Experts Database

Melissa Siegel is a Professor of Migration Studies and Head of Migration Studies at the Maastricht Graduate School of Governance and UNU-MERIT where she manages several migration research projects, coordinates the Migration Studies Specialization as part of the Master’s Program in Public Policy and Human Development and formerly headed the Migration Management Diploma Program. She is Co-Director of the Maastricht Center for Citizenship, Migration and Development (MACIMIDE). She currently holds the Chair of the UNU Migration Network and is a Research Associate at the Center on Migration, Policy and Society (COMPAS) at the University of Oxford. She is also on the advisory board of the Migration Policy Center, EUI and was formerly on the board of the Hague Process on Refugees and Migration. She has done visiting research fellowships at Harvard University, the Kiel Institute for the World Economy and the University of Oxford. She has advised, worked on or headed projects for several governments and international organisations. She is also regularly involved in migration-related trainings/capacity building for governments and international organizations as well as teaching at the Bachelor’s, Master’s and PhD level. She has also given advice at the United Nations and European Commission on migration issues. Her main research interests lie in the causes and consequences of migration with a strong emphasis on the linkages between migration and development.

Professor Nando Sigona is Chair of International Migration and Forced Displacement at the University of Birmingham, UK. Nando is a founding editor of the peer reviewed journal Migration Studies (Oxford University Press), and lead editor for Global Migration and Social Change book series at Bristol University Press. He is on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies. His research interests include: the migration and citizenship nexus; undocumented migration; naturalisation, denaturalisation and statelessness; Romani politics and anti-Gypsyism; asylum and EU; Brexit and intra-European migration; and child and youth migration.
His work has appeared in a range of international academic journals, including Sociology, Social Anthropology, Antipode, Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, Identities, Citizenship Studies and Ethnic and Racial Studies. He is author or editor of books and journal’s special issues including Undocumented Migration (with Gonzales, Franco and Papoutsi, 2019); Unravelling Europe’s ‘migration crisis’ (with Crawley, Duvell, Jones, and McMahon, 2017), Within and beyond citizenship (with Gonzales, 2017), The Oxford Handbook on Refugee and Forced Migration Studies (with Fiddian Qasmiyeh, Loescher and Long, 2014), and Sans Papiers. The social and economic lives of undocumented migrants (with Bloch and Zetter, 2014).

Mohammad Jalal Uddin Sikder, BSS and MSS in International Relations (University of Dhaka, Bangladesh), MA in Development Studies (University of Leeds, UK) and PhD in Sociology (Monash University, Australia) serve as an Associate Professor at the Daffodil International University (DIU). He also engages as an Adjunct Senior Research Fellow at the Refugee and Migratory Movements Research Unit (RMMRU), a research centre that studies on refugees, internally displaced persons, stateless people, labour migrans and diaspora communities. He has published several books and articles with reputed international publishers. He had also been involved in a number of studies under the Migration out of Poverty RPC and Development Research Centre (DRC), University of Sussex, UK. Mr. Sikder was a recipient of the NTS-Asia Research Fellowship from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, and has more than 15 years field based research, 8 years teaching and 5 years consultancy experience with the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC)-Bonn, Department for International Development (DFID)-UK, British Council, European Union Delegation (EUD), Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), United States Agency for International Development (USAID), International Labor Organization (ILO), International Organization for Migration (IOM), US Committee for Refugees, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), and Solidarity Center-Sri Lanka. He has also presented papers at national and international workshops, conferences and seminars in Australia, Bangladesh, England, India, Spain, Qatar, South Africa, Sri Lanka, South Korea, Switzerland, the Philippines and the United States. Sikder’s research expertise includes the labour migration recruitment process and returnee reintegration; remittances, development, dependency and inequality; migration and TVET Skills for employment; irregular cross-border migration, human smuggling and trafficking; forced migration, displacement and Rohingay (Myanmar) refugees’ situations; climate change-induced displacement migration; and urban resettlement and livelihood.He is also an external reviewer for Migration and Development- Francis and Taylor, Asian Pacific Migration Journal- Sage, Journal of Borderland Studies- Francis and Taylor, a book reviewer for Palgrave McMillan, India and Advisory Editor of Migration Mirror, a quarterly Newsletter of RMMRU and a television personality who regularly participates on TV talk shows.

Dr. Salome holds a PhD in Economics (summa cum laude) from Tbilisi State University (TSU) in Economics, a Master's Degree (MA) from TSU as well and has a BA from the American University of Paris (AUP). She is an Associate Professor at the Business & Technologies University (BTU). Moreover, Salome serves as a visiting professor at several other Georgian universities.
She studies intellectual migration and has published 10+ scholarly articles in Georgia and abroad. Salome also was a beneficiary of Erasmus + in 2022, when she took part in Staff Mobility exchange.

Dr Simina is currently coordinating the work of Timisoara Centre for Migration and Mobility Studies (SISEC) located in Timisoara, Romania, the research centre which continued the migration related activity of the former Jean Monnet European Center of Excellence - part of the School of High Comparative European Studies (SISEC), West University of Timisoara (1995-2008).
Dr Simina is head of training at Civilian Deployable Capability (CDC Romania), an initiative aimed to support the Romanian authorities involved in the civilian capability development through training and creation of a pool of experts ready to be deployed to missions and operations under the EU, OSCE and UN auspices, in line with the Romanian foreign policy interest.
Previous experiences as immigration and border police officer at borders with Serbia and Hungary, legal adviser with Legal Department of MAI, personal adviser to state secretary for liaison with Parliament and European affairs, home affairs attaché at the Romanian Embassy to Japan and migration liaison officer in the framework of Regulation (EC) No.337/2004., and senior strategic planner with the General Directorate for Operational Management of the Romanian Ministry of Internal Affairs. His most recent professional experience has been the position of training manager (seconded national expert) at the European Security and Defence College (ESDC), Brussels.
Mr. Simina is Law graduate (Law Faculty of the Romanian Police Academy, Bucharest), holds an MA (High European Studies) from SISEC - West University of Timisoara and a PhD in Economics from the same University. Graduated the Romanian National College for Home Affairs (Strategic Management of Home Affairs) and attended the 7th CSDP High Level Course Konrad Adenauer 2011-20122 of the European Security and Defence College (ESDC).

I am an ethnographer with a multidisciplinary background in sociology, human geography and anthropology. My core field of expertise is migration, with a focus on migration governance, migration-development linkages, and migration and diversity in host societies. I have a strong interest in the epistemology and practice of qualitative research methods. I strive for knowledge that can make a difference in the world we live in and often work at the crossroads between academia and practice.

Paddy is a Zambian national with over 16 years of professional experience as a Development Economist and Migration governance expert. Her work covers regional integration and governance. Her experience includes supporting NGOs, governments, Regional Economic Communities (RECs) as well as UN agencies in programme formulation, implementation, undertaking research as well as monitoring and evaluation. She has worked with the European Commission, UN agencies (UNICEF, IOM, UNESCO), bilateral donors as well as consultancy firms as programme manager, coordinator and consultant. She holds a Master in Financial Economics from SOAS and BSC Development & Economics from LSE. She is fluent in English, French and Swahili. She has lived and worked in Zambia, Tanzania, China, Malaysia, and with missions to Ethiopia, Senegal, The Gambia, Kenya, South Africa among others. She is an advisory member of the Global Research Forum on Diaspora and Transnationalism (GRFDT) .

I am scholar of migration, transnational and translocal processes as linked to livelihoods, aspirations and identities. This research extends to climate change, rural-urban connectivities, societal engagement with new technologies, the role of diasporas and reconsiderations of the contested notion of development.