Phd researcher
Alieke Broidioi
I am a PhD researcher at the Department of Translation, Interpreting and Communication (VTC). My doctoral research focuses on accent bias in recruitment in Flanders. I study how both regional and foreign accents influence the evaluation of candidates during hiring processes. I am not only interested in whether candidates with an accent are less likely to be hired, but also in the underlying mechanisms and perceptions that may explain these differences.
Sofie Beunen
Sofie Beunen is a Baekeland PhD fellow, conducting her research in collaboration with the Centre for Diversity and Learning and TAJO vzw. Her PhD focuses on the study-choice process of disadvantaged youth during the transition from primary to secondary education. Using a longitudinal, quasi-experimental mixed-methods design, the project aims to develop a scientifically grounded impactmodel for interventions that strengthen the study-choice process of disadvantaged students and help reduce social inequality in Flemish educational trajectories.After obtaining her Master’s degree in Sociology, Sofie gained experience in the fields of education and diversity. As a researcher, she has previously examined what cultural participation means for people from diverse ethnic backgrounds and explored teachers’ perceptions of diversity. In applied research projects, she experimented with learning motivation among disadvantaged youth and language-oriented partnerships between schools and parents.
Zahra El Morabit Sghire
Zahra El Morabit Sghire earned her Master’s degrees in Language and Literature (English) and (French-Spanish), both summa cum laude, from Ghent University in 2023 and 2022, respectively. In 2023, Zahra began her PhD research on literature written by Moroccan migrants in Catalonia, supported by funding from the FWO. Her research examines how Generation 1.5 authors address the intersections of identity, mental health, and migration in their works.Zahra has presented her research at several international conferences, including the “Congreso Escrituras desterritorializadas: Literatura femenina y migración hispanoamericana en Europa,” organized by the Universidad del País Vasco (Spain) and KU Leuven (Belgium) in 2021. She has also been a visiting scholar at the Universitat Rovira i Virgili.Her broader research interests include intersectional identity, postcolonialism, and the representation of marginalized voices in European literature. Zahra is a member of CESSMIR, where she collaborates with scholars on interdisciplinary approaches to migration literature. She has published her work in Revista Letral and is preparing a paper on the literary representations of intergenerational relationships.
Hannah Grondelaers
Hannah Grondelaers is an FWO PhD Fellow at Ghent University’s Social Work and Social Pedagogy Department and is affiliated to the UNU-CRIS Migration and Social Policy cluster in Bruges. She conducts research on Ukrainian women’s return trajectories between Belgium and Ukraine, using multi-scalar ethnography to study how gendered and geopolitical imaginaries on different scales (EU, Belgian/Ukrainian, social work and personal scale) shape the women’s trajectories. Hannah holds a Bachelor and Master in History from KU Leuven. She graduated from her second Master in Conflict and Development Studies at Ghent University. For her master’s thesis, Hannah studied the context-specific solidarity and support practices emerging between Ukrainian mothers living at an emergency reception centre.
Brent Theys
I am Brent Theys. After earning my educational bachelor’s degree in English and Catholic Religion at Thomas More (2020) and my master’s in Educational Sciences at the University of Antwerp (2022), including an FSW Honours programme on educational inequality, I worked as a guest lecturer in an educational bachelor’s programme and as a secondary school teacher in English and Catholic Religion. From October 2023 to February 2024, I worked as a temporary teaching and research assistant at the Department of Educational Studies (UGent) under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Ruben Vanderlinde, followed by a position as scientific staff member for the organization of the upcoming Master in Primary Education (March–September 2024). Since November 1, 2024, I have been a doctoral researcher on an FWO mandate for fundamental research, with Prof. Dr. Ruben Vanderlinde (UGent) as primary supervisor and Prof. Dr. Noel Clycq (UAntwerpen) as co-supervisor.
