Experts Database

Kristina Bakkær Simonsen is Assistant Professor at the Department of Political Science at Aarhus University in Denmark. Her research focuses on subjective dimensions of immigrant integration, as well as national boundary drawing in political rhetoric and public opinion.

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.

Harshita Sinha is a PhD Candidate at the Department of International Development at the London School of Economics. Her doctoral research focuses on Internal migrant workers experiences of precarity and citizenship in the Indian informal economy. She looks at the intersection of citizenship, social protection and informal labour regimes in urban destination states.

Migration scholar

Migration researcher working primarily on irregular migration and human development. Also mentoring and supervising students in the Master's in Public Policy and Human Development (MPP) programme in Maastricht University (UM) & United Nations University - MERIT (UNU-MERIT) | Current projects: UM & UNU-MERIT - Filipino Irregular Migrant Domestic Workers in the Netherlands (PhD thesis); Measuring Irregular Migration and Related Policies (MIrreM) - Horizon Europe (2022-2025) | Recent publication:
Siruno, L., Swerts, T., & Leerkes, A. (2022). Personal Recognition Strategies of Undocumented Migrant Domestic Workers in The Netherlands. Journal of Immigrant & Refugee Studies, 1-14. https://doi.org/10.1080/15562948.2022.2077503

I currently work as Senior Research Associate in Qualitative Research at the University of Bristol. Prior to the current position, I worked as post-doctoral researcher at the Department of Communication, University of Vienna. I have been trained as an interdisciplinary migration scholar with a substantive focus on the scientific study of public health, work and employment, cultural sociology, forced migration, integration and development, multilevel governance, welfare studies, different forms of inequalities and exclusion, and public opinion. The geographical scope of my academic work mostly focuses on the Global South, particularly the context of Turkey, but some of my ongoing work also looks at the context of developed countries (e.g. Austria, Germany, Italy, Spain, United Kingdom) as well as the context of developing countries (e.g. Bosnia and Herzegovina, Lebanon, Jordan).