Experts Database

Professor of Political Sociology

I am a senior researcher at the University of Osnabrück, Germany. My research focusses on international migration and urban developments and, more broadly, on the interrelation of materiality and sociality in late modern societies. I habilitated at the Department of Geography, University of Bremen, Germany, in 2019 (venia legendi “Humangeographie”) and obtained my PhD at Bielefeld University, Germany, in 2013. In 2017, I was a Visiting Academic at the Department of Geography at Durham University, UK. My most recent book is on the nexus of migration, materility and identity ("Migration, Materialität und Identität. Verortungen zwischen Hier und Dort", published in German in 2020, Steiner Verlag).

Lea Müller-Funk is currently a Research Fellow at the German Institute of Global and Area Studies, where her research focuses on migration aspirations and drivers in (forced) migration, migration and refugee governance, and diaspora politics with a geographical focus on the Middle East, North Africa and Europe. Previously, she was a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Research Fellow at the Department of Sociology at the University of Amsterdam and a postdoctoral fellow at the Department of Politics and International Relations at the University of Oxford. She earned a joint PhD in Comparative Politics and Arabic Studies (summa cum laude) from the Centre des Recherches Internationales (CERI) at Sciences Po Paris and the Department for Near Eastern Studies at Vienna University in 2016. Methodologically, she applies different approaches including in-depth and life history interviews, survey research, mixed methods, content analysis, and online ethnography.

Before her PhD, she was a trainee at the Department of the European Council and the Council of the European Union at the Austrian Foreign Ministry (2010-2011). She attended Vienna University (BA in Political Science, 2009; Magister in Arabic and Islamic Studies, 2010), the Institut National des Langues et Cultures Orientales in Paris (2007/2008), and Sciences Po Paris (MA in Comparative Politics / Middle East and Muslim World, 2010). Lea has held research affiliations to the Institut français du Proche-Orient Beirut (2018), the Migration Reseach Center at Koç University (2018), Nuffield College (2017), the Netherlands-Flemish Institute in Cairo (2012) and the American University Beirut (2009).

Shepherd Mutsvara is pursuing a joint doctorate program in Political Sciences and Administration with the Pedagogical University of Krakow and Ghent University. His research project focuses on the effects of economic liberalization on refugee movements in Sub-Saharan Africa. It seeks to establish if economic liberalization has become a serious form of economic persecution which International Law should take into consideration in the adjudication of asylum claims.

Nevena Nancheva is Senior Lecturer in International Relations at University of Roehampton in London and a researcher at the Centre for Equality, Justice and Social Change. Her interest is in defining and negotiating identities and difference in various migration-related context. She has written on European integration, nationalism, national minorities and refugee migration. Recent projects include EU Migrants in the UK: Community, Identity and Belonging (funded by the British Academy/ Leverhulme Trust), and Ethnic Food Entrepreneurship for Community Inclusion (funded by the Mayor of London).

Daniel Naujoks is the director of the International Organization & UN Studies Specialization at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs. He is author of ‘Migration, Citizenship, and Development’ (2013, Oxford University Press) and his research focuses on global governance, migration, refugees, citizenship, multilateralism and global development. Dr. Naujoks regularly advises governments and international organizations on issues of migration, diaspora engagement, human rights, displacement, and development.

Tony NDEFRU FRACHAHA, from the Democratic Republic of Congo. A Computer Science Engineer, Writer, and an International Traveller. Diploma in Social Sciences and Bachelor in Computer Sciences (Networks, CISCO, AWS), diploma in Theology (Theologian at the Theological Institute: "IBBC" – "Instituto Biblico O Brasil para Cristo", São Paulo, Brazil) and other training, with better Experiences and knowledge’s performed on Environment, National and International Diplomacy, Politics and Local Governance, on Human Rights, Case Worker, Project Management, Moralist and Mediator and International Migration Issues. Reliable, friendly, lively, and adaptable professional with a background in technical education, a self-starter, equally comfortable as a team leader. Well-developed interpersonal skills, Still looking for opportunities to optimize existing, share experiences, and learn.

Migration analyst professional in the areas of data and policy analysis in international migration, humanitarian assistance and migration, migration research grant management, statistical analysis, and migration research capacity strengthening. Demonstrated history of delivering high quality results within agreed timelines and budgets on projects implemented by the IOM, UNECA, Development Finance and academic institutions in numerous countries including Kenya, Somaliland, Uganda, Ethiopia, Lesotho, South Africa, Malawi, Swaziland, Namibia, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Bangladesh, and the US.