Juliette Michaud
Juliette is currently enrolled in a joint PhD at Ghent University and ULB in Brussels. She obtained her Master’s Degree in Multidisciplinary Translation from the Institut supérieur de traducteurs-interprètes (formely ISTI, now attached to ULB), with the language combination English-Arabic-French, as well as a second Bachelor adding Spanish. During her Master’s degree and onwards, she started working as a public service interpreter in different structures in Brussels. After several years on the field of interpretation and teenagers literacy, she started a PhD under the supervision of Prof. Dr. K. Maryns and Prof. Dr. J. Jaspers in 2025. Her project focuses on linguistic accommodation strategies amongst Arabic interpreters and their interlocutors, and builds on a participatory methodology involving interpreters as well as providers and users of interpreting services.
Laura Robaey
Laura Robaey is a doctoral researcher at Ghent University, in the German section of the Department of Translation, Interpreting and Communication. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Applied Linguistics and a Master’s degree in Interpreting (2022, Ghent University) and Teaching (2025, Ghent University). Since 2023, she has been researching gender-fair language in multilingual service provision contexts. In 2024, she received funding from the Research Foundation Flanders for the project “Gender-fair language use in interpreted interaction between service providers and gender-diverse persons”. Her research investigates how interpreted encounters shape the expression and negotiation of identity in intercultural communication. Her research interests include multilingualism, dialogue interpreting, and language as a practice of social integration.
Anthe Baele
Anthe Baele is a historian and FWO doctoral student at the Department of History at Ghent University. After obtaining a master’s degree in History at Ghent University, she completed an International Advanced Master’s degree in Cultural Anthropology and Development Studies at KU Leuven. Her research focuses on the role of history in relation to the metaphorical ‘other’, with particular attention to the reception of historical cultures. Integration courses form the central field of research. Her current project compares the role of history in integration policy in Flanders and the Netherlands. Specifically, she investigates both the historical development of integration policy in both countries and its practice through participatory observations in integration courses. In this way, she studies how the policy takes shape in the classroom and how both teachers and newcomers relate to the historical content offered.
Aimee Kelley
Aimee Kelley is a PhD student at Ghent University and has a background in creative writing, law, and public health. She studies how secondary schools in Denmark and England support the wellbeing of newcomer adolescents in the context of lanague learning and the role of care and social inclusion in the classroom. In addition to her PhD research, Aimee also runs art and writing workshops for displaced children and collaborates on photo/video projects withrefugees in Brussels.
Simon O’Donovan
I am a doctoral researcher at the Department of Translation, Interpreting, and Communication, and also part of the MULTIPLES research group. I graduated from my Masters in Applied Linguistics at UCL/ IOE (London) in 2020. In my doctoral research I am investigating the on/off-line discourses of being/ being made and being from here/ not being from here in the Belgian reception network.
Shauny Seynhaeve
Shauny Seynhaeve is a PhD student at the department of Translation, Interpreting and Communication at Ghent University. She holds a Master’s degree in English and Dutch Linguistics and Literature and an additional Master’s degree in language teaching. Since October 2020 she is working on a research project about the educational and interactional reality of regular secondary education for Newly Arrived Migrant Students.
Sari Goukens
Sari Goukens is a doctoral researcher currently working on a joint PhD project at the University of Antwerp and Ghent University. She aims to research the influence of interpreters on the entextualisation process during sham marriage investigations in Flanders, looking into both municipal and police investigations. She has previously worked on a Fedasil National Project at the Department of Translation, Interpreting and Communication (UGent), aiming to evaluate the digital competencies and needs of asylum seekers in Belgium. She studied at Ghent University’s Department of Translation, Interpreting and Communication, and has obtained a BA in Applied Linguistics and an MA in Interpreting (Dutch, English and Turkish), including a certificate for sworn interpreting.
