my professional journey
I am an Assistant Professor at the Institute of Political Science of Leiden University and fellow 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.
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 and Tunisia, as well as large-scale data collection and coding of migration policies in Europe and beyond. I also lived one year in Cairo and regularly spend time in Brazil.
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my community services
- Book Review Editor – International Migration Review
- Executive Committee Member and Treasurer – Ethnicity, Migration and Nationalism Section of the International Studies Association (ENMISA)
- Research Advisory Committee Member – Institute of Political Science, University of Leiden
- Recruitment Committee Member – Institute of Political Science, University of Leiden
- Advisory Committee Member – European Forum Alpbach Political Symposium
- Board of Trustees Member – Asylos, research for asylum
I regularly review articles for: British Journal of Political Science, Oxford Bibliographies, Political Geography, Global Policy, European Journal of International Relations, International Migration, Political Research Exchange, Mediterranean Politics, Political Studies Review, Comparative Migration Studies, Journal of North African Studies, Journal of Refugee Studies, Revue Migration Revue Européenne des Migrations Internationales, Oxford Middle East Review, Migration Studies, Politics & Religion, Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies.
KATHARINA NATTER 