The IMISCOE PhD Network aims to strengthen research and network opportunities for doctoral researchers in the field of migration (and herewith related topics). The PhD Network is organised upon the Network Board, the Blog Group, and the broader PhD Network community, which consists of the PhD Chair(s) of the standing committees (SCs) and the PhD Academy, each with their active members who plan and carry out activities relevant for PhD migration scholars. The PhD Network is represented by the PhD Chair and the Vice-Chair(s) and steered by the PhD Network Board.
PhD Network Board:
Yowali Kabamba
PhD Chair
Yowali Kabamba has been a PhD candidate in Economic and Social History at Utrecht University since October 2023. She studies the labour integration of Somali migrant women in Western Europe and how home and host country contexts influence their sustainable economic participation.
Denis Zekovic
PhD Vice-Chair
Denis is a research associate at Technical University Chemnitz (Germany) and a junior researcher at the German Center for Integration and Migration Research (DeZIM). His current research focuses on the role of the receiving society in integrating refugees and migrants in small and medium-sized cities in Germany. As such, he is interested in the intersection of local receptivity and local resilience regarding migration governance.
Silvia Talavera Lodos
Silvia is a PhD Candidate at the Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies in Pisa (Italy). Graduated in Law, she holds a Master's degree in Human Rights. Her research focuses on the impact of decentralisation on the protection of the social rights of migrants in an irregular administrative situation
Diletta Marcucci
PhD candidate at Pompeu Fabra University (UPF) in Barcelona and GRITIM-UPF coordinator: “Interdisciplinary Research Group on Immigration”. She is also a doctoral researcher in the research project BROAD-ER: “Bridging the Migration and Urban Studies Nexus” (HORIZON-WIDERA-2021). Her research within Urban Intercultural Governance focuses on the connection between intercultural participation and segregation.
Filipa Saraiva
Filipa Saraiva is a PhD candidate in Sociology of the State, Law, and Justice at the Faculty of Economics of the University of Coimbra (FEUC) and the Centre for Social Studies (CES). Her research delves into the intersections of climate change, overfishing, and migration, with a focus on young people's aspirations in Cape Verde’s coastal communities.
Katharina Klaunig
Katharina is a doctoral student in the department of Sociology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She is interested in international migration systems, especially multiple migrations, return migrations, and labor migration to the Gulf.
Teresa Pallarés Ramos
Teresa Pallarés-Ramos is a Brussels-based migration policy analyst and PhD candidate in Migration Studies at Comillas University, Spain. Her doctoral research examines the economic integration of youth migrants at the regional level in Spain, focusing on the utilisation of EU funding mechanisms in this context. With over a decade of professional experience, she specialises in migration, youth empowerment, and educational capacity building. Her academic work complements her practical expertise, allowing her to contribute to the development of sustainable, community-focused policies and initiatives that bridge research and practice.
Ismail Oubad
Doctoral researcher affiliated with the Center for Ethnic and Migration Studies (CEDEM) at the University of Liège and the School of Social Sciences at the University of Genoa. His Ph.D. research, conducted under the ERC AdG SolRoutes project, investigates the (subversive) migration infrastructures that shape the dwelling and movement of illegalized migrants along the Belgian-French migration route to the UK.
Blog Group
The IMISCOE PhD blog forms a platform to share PhD relevant insights from the field of migration research. It is wholly run and written by PhD students from the Network. The content varies from interviews with scholars, reports on the latest conferences and meetings and theoretical contributions from our members. If you’re up for an exciting read, you can check out some of the blog posts at www.imiscoe.org/news-and-blog/phd-blog
Gunika Rishi
Blog Group Coordinator
Gunika Rishi is a Doctoral researcher (2023-26) at the Institute for Interdisciplinary Cultural Studies, NTNU, Norway. Her work explores the experiences of Unaccompanied Refugee Minors (URMs) during family reunification using ethnographic approaches and a social anthropological lens. She has a background in Architecture (2010-2015) and Urban planning (2018-2020). Her research interests include housing rights, migration, gender studies, race and visual ethnography.
Tulika Bourai
Blog Group Coordinator
Tulika Bourai is a PhD candidate in Development Studies at BITS Pilani, Rajasthan, India. Her study is based in the mountainous regions of the Himalayan state of Uttarakhand. Her research looks at the current climate crisis in the Himalayas and people's mobility and immobility choices under a resource-constrained scenario.
If you’re interested in contributing to the blog, get in touch here.
Advisory Board
Lucy Potter
PhD candidate in Sociological Studies at the University of Sheffield. Her research project examines asylum determination processes in the UK of claims on the grounds of non-religious persecution.
Mateusz M. Krawczyk
PhD candidate in political science and freelance journalist, former managing editor of the Polish monthly "Wszystko Co Najważniejsze". Graduate with a master's degree in political science and economy and several courses related to political science, social anthropology, and journalism. He specialises in refugee and forced migration studies and the agency of vulnerable groups. His current research is focused on the hybrid identity of refugees at the Nakivale Refugee Settlement in Uganda.
The PhD Network’s Advisory Board comprises previous PhD Representatives and members of the Soundboard in the preceding year.
Adriana Calvo
Spanish journalist doing her doctoral thesis at the University of Deusto. She researches how undocumented migrant women develop digital communication strategies once settled in destination countries and specialises in political communication.
Irene Gutiérrez Torres
Blog Group Coordinator
Award-winning documentary filmmaker and a PhD fellow at Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) and University Carlos III of Madrid (UC3M). She is part of the REEL BORDERS ERC Starting Grant project, focusing on participatory filmmaking in migration and border studies. Her films and research address themes of im/mobility, migration, everyday bordering, and self-representation. As a filmmaker, she has directed "Border Diaries" (2013), "Hotel Nueva Isla" (2014), "Connected Walls" (2015), "Exile Diaries" (2019) and "Between Dog and Wolf" (2020). Her films have been screened in film festivals and art venues such as the Berlinale, Rotterdam IFFR, MoMA Documentary Fortnight and the Lincoln Center.
Sebastian Carlotti
PhD at the University of Pisa and the University of Amsterdam, where he researches selection procedures and visa policies between Europe and West Africa.
Mariia Shaidrova
Maria Shaidrova is a PhD researcher (NWO-funded Research Talent Grant) based at the University of Tilburg, The Netherlands. She holds MSc in Sociology of Migration and Ethnic Studies from the University of Amsterdam (Cum Laude). Maria is focusing her research on understanding the life of the Nigerian community both in Benin City and Palermo.
Sandra N. Morgenstern
Postdoctoral researcher at the Mannheim Centre for European Social Research (MZES) and as the chair of Migration and Integration at the University of Mannheim.
Carolin Müller
Cultural studies researcher using methods of cultural anthropology. Her research explores amateur music ensembles in activist spaces and discourses on belonging, integration, and citizenship.
Samuel D. Schmid
Postdoctoral researcher and lecturer at the Department of Political Science at the University of Lucerne, Switzerland.
Olav Nygård
Lecturer in Ethnic and Migration Studies with a background in Sociology. His research interests cover ethnic and class inequalities in educational opportunity and outcomes, effects of school leaving and segregation, social capital, and extra-curricular activities.