Soline Ballet
Soline Ballet (they/she) is a PhD researcher at the Department of Social Work and Social Pedagogy and is also affiliated to the Migration Law Research Group. Soline obtained a Master in Conflict and Development Studies at Ghent University. Their research interests include processes of illegalisation of migrants, solidarity, activism and other forms of support. Soline has also been involved in grassroots initiatives for migrants in both Brussels and Athens. Their current research project, supervised by Prof. Dr. Robin Vandevoordt, Prof. Dr. Ellen Desmet and Prof. Dr. Ine Lietaert, focuses on practices of structural, future-oriented socio-legal and psycho-social support for illegalised migrants in Belgium.
Woldegebriel Dagne Admasu
Woldegebriel Dagne Admasu is a doctoral researcher at the Migration Law Research Group, Ghent University. His PhD is funded by the NASCERE Joint Scholarship Program of Ghent University and Jimma University. His research interest inclines towards the analysis of Human Rights and Migration laws from a private law perspective. He has experience in doctrinal and socio-legal research. His doctoral research focuses on refugee’s right to work based on empirical socio-legal research in Ethiopia. His research is supervised by Prof. Dr. Ellen Desmet, Prof. Dr. Milena Belloni (UAntwerp) and Dr. Fekadu Adugna (Addis Ababa University).Woldegebriel is also affiliated to the Center for the Social Study of Migration and Refugees (CESSMIR) and the Human Rights Center (HRC) of Ghent University, Network on Migration and Global Mobility (MIGLOBA) of University of Antwerp, and Refugee Law Initiative (RLI) of University of London.
Wai Chu Starry Chung
Starry Chung is a researcher at the Department of Conflict and Development, specialising in transnational diaspora politics, resistance, and social movements. Her research examines how diasporic communities engage in transnational activism, shaping global debates on migration, identity, and policy-making. She focuses on grassroots mobilisation, systemic change, and the role of identity and solidarity in diaspora politics. She holds a B.S.Sc. in Global Studies from CUHK and an Erasmus Mundus Double Master’s in Global Studies from the University of Vienna and Ghent University. Her interdisciplinary training provides expertise in critical theory, historical analysis, and qualitative research. She has contributed to graduate-level teaching, supporting students in developing critical perspectives and research methodologies. Fluent in Cantonese, Mandarin, and English, she brings a global perspective to her research and actively engages with diverse academic communities.
Toyah Van der Poten
Toyah Van der Poten is a PhD researcher at the Department of sociology, Faculty of Political and Social Sciences at Ghent university. She has a history in documentary filmmaking and social-artistic work. The project she is working on focuses on the under representation of minorities in blood donation and questions the organizational field of blood donation. The lived experiences of missing minorities are studied through field work in Ghent (BE) and Leicester (UK).
Sarah Derveeuw
I am a PhD student working within the Equity in Healthcare Unit, within the Department of Public Health and Primary Care. My project seeks to document ethno-racial and migrant-background inequalities in preventive healthcare uptake (mainly cancer screening), applying an intersectional and structural lens, in the Belgian context. In addition to my research, I am a member of Afromedica, a not-for-profit organisation committed to promoting equity and addressing discrimination in healthcare. Prior to joining UGent I worked in the UK as a research assistant supporting an RCT of a psychological therapy for depression, for people living with HIV in Zimbabwe. I then worked clinically as an assistant psychologist in a secondary mental health service for dementia and older people’s mental health in Sussex, UK. I have a BSc in Clinical Psychology from the University of Kent and an MSc in Global Mental Health from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and King’s College London.
Mira Wyns
I’m a PhD researcher at the Department of Translation, Interpreting and Communication (VTC). I conduct research in the field of accent bias, more specifically in Flemish secondary and higher education. I investigate whether pupils and students feel discriminated against because of their accent, and whether teachers and lecturers underestimate them on the basis of their accent.
