Experts Database

“Maysa Ayoub is Political Sociologist specialized in Migration and Refugee Studies. She has over fifteen years of experience in research and teaching in the field of International Migration. At present, she holds the position of the Associate Director of the Center for Migration and Refugee Studies (CMRS) of the American University in Cairo (AUC). She has a PhD in Political Science from the Faculty of Economics and Political Science of Cairo University and an MA in Sociology as well as a post-graduate diploma in Migration studies from the American University in Cairo. Her PhD thesis analyzed the relationship between migration policies, public opinion, and media comparatively examining the policy response of European countries in the face of the Syrian refugee crisis of 2015. She researched and taught courses on Migration Policies, Integration and livelihoods of minorities, Diaspora and Transnationalism, Social problems in the Middle East and the Arab World, and Qualitative Research methodologies”

I am currently a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Neuchâtel with a Swiss Government Excellence Grant.
I am also a researcher at CIES-Iscte and an associate researcher at the Emigration Observatory (OEm), Lisbon.
I got my PhD in Sociology in July 2023 (Iscte - University Institute of Lisbon, Portugal) with a thesis on the return migration of Portuguese migrant couples to Switzerland at the time of retirement. I approached the issue of return and non-return migration from a threefold perspective of gender, life course and transnationality. From 2018 to 2022, I was awarded a PhD scholarship by the FCT, the Portuguese national agency for scientific research (Ref: SFRH/BD/128722/2017). During this period, I was also an associate doctoral student of nccr - on the move (National Centre of Competence in Research -The Migration-Mobility Nexus). Since 2020, I am also member of the coordination team of the Meetings on Migratory Experiences, a joint initiative of CIES-Iscte and CRIA, in Lisbon.

A. Aziz is a PhD candidate at School of Communication, Digital Media Research Centre (DMRC), Queensland University of Technology (QUT), Australia. His current research examines the social uses and consequences of digital technologies among Rohingya diaspora in a transnational and comparative context. His research focuses on digital and cultures practices of everyday life with particular emphasis on diaspora , religion, gender, ethnic identity and inclusion. Earlier, he studied and researched in Austria, Belgium and the Netherlands under the Erasmus Mundus scholarship and Netherlands fellowship program.

Dr. Svitlana Babenko
PhD in Sociology, Docent,
Project Researcher, Department of Global Politic Studies(GPS), Malmö Institute for Studies of Migration, Diversity andWelfare (MIM) at Malmö  University, Sweden;
Associate Professor (Docent) at Social Structures and Social Relations Department, Head of MA program Gender Studies with double degree with Lund University, Sweden, at Faculty, of Sociology Taras Shevchenko National
University of Kyiv, Kyiv, Ukraine. 
Head of Kyiv Unit of Sociological Association of Ukraine
Associate Research Fellow, Department of Sociology and Department of Gender Studies, Lund University, Sweden

Current research project at MIM, Malmo University:
European Solidarity, Institutional Changes in Migration Policy and Adaptation Strategies: Abolition of the Other and Social Integration of Refugees in the Context of the Russian War in Ukraine

Author of about 50 academic publications, including in English:
Kutsenko O., Bagieva E., Babenko S. De-Othering Politics and Practices of Forced Migrants in Modern Society/
Ideology and Politics Journal . 2(16) 2020, pp.62-82 https://www.ideopol.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/ENG.-
1.5.-Kutsenko-Bataeva-Babenko.pdf
Edström, J., Aly, R., Greig, A., Walker, C., Babenko, S., Çağlar, M., Kudaibergenova,
D., Müller, C. (2019). Masculinities and Transition: Enduring Privilege?. Brighton:
IDS.
https://opendocs.ids.ac.uk/opendocs/bitstream/handle/20.500.12413/14685…
ties_and_Transition_Online_FINAL.pdf?sequence=1
Kuznetsova I., Mikheieva O., Catling J., Round R., Babenko S. (2019). The Mental
Health of IDPs and the general population in Ukraine: The Results of a National
Survey and Interviews with Professionals. Briefing paper.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/331703577_The_Mental_Health_of…
and_the_general_population_in_Ukraine

Bárbara Bäckström has PhD in International Health, master degree in Historical and Social Demography and bachelor Degree in Sociology. She is an Associate Professor at the Open University in the Department of Social and Management Sciences since 2000. She has published several articles in specialized magazines, as well as books and book chapters. In terms of research it is focused on the intersection of migration and health, migration's impact on health, diversity and inclusion of migrants,. She participates in several projects and initiatives, including Cost Actions such as "Connecting Theory and Practical Issues of Migration and Religious Diversity (COREnet)," "Transnational Collaboration on Bullying, Migration and Integration at School Level (TRIBES)," and "Transnational Family Dynamics in Europe (TraFaDy)." Additionally, has been involved in various research projects addressing issues such as school success for students with immigrant backgrounds, intercultural mediation, immigrant health policies, and the integration of refugees in Portugal. Also belongs to the Observatory of Professional Paths and Life of Graduates of the Open University team and the network RESMI Higher Education Network for Intercultural Mediation.

Xóchitl Bada is an Associate Professor in the Latin American and Latino Studies Program at the University of Illinois at Chicago. She is the author of Mexican Hometown Associations in Chicagoacán: From Local to Transnational Civic Engagement and coedited The Oxford Handbook of the Sociology of Latin America, Accountability Across Borders: Migrant Rights in North America, and The Routledge History of Modern Latin American Migration. She is co-author of Scaling Migrant Worker Rights: How Advocates Collaborate and Contest State Power (University of California Press, 2023)

Ciprian Badescu studied business and sociology, obtaining a doctorate in sociology of organizations, followed by a post-doctorate in sociology of culture, cultural economy and social economics at the Romanian Academy. His more recent work includes participating in a two-year research project on improving research infrastructure on social assistance in low- and middle-income countries, completed at the Global Development Institute, University of Manchester.