Experts Database

I work as a senior researcher at the Norwegian Social Research (NOVA), Oslo Metropolitan University. I have a PhD in sociology from Queen's University, Belfast, UK. In the recent years, I have been involved in research examining migrant involvement in welfare services; I studied migrant mental health; I was involved in and researched migrant organizations; and I examined the refugee settlement strategies of the Norwegian municipalities. My research interests span migration; transnationalism; public health; studies in mental health and well-being; resilience; welfare services; family migration. Since 2019, I have been an assistant editor of the Nordic Journal of Migration Research.

I am a sociologist of migration with a particular expertise in ethnography, refugee studies and the Horn of Africa. Over the past 10 years, my primary concerns of investigation have been the drivers and the dynamics of forced and high risk-migrants; migrant smuggling; gender and migration; secondary movements of asylum seekers and refugees within Europe; Dublin Regulations and its implications; home and housing studies; transnational families. Most of my empirical work has been based on qualitative methods such as life-stories collection, qualitative interviews and, most notably, multi-sited ethnography. I have done fieldwork in Eritrea, Ethiopia, Sudan, Italy, Belgium and the Netherlands from 2012 onwards. My research settings included refugee camps, asylum centers, and urban diverse neighbourhoods.

PhD candidate at the University of Sheffield funded by the National Institute of Health Research, School for Public Health Research. My research focuses on the relationship between local level ethnic density and mental health outcomes in the UK. I use structural equation modelling on data from the cohort study Understanding Society to model the pathways involved in this relationship. My research also aims to explore the potential effect of local authority social cohesion policy on the relationship between ethnic density and mental health and well-being.

Grace Benson is a PhD candidate at the School of International Service. She earned a MPhil en passant in International Relations from AU and a BA with high distinction in Public Policy and Ethics from Duke University. Professionally, Grace worked for the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants as a program director and case manager. She also worked in New Zealand for the Ministry of Social Development as a policy analyst and as a case manager in a youth development program. Her research focuses on displacement and forced migration, refugee resettlement policy, and international human rights and humanitarian policy. Her dissertation utilizes both qualitative and quantitative methods to compare global refugee resettlement practices and help inform policy decisions.

Meghan is Director of Research for the International Program at the Migration Policy Institute (MPI) and for MPI Europe. She convenes MPI Europe’s Integration Futures Working Group and MPI’s Task Force on Borders and Mobility. She has co-led an MPI-ILO project on pathways to skilled work, and a project on mainstreaming integration in the EU. She holds a PhD in Political Science from University College London, with a focus on citizenship and the rights of non-citizens.