Naïma Lafrarchi
Naïma Lafrarchi holds a law degree, Master of Science in Instructional and Educational Science, and a Master in Educational Science specialisation ‘Curriculum Development and Innovation’. Lafrarchi also worked at the Knowledge Centre of the Higher Institute for Family Sciences of Odisee University College (Brussels) as a project supervisor and were she conducted research regarding religious ideals of Flemish Muslim parents and Muslim youngers in Belgium/Flanders (Odisee). She is a former lecturer in the Master’s programme in Islamic Theology and Religious Studies (KU Leuven). Her first book ‘Does religion makes a difference?’ is launched in 2017 in presence of the Minister of Education, Hilde Crevits, as well as national and international experts. Currently, she is working on a research project which aims to develop a didactical-pedagogical tool to support history teachers in Flemish secondary education to deal with controversial and historical sensitive topics.
Ophélie Mercier
Ophélie Mercier is a PhD Student in the department of Languages and Cultures. She graduated from Sciences Po Rennes and obtained a master in Conflict, Violence and Development at SOAS. Her first resaerch experience explored theatre as a form of resistance in Palestine, doing ethnographic fieldwork with the Freedom Theatre. She worked in Cairo from 2013-16 as a street clown performer and social theatre practitioner with the collective Outa Hamra. Back in France, she coordinated for four years the work of the organisation Caravan, an international network for youth and social circus. In her PhD she is exploring life trajoectories of Egyptian artists residing in Europe, focusing on the reconfigurations of their artistic practices and looking at the transnational dynamics of the production and distribution of their art works.
Rezart Hoxhaj
Rezart Hoxhaj holds a co-tutorship PhD in Economics of Migration from the University of Bari Aldo Moro and the University of Lille I. He was a research fellow at the Migration Policy Centre and at Roma Tre University. His research expertise includes immigrant’s integration, skilled immigration and FDI. Currently he is a Marie Curie Fellow at UGent working on the time use of immigrants.
Roos-Marie van den Bogaard
Roos-Marie van den Bogaard is a PhD candidate at Ghent University. She carries out research on the inclusion of families with international and temporary protection in Belgium as part of the REFUFAM project, which consists of an interdisciplinary consortium. Her research is carried out under supervision of Prof. Dr. Ellen Desmet, Prof. Dr. Robin Vandevoordt and Dr. Milena Belloni. Previously, Roos-Marie worked as Junior Advocacy Officer at the Platform for International Cooperation on Undocumented Migrants (PICUM), advocating for the rights of undocumented migrants in Europe. Additionally, in her capacity as independent consultant, she conducted research on issues relating to free movement rights of mobile EU citizens. Through her volunteer work for the Dutch Refugee Council, as well as her work as Junior Program Officer on migration at Justice and Peace Netherlands, she familiarized herself more with refugee law and policy in the European context.
Sara Lembrechts
Sara Lembrechts is a PhD researcher at the Migration Law Research Group at Ghent University. She studies the position of children, young people and families in appellate asylum proceedings in Belgium, using a multidisciplinary approach of legal ethnography. Sara has a Master’s in Children’s Rights and Childhood Studies (FU Berlin), an LLM in International Laws (Maastricht University) and a Bachelor in European Studies (Maastricht University). She has worked as a researcher and policy advisor for the Children’s Rights Knowledge Centre and was involved in several research projects about children’s rights and child abduction.
Sara Delva
Sara Delva is an assistant in the Department of Translation, Interpretation and Communication and a member of the MULTIPLES research group. Her doctoral research deals with the right to language assistance for foreign-language speakers involved in criminal proceedings. More specifically, she investigates how international legislation on the right to an interpreter and the right to translation is concretely applied by Belgian police forces, public prosecutors’ offices and courts. Besides her research activities, she also teaches in the Bachelor of Applied Linguistics and the Master of Translation.
Leni Linthout
Graduated as a Master in Social Work and Social Pedagogy, I aspire the ambition to advocate for equal rights for people in vulnerable situations – with a particular focus on migrants and refugees. Between November 2019 and October 2021, I contributed to the implementation of a European project INHeRE. As from November 2021, I am doing a Joint PhD in Health Sciences (UGent) and Psychology (ULille). I am affiliated to the Gender and Violence research team within the International Centre for Reproductive Health. My doctoral study focusses on forms of violence and its impact on well-being, health and identities of male migrants in French and Belgian transit zones. I apply a mixed-methods study design combining ethnographic fieldwork and quantitative research methods over a longitudinal timespan. To broaden my knowledge on European policy-making, I am involved in an Master programme on European Integration and Development with a special focus on “Migration” and “Climate governance”.
