my professional journey
I am a Senior Assistant Professor at the Institute of Political Science of Leiden University and Board Member of the International Migration Institute (IMI).
Originally from Vienna, I studied Comparative Politics at SciencesPo Paris (2012, honors) and received my PhD (2019, cum laude) in Political Sociology from the University of Amsterdam. Prior to that, I worked at the International Migration Institute at Oxford University. I have also experience working for the International Organization for Migration (IOM), European Commission, International Center on Migration Policy Development (ICMPD), French Institute of International Relations (IFRI) and Bertelsmann Foundation. In Spring 2024, I was a Visiting Fellow at the Robert Schuman Center of the European University Institute (EUI) in Florence, Italy.
Since 2011, I am also involved in Asylos, an NGO providing Country of Origin research for lawyers representing asylum seekers across Europe.
I speak German, French and English proficiently, and Dutch, Portuguese and Arabic at intermediate levels.
my research interests
I am researching migration politics from a comparative perspective, with a particular focus on the role of political regimes in immigration policymaking. My work seeks to advance migration policy theory and to connect it with broader social science research on modern statehood and political change, particularly dynamics of democratization and autocratization. Hereby, I hope to contribute to the wider academic effort of bridging theorizations of socio-political processes in the ‘Global South’ and the ‘Global North’.
I have conducted extensive field research on the politics of migration in Morocco, Tunisia and Brazil, as well as large-scale data collection and coding of migration policies in Europe and beyond. I also lived one year in Cairo. I am currently involved in two large-scale research projects on the role of knowledge in European migration politics as well as the link between autocratization and immigration policy worldwide.
check out my book!
“The Politics of Immigration beyond Liberal States is a ground-breaking book. It should be important reading, not only for migration and North Africa scholars but also for all of those in IR and comparative politics who have realized that international migration has become one of the most prominent fault lines in global North-South politics and, at the same time, increasingly, the clearest area of practical convergence between liberal democracies and autocracies.”
Irene Fernández-Molina in The Middle East Journal
“The result is a work that not only offers a wealth of new empirical detail, but which also provides fascinating insights into the many-faceted roles of the bureaucracy and bureaucrats, civil society institutions and their activists, as well as national identity in the
Laurie Brand in Perspectives on Politics
construction and implementation of immigration policy in these two North African states.”
awards
- 2025 Emerging Scholar Award of the American Political Science (APSA) Migration & Citizenship Section
- 2025 Gratama Science Award of Leiden University
- 2025 Book Review Award of the International Migration Review (IMR)
- 2024 Emerging Scholar Award of the International Studies Association Ethnicity, Nationalism and Migration Studies Section (ENMISA)
- 2019 Martin O. Heisler Graduate Student Paper Award from the International Studies Association Ethnicity, Nationalism and Migration Studies Section (ENMISA)
- 2012 Prix de l´Engagement de Sciences Po for Asylos
my community services
- Editorial Board Member – International Migration Review (2025-onwards)
- Editorial College Member – Migration Politics (2025-onwards)
- Communications & Student Recruitment Committee – Institute of Political Science, University of Leiden (2020-2022, 2025-onwards)
- Young Academy Leiden Member – University of Leiden (2022-onwards)
- Book Review Editor – International Migration Review (2021-2024)
- Executive Committee Member and Treasurer – Ethnicity, Migration and Nationalism Section of the International Studies Association (ENMISA) (2021-2023)
- Research Advisory Committee Member – Institute of Political Science, University of Leiden (2021-2025)
- Recruitment Committee Member – Institute of Political Science, University of Leiden (2020-2022)
- Advisory Committee Member – European Forum Alpbach Political Symposium (2020-2021)
- Board of Trustees Member – Asylos, research for asylum (2017-onwards)
I regularly review articles for: Democratization, International Studies Quarterly, European Journal of Political Research, British Journal of Political Science, American Sociological Review, Political Geography, Global Policy, Global Studies Quarterly, European Journal of International Relations, Journal of Common Market Studies, Political Research Exchange, Political Studies Review, International Migration Review, International Migration, Migration Studies, Comparative Migration Studies, Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, Mobilization, Journal of Refugee Studies, Mediterranean Politics, Journal of North African Studies, Oxford Middle East Review, Oxford Bibliographies, Politics & Religion, Asia Pacific Law Review, Revue Européenne des Migrations Internationales, Revue Internationale de Politique Comparée, Revue Migration, Hijra – La Revue Marocaine du Droit d’Asile et Migration, L’année du Maghreb.
KATHARINA NATTER 