of people with severe disabilities.
Previously, she served as Regional Representative for Russia and Belarus at Artists at Risk Connection, supporting artists in exile and under threat. Before relocating to the United States following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Vera lived and worked in Russia, where she led and curated participatory and socially engaged projects in collaboration with major cultural institutions, focusing on inclusion, disability rights, and migrant communities.
Shengeliya is a Visiting Researcher at Bard College and teaches disability rights in the Smolny Beyond Borders program.
She holds an MA in Socially Engaged Practice in Museums and Galleries from University of Leicester.