Lies Saelens
Lies Saelens obtained a Master of Science in Theoretical and Experimental Psychology at the University of Ghent in July 2022. Since the 1st of September 2022, Lies has been working as a PhD researcher within the research groups Hedera (Health and Demographic Research) and CuDOS (Cultural Diversity: Opportunities & Socialisation) at the Department of Sociology. Her project focuses on mental health stigma among ethnic minority and majority adolescents in Flanders and examines how the school context plays a role in this, more specific, social relationships with peers and teachers, the school culture, the school structure and the mental health school policy. In doing so, she will use a large-scale quantitative dataset in combination with in-depth interviews. She is working under supervision of Prof. Piet Bracke, Dr. Melissa Ceuterick and Dr. Fanny D’hondt.
Laurence De Backer
Laurence obtained her Master’s in Spanish and English Linguistics and Literature at Ghent University, and is finishing a second Master’s in Social and Cultural Anthropology at KU Leuven. After being granted an FWO Fellowship in 2021, she joined the Linguistics department and started her PhD research under the joint supervision of Prof. Dr. R. Enghels and Prof. Dr. G. Jacobs. Her project tackles the persuasive function of metaphorical language in news media communication, with as case study the topic of Latin American migration in the US written press. Innovatively, Laurence adopts a holistic approach to pursue this subject, complementing a linguistic focus on media texts with careful attention to news production and reception. Laurence’s areas of interest straddle Linguistics and Anthropology, and include metaphor theory, mediated communication, im/mobility, (de)colonization and futurities, with main research foci on the US and Latin-America as well as on contemporary artivism.
Julija Kekstaite
Julija Kekstaite is doctoraatsonderzoeker Sociologie aan de Universiteit Gent en lid van het interfacultair Centrum voor de Sociale Studie van Migratie en Vluchten (CESSMIR). Haar werk onderzoekt migratiebeheer, solidariteit en verzet tegen verschillende vormen van racisme die in hedendaags Europa door de staat gesanctioneerd worden. Met behulp van etnografische methoden onderzoekt ze momenteel de grassrootsmobilisatie voor/met geïllegaliseerde migranten aan de grens tussen Litouwen en Wit-Rusland en de raciale dynamieken van migratiebeheer in Litouwen.
Julie Daelman
Julie Daelman (she/her) is an academic assistant at the Center of Speech and Language Sciences (CELSAS; department of Rehabilitation Sciences) at Ghent University. She conducts research under the supervision of prof. dr. Evelien D’haeseleer and prof. dr. Kristiane Van Lierde. Her research topics concern the Dutch language abilities of bilingual children in Flanders and evidence-based methods to diagnose developmental language disorders in bilingual children. She obtained a Master of Science in the Logopaedic and Audiologic Sciences (specialization: Logopaedics) at Ghent University. During her studies, Julie developed a special interest in issues such as internationalization & interculturalization and health care services in vulnerable populations. After completing her master’s degree, this interest resulted in volunteering with bilingual children with disablities as a speech language therapist in Sri Lanka and is nowadays an important incentive for her PhD research.
Marjolein De Pau
Marjolein De Pau has acquired a bachelor’s degree in Applied Psychology, a master’s degree in Clinical Psychology and a master’s degree in Conflict- and Development studies. Her professional experience as a clinical psychologist lies predominantly in (high secure) forensic psychiatric care. Her academic expertise extends to vulnerable groups (due to mental illness) in the criminal justice system, and the organization of forensic mental health care delivery.
