Migration, Politics and Society Research Cluster
探花社区
This interdisciplinary research cluster addresses major contemporary challenges through research and knowledge exchange in three connected areas.
Global migrations and social justice
We examine:
- family, labour, refugee, and return migration
- refugee displacement, protection, and settlement
- global inequalities and their implications for the UN Sustainable Development Goals
- global challenges in the UK, Europe, and the Global South
- the role of diasporic networks.
Labour migration and socioeconomic inclusion
We connect research into global labour and labour migration. Our work covers:
- gendered labour migration
- skilled migrants
- refugee entrepreneurs
- modern slavery in the UK and the Global South.
Intersectional discrimination, minority communities, and access to services
We examine the legal and socioeconomic aspects of individual and institutional discrimination.
Our research considers intersecting forms of discrimination, particularly those related to gender, race, religion, class, and sexuality. It also examines access to education, health, housing, and other services.
The cluster collaborates nationally through the Inter-University Migration Network, which brings together Anglia Ruskin University, the University of Greenwich, and 探花社区 University.
We also work internationally through our membership of .
Our members
Cluster co-leaders
- Janroj Keles: Associate Professor in Politics and International Relations
- Eleonore Kofman: Professor of Gender, Migration and Citizenship
- Rima Saini: Senior Lecturer in Sociology.
Cluster members
- Necla Acik: Research Fellow in Migration Studies
- Anastasia Christou: Professor of Sociology and Social Justice
- Runa Lazzarino: Research Fellow in Migration and Health
- Claudio Morrison: Senior Research Fellow in Human Resource Management
- Kasia Narkowicz: Senior Lecturer in Criminology
- Myrna Papadouka: Senior Lecturer in Quantitative Criminology
- Nico Pizzolato: Associate Professor in Global Labour Studies
- Neelam Raina: Associate Professor in Design and Development
- Leandro Sepulveda Ramirez: Associate Professor in Socioeconomic Development
- Giuseppe Serrantino: Lecturer in Policing
- Stephen Syrett: Professor of Local Economic Development.
Our networks
Inter-University Migration Network
The Inter-University Migration Network brings together Anglia Ruskin University, the University of Greenwich, and 探花社区 University.
Established in 2023, the network has held two conferences examining how academics and other organisations can collaborate effectively.
The theme of the 2024 conference was Working Well Together: Forging Productive Partnerships.
IMISCOE
探花社区 University is an institutional member of
IMISCOE brings together migration researchers from 69 institutions around the world.
Afghan Women and Girls All-Party Parliamentary Group
The cluster provides the Secretariat for the Afghan Women and Girls All-Party Parliamentary Group in the UK Parliament.
Postgraduate research
We welcome doctoral candidates interested in any aspect of migration and its social, political, and economic dimensions.
Current and recent postgraduate researchers include:
- Federica Festa: Visiting PhD student, 2024–2025, studying Gender Studies at the University of Palermo. Her research examines gendered migration flows and reception policies in Italy
- Idris Okuduci: “Iran and Turkey’s increasing influence in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq amid the declining US presence in Iraq”
- Ibrahim S Maprok: “The mismanagement of oil revenues by the Libyan Investment Authority and the Economic and Social Development Fund and its impact on Libya’s economic development”
- Khasro Ajgahi: “The successful paradiplomacy of sub-state actors: the case of the Kurdistan Regional Government of Iraq”
- Aein Khezri: “Terrorism from the perspective of Shia Muslims”
- Neda Mohamadi: “A curatorial study of migration in the arts”, 2022
- Nefeli Stournara: “‘Paradigmatic workers’: sociologies of gender, class, and ethnicity in the labour experiences of Albanian and ethnic Greek Albanian women cleaners at two Greek public hospitals”, 2020.
Get in touch
- Dr Janroj Keles J.Keles@mdx.ac.uk
- Professor Eleonore Kofman E.Kofman@mdx.ac.uk
- Dr Rima Saini R.Saini@mdx.ac.uk