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Key research themes
1. How do institutional roles and inter-institutional dynamics shape the effectiveness and outcomes of asylum litigation in national contexts?
This theme investigates the interplay among lawyers, judges, government officials, and country experts within asylum adjudication processes, focusing on how institutional structures, policy ambiguities, and legal practices constrain or facilitate access to justice for asylum seekers. It highlights the semi-autonomous legal field where decisions, legal interpretations, and discretionary policies coalesce to affect the legal redress possibilities and protection outcomes.
Key finding: This ethnographic study identifies the British asylum system as a semi-autonomous social field shaped by interactions between the Home Office, judiciary, immigration lawyers, and country experts. It reveals how Home Office... Read more
Key finding: Through ethnographic research of asylum administrative practices in several European countries, this work uncovers operational disparities in asylum appeals and decision-making environments beyond legal texts. It demonstrates... Read more
Key finding: This ethnographic analysis of Spanish and Italian asylum administrative systems conceptualizes 'ghost bureaucracy'—the frequent absence or mediated presence of street-level bureaucrats due to digitalization and outsourcing.... Read more
2. What are the challenges and ethical considerations regarding access to health and social services for asylum seekers within national legal and policy frameworks?
This theme examines the intersection of asylum law with health and social justice, focusing on how asylum seekers’ rights to health care and well-being are framed, limited, or guaranteed within national constitutions, international law, and health policies. It interrogates moral and constitutional debates about service provision, the differential treatment of asylum seekers compared to citizens and recognized refugees, and the broader implications for health justice in asylum contexts.
Key finding: Arguing from a moral philosophical perspective, this study asserts that asylum seekers and refugees possess a moral right to access health services as part of the broader human rights obligations inherent in asylum. It... Read more
Key finding: This legal analysis evaluates South Africa's Draft National Health Insurance Bill provisions that restrict asylum seekers' access to health care services to emergency treatment only. It finds that such differential treatment... Read more
3. How do legal frameworks and policy proposals at the supranational level (especially the EU) impact asylum protection systems, responsibility-sharing, and the coherence of refugee rights?
This theme covers the structural reform efforts, regulatory harmonization challenges, and human rights implications of asylum policy reforms at the EU level. It evaluates the limitations and contradictions within the Common European Asylum System (CEAS), focusing on responsibility allocation mechanisms like the Dublin Regulation, the tensions between national sovereignty and EU integration goals, and proposals aimed at enhancing solidarity, fairness, and legal coherence across Member States.
Key finding: This policy analysis critically assesses the 2015-2016 European Commission proposals for CEAS reform, arguing they insufficiently progress toward a uniform asylum system. The proposals prioritize preventing secondary... Read more
Key finding: Focusing on the aftermath of the 2015 refugee surge, this report finds the CEAS fragmented and strained, with Member States adopting divergent policies including border fencing and national ceilings contravening EU solidarity... Read more
Key finding: This critical analysis attributes the EU asylum policy crisis to reliance on coercive intra-EU responsibility allocation, unrealistic border control expectations, and prohibitive external measures that inadvertently promote... Read more
4. How do asylum seeker narratives and credibility assessments in asylum processes interact with the concepts of truth, deception, and cultural misunderstandings?
This theme explores the complex dynamics surrounding the evaluation of asylum seekers' credibility, focusing on the blurred boundaries between lying and truth-telling in asylum claims. It critically examines governmental emphasis on evidence and deception detection, the challenges posed by cultural differences in narrative construction, and the ethical and legal implications for asylum adjudication. This analysis addresses systemic suspicion and its effects on asylum seekers' experiences and access to protection.
Key finding: This work combines legal, policy, and narrative analysis to demonstrate how asylum credibility assessments are fraught with challenges, including high governmental focus on truth and proof that often neglect contextual... Read more
5. How do post-asylum experiences and the embodiment of exclusionary state practices affect the rights and identities of asylum seekers and refugees?
This theme interrogates the lived realities of asylum seekers and refugees beyond formal asylum recognition, focusing on the reproduction of colonial power in immigration control, experiences of social exclusion, and the embodied impacts of restrictive policies. It considers how racialized logics and administrative practices foster internalization of 'otherness,' affect psychosocial wellbeing, and shape the subjectivities of displaced persons within host countries.
Key finding: Drawing on qualitative data and postcolonial theory, this article argues UK asylum management reproduces colonial racial hierarchies through policies and practices that position asylum seekers as 'other,' fostering... Read more
6. What are the emerging challenges and potential legal protections for new categories of displaced persons caused by environmental degradation and complex state failures?
This theme addresses the increasing displacement caused by environmental changes and systemic state collapse, highlighting gaps in international refugee law and protection mechanisms. It considers the evolution of legal concepts concerning environmentally displaced persons and those fleeing failed states, critiques the limitations of existing asylum frameworks rooted in persecution paradigms, and calls for expanded legal definitions and policy innovations to bridge protection gaps for vulnerable populations.
Key finding: This study critically evaluates international legal responses to forced migration induced by environmental degradation, noting the absence of binding international instruments specifically protecting environmentally displaced... Read more
Key finding: Through case analyses from Lebanon, Syria, Sudan, and Venezuela, this research reveals how refugee law's narrow focus on targeted persecution fails to address displacement caused by state collapse and institutional paralysis.... Read more