Maud Martens
Maud Martens is a doctoral researcher at the Department of Social Work and Social Pedagogy and the Migration Law Research Group. She has a broad interest in socio-legal research on forced migration, with particular attention to migrants in transit. In this context, she explores various forms of support, solidarity and activism for and with migrants. In her current research project, supervised by Prof. Dr. Robin Vandevoordt and Prof. Dr. Ellen Desmet, Maud examines the organisation and implications of socio-legal support for migrants in Northern France. She obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Educational Sciences, a Master’s degree in Political Sciences, and a Master’s degree in Conflict and Development Studies.
Lore Roels
Lore Roels (she/her) is a doctoral researcher at the Migration Law Research Group (MigrLaw) and the International Centre for Reproductive Health (ICRH) at Ghent University. She is a member of the interfaculty Centre for the Social Study of Migration and Refugees (CESSMIR) and the Human Rights Centre (HRC) at the university and a steering committee member of the international Women in Refugee Law (WiRL) network. Lore is a lawyer specialising in human rights, migration law and gender studies (Master of Law, Ghent University; LL.M. in Human Rights, LSE). Her research analyses the gender sensitivity of asylum procedures and decisions concerning persons who flee sexual and gender-based violence.
Lotte Morel
Lotte Morel obtained a Master of Science in Psychology (Clinical Psychology) in 2021, and a Master of Science in Conflict and Development Studies in 2023, both at Ghent University.In her PhD she combines her interests in both these domains by researching the role of structural-institutional and cultural racism within mental health care institutions in Flanders. Using a qualitative methodology and grounding the project in a psychoanalytical theoretical framework based on the work of Fanon, she aims to investigate these dimensions of racism as well as how it impacts the mental wellbeing of patients with a migration background.
Lotte Remue
Lotte Remue is a doctoral researcher at the Department of Translation, Interpreting and Communication, where she graduated as an interpreter Dutch-French-English in 2022. Her PhD focuses on the multilingual resources and strategies employed in the communication between unaccompanied refugee minors and their legal guardians.
Louise Devos
Since September 2023, Louise has been working as a doctoral researcher in the field of labour economics at Ghent University. Prior to this, she studied Economic Sciences, with a major in Economic Policy, also at Ghent University. Her research focuses on measuring, explaining, and addressing the labour market disadvantages of individuals with a migration background, primarily in Belgium.
Emma Maes
Emma Maes is a PhD researcher at the Department of Translation, Interpreting and Communication and a member of the research group MULTIPLES. She conducts research in the field of Second Language Acquisition(SLA) and focuses on the learning process of adult migrant learners of Dutch (NT2) who have limited or interrupted formal education. Her doctoral research investigates in particular which types of feedback – implicit or explicit – lead to measurable learning gains for this population. In addition, her project will validate some commonly used measurement instruments in the field of SLA, thereby focusing on the possible construct bias these measurement instruments may pose for learners with limited formal education or literacy skills.
Elsemieke van Osch
Elsemieke van Osch is a PhD researcher affiliated with CESSMIR, Ghent University, and with the Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology, KU Leuven. She obtained an interdisciplinary Master of Arts in International Migration and Human Rights Law (Distinction) from the University of Kent. She was granted the MacGregor Award for her master thesis, for which she conducted ethnographic fieldwork with undocumented families in Brussels. Between 2016 and 2019, she worked in the field of asylum/migration. Drawing on these experiences, she is committed to building bridges between policy/practice, and academia. Her PhD-research consists of a longitudinal ethnography of families’ experiences in the Belgian asylum regime. Taking as a starting point the process of applying for asylum, she follows families within and beyond the multiple stages of the asylum trajectory, capturing their experiences through participant observation, in-depth interviewing, home visits and storytelling.
Elisa Robbe
In 2019, I graduated at as a Master of Arts in Interpreting (Dutch-Eng-Spanish), after which I continued a Master of Science in Conflict & Development Studies. These two masters gave me the tools to prepare a research application on migration in the context of transit in Mexico. After working with the NGO Oxfam Belgium at the education and campaigns department, I was able to start a PhD in 2023 with the Spanish section of the department of Translation, Interpreting & Communication at Ghent University, where I graduated in 2019. My interests lie at the intersections of language, (digital) communication, solidarity and migration.
