Transformative Engaged Scholarship in Migration

Halleh Ghorashi is Full Professor of Diversity and Integration in the Department of Sociology at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, the Netherlands. In 2019, she started her NWO-VICI funded project on Engaged Scholarship in a comparative perspective. She has been co-initiator of Refugee Academy (together with Elena Ponzoni), which was launched in June 2017. Ghorashi’s work has been met with various awards and recognitions, numerous invitations for academic keynotes and high impact societal lectures. She was appointed as a Crown Member of the SER (Dutch Social Economic Council) from 2018 to 2024 and in 2020 she became a member of KNAW (The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences). In 2021, she received Amsterdam Impact ward for her research about refugees and diversity and in 2022 she is appointed member of the state committee against discrimination and racism.

Tara Fiorito is Assistant Professor of Sociology at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, the Netherlands, and works as a changemaker for the Ministry of Home Affairs. For her PhD research (Cum Laude, 2020), she conducted participatory ethnographic research with the undocumented youth movement in Los Angeles (USA), focusing on critical processes of politicization and emancipation. She conducts participatory action research on contentious topics with different societal stakeholders geared towards societal change and inclusion. Her current research and teaching broadly fall under the categories of societal resilience, social change/transformation, youth sociology, identity and subjectivity, urban/rural sociology, social movement studies, reflexive migration studies, and pedagogies of hope and change. She combines critical and feminist social theory with qualitative and participatory research methodologies such as ethnography, action research, and artistic research methods.

Phoebe Kisubi Mbasalaki is Lecturer in Sociology and Criminology at the University of Essex, where she directs the Centre for Intimate Sexual Citizenship, serves as Book Review Editor for Sexualities, and sits on the Academic Board of the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study (NIAS). A globally engaged feminist sociologist, her work explores the intersections of gender, sexuality, migration, and creative/arts based research. Grounded in ethnography and decolonial feminist theory, her research focuses on marginalised communities and migrants. She leads and contributes to major international projects across Africa, Europe, and Latin America, frequently integrating participatory theatre and documentary filmmaking to produce public facing outputs that bridge scholarship and activism. She previously held teaching and research positions at the University of Cape Town and Utrecht University, contributing to GlobalGRACE and the Digital Afro/Amefrican Feminist Archive. She has published widely and is regularly invited to deliver keynotes and public lectures globally.

Elena Ponzoni is Assistant Professor at the department of Sociology of the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. Her research explores how academic work can help uncover and transform mechanisms of exclusion and inequality, by centering the lived experiences, knowledges and wisdoms of communities that are often considered passive objects of research. In 2017, she co-founded the Refugee Academy with Professor Halleh Ghorashi. Since 2023 she serves as the director of the Co-Creation for Inclusive Knowledges Lab at the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities (VU Amsterdam). She explores, promotes and teaches participatory methods of knowledge co-creation rooted in decolonial feminist work. Her current work revolves around the recognition of collective knowledge within refugee communities, refugee-led advocacy and experiences of in-betweenness of young people navigating between different social worlds. Also, she researches the role of artistic practices and inter-generational solidarity in fostering democratic resilience.