Experts Database

Östen Wahlbeck holds a PhD in Ethnic Relations from the University of Warwick, UK (1997) and the Title of Docent in Sociology from the University of Tampere, Finland (2006) . He has worked as Professor of Sociology at the Åbo Akademi University, Finland, Professor of Human Rights and Multiculturalism at the University of South-Eastern Norway, and Senior Lecturer in Ethnic Relations at the University of Helsinki, Finland. He has published widely in the field of international migration and ethnic relations, including several international monographs, several edited books, and more than 30 international refereed academic articles articles in journals like Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, Journal of Intercultural Studies, Journal of Refugee Studies, Ethnicities and Mobilities. In addition, he is the author of numerous book chapters published in various languages. His research interests include transnational migration, migrant businesses, refugee studies, and integration policies. He has been the project leader of several large research projects in these areas funded by the Academy of Finland and the European Commission.

Sarah Walker is a critical migration researcher. Her research is underpinned by a social justice ethos and informed by her previous experience working as a support worker with asylum seekers in London, UK. Following a period of postdoctoral research examining the nexus between migration and the climate crisis, within the context of the ClimateOfChange project, she is now working as a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Bologna funded by the Leverhulme Trust Study Abroad Scholarship. This project builds on her PhD in Sociology, which explored the interaction between migration regimes and young African men, bureaucratically labelled 'unaccompanied minors', who have made the perilous, illegalized journey to Italy. Using the minor as lens, it interrogates the borderwork of race and childhood. Employing qualitative and creative research methods, her work examines the intersections of migration, race, gender and citizenship.

Ph.D. Candidate in Sociology at Syracuse University, NY-USA.
Studying Chinese emigration and investment in West Africa.

Tongming is a PhD student in sociology and social policy within the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Southampton. Her research interests are in diversity and interdisciplinary. She currently focuses on rural-urban migration, return migration, labour migration and rural tourism. She does research in both qualitative and quantitative analysis.

Experienced researcher with expertise in the fields of East Asian communities in Europe, education, happiness and multilingualism. I have extensive fieldwork experience in Germany and Japan, as well as mixed method data collection, management and analysis. My works are fully funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG Individual Research Grant, 2018-2021) and the European Commission (Marie Curie Individual Fellowship, 2021-2023).