Duha Ceylan
Duha is currently pursuing a joint interdisciplinary doctoral track as an FWO fellow in the Sociology department at VUB and the Department of Social Work and Social Pedagogy at Ghent University. Her research focuses on inequalities and racism within childcare among newcomer migrants and refugees. She completed her Bachelor’s degree in Social Sciences at Vrije Universiteit Brussel and Ghent, where she gained practical experience in applying observation skills and analyzing societal challenges from the perspectives of political science, communication studies, and sociology. She furthered her studies by obtaining a Master of Science in Sociology from the University of Gent, with a minor in Conflict and Development. To ensure a comprehensive training, she specifically chose methodological courses in both qualitative and quantitative methodologies during her Bachelor’s and Master’s programs.
Jolien Tegenbos
Junior researcher with 8 years of experience in the fields of conflict, displacement, humanitarianism and university development cooperation. I have a master’s degree in History and in Conflict and Development Studies. My doctoral research focuses on conflict mobility dynamics and history from within a refugee camp-setting in Uganda. During my doctoral studies, I conducted archival research and 14 months of ethnographic fieldwork in Uganda, and in eastern and northeast DR Congo. I worked more closely on issues related to land, humanitarian authority, return and repatriation, and the logics of historicity in the camp.
Jente De Coninck
Jente De Coninck is a PhD researcher at the Centre for Diversity & Learning (Department of Linguistics, Faculty of Arts & Philosophy – Ghent University) under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Wendelien Vantieghem. Jente received his Bachelor’s degree in Social Work at the AP Hogeschool in 2019 and obtained his Master’s degree in Sociology at the University of Antwerp in 2022, with specialization in sociology of inequality and sociology of health and wellbeing. His PhD research focuses on diversity and inclusion in higher education. The main aim of this research project is an intersectional analysis of in- and excluding mechanisms in higher education for ethnic minority students and those from socio-economically vulnerable groups. During this project, he will investigate barriers & support-systems within higher education in a comprehensive way. To do so, two perspectives are employed: the agency perspective and the system perspective.
Geertrui Daem
Geertrui Daem is a PhD researcher at the Institute for Private International Law. Her empirical research focuses on the the complex legal problems refugees and beneficiaries of subsidiary protection enncounter in Belgium regarding the recognition of their personal status. Geertrui studied Law in Ghent and Aix-en- Provence (2003) and holds an additional Master in Conflict and Development (2004).After completing her lawyers exam, she worked for the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) in Algeria and Kenia. She further completed her asylum and migration expertise whilst working for the Flemish Refugee Action and the Belgian Refugee Council. As a migration law expert within the Agency for Civic Integration, she provided legal advice to practicioners working in the field of migration.She is particularly interested in migration law, private international law and human rights law.
Flor Vandevelde
Flor Vandevelde is a doctoral researcher in the Department of Economics, supervised by Prof. Dr. Ilse Ruyssen. His research focuses on the consequences of restrictive migration policies implemented by countries of origin. He links such policies to involuntary immobility and the effects of this phenomenon. In addition to studying the consequences of restrictive emigration policies, he also aims to map them. His research employs empirical methods from economic science.
Ayse Güdük
Ayse Güdük is a PhD research fellow at the Migration Law research group at Ghent University. Ayse studied political science at VU Amsterdam (Amsterdam, the Netherlands). She obtained a bachelor and master degree in political science. After her studies she worked for the Dutch Council for Refugees (Vluchtelingenwerk Nederland) and later as a policy officer in a Dutch municipality responsible for local policy on refugees and education. Her PhD research focuses on family reunification of Turkish migrants in Belgium and the Netherlands; a comparative study of right perceptions and strategies in light of evolving policies from a sociolegal perspective. The research is done under the supervision of Prof. Ellen Desmet, professor of migration law. Her research is embedded in the interfaculty Centre of the Social Study of Migration and Refugees (CESSMIR) and Human Rights Centre (HRC).
Camille Wets
After obtaining her Bachelor’s degree in Nursing in 2017, Camille Wets graduated as a Master of Science in Sociology at the University of Ghent in September 2019. For her master thesis, she focused on the psychosocial well-being of unaccompanied refugee minors in Flemish foster care families. In September 2020, Camille started working as a PhD researcher on the BELSPO funded REMEDI project. The REMEDI project (2020-2023) aims to gain understanding in general practitioners’ decision-making regarding patients with a migration background with mental health problems in Flanders, Wallonia and Brussels. Based at the Faculty of Political and Social Sciences, she is working under the supervision of Prof. Piet Bracke and Dr. Melissa Ceuterick (Department of Sociology, Hedera research group).
Dries Cavents
Dries started his academic career studying Applied Linguistics at the KU Leuven in Antwerp, with the language combination English, Italian and French. After two years in Belgium, he left for Italy for a year, where he completed his Bachelor’s degree at the Università degli Studi di Trieste. Back in Belgium, he started the Master’s in Interpreting, with the same language combination, also at the KU Leuven. After having obtained his Master’s degree, he still had not had enough of interpreting, so he started the Postgraduate Course in Conference Interpreting in Brussels to learn all the tricks of the trade. At the end of this very practically-oriented course, he wanted to go back to more academic pursuits and decided to start an interpreting doctorate at Ghent University. So, currently he is working on a project that investigates how interpreters deal with politeness within interpreter-mediated conversations and where the differences between online and face-to-face conversations lie.
Delphine Van Muylem
Delphine’s research is focused on (ethnic) diversity in the organizational context. She has obtained her masters’ degree in Theoretical and Experimental Psychology at Ghent University in 2022 and started as a PhD student in the VoPP lab in December 2022. Her PhD project aims to study metastereotypes in job ads. As job seekers might be mindful of others’ beliefs about the group they identify with, these metastereotypes might refrain (ethnic) minorities from applying. Delphine investigates what the impact of these metastereotypes is on ethnic minority applicants. In this project, different research methods are used, ranging from qualititive methods, to surveys or eye-tracking. This project is a collaboration with the Department of Experimental Psychology of the FPPW and financed by the Research Foundation Flanders (FWO).
A. Tancrède Pagès
A. Tancrède Pagès is a Ph.D. fellow at the Department of Social Work and Pedagogy and the Department of Conflict and Development Studies at University of Ghent. He received his ReMa in the Modern History and International Relations program from the University of Groningen. His research interests include solidarity and resistance politics at the urban level, contentious solidarity and humanitarianism, direct/horizontal democracy, and political theory. His current project investigates squats as spaces of solidarity with illegalized migrants and refugees and intersectional identity formation in heterogeneous collectives.
Aline Pouille
My PhD research at the Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences of Ghent University focused on recovery from problem substance use through the eyes and lived experiences of persons with a migration background and ethnic minorities. I obtained my PhD in 2023 and have since been involved in several European and Belgian/Flemish research projects, which focus on the intersectional lived or living experiences of migration, ethnic, religious, or cultural minorities, addiction, mental health, precarious living situations, forensic involvement, and those working with these populations. To better align research, practice, and policy with the needs of the people they are intended to serve, I am a strong proponent of qualitative and participatory research methods.
Amar El-Omari
I graduated as a clinical psychologist in 2005 (UGent) and started working as a psychotherapist in Brussels. I’ve always been interested in the way migration, religion and identity influence each other. I’ve wrote multiple publications and often organized trainings on this matter (from the perspective of health care and psychosocial well-being). In 2015 I started questionning how we can understand what drives someone towards radicalization. As of 2021 I’m working on a PhD that thrives to study radicalization and deradicalization by the way of a qualitative study. I’m conducting this study from a psychoanalytical perspective by the use of the